Verb patterns · CEFR B2 · Confident
Causatives (have it done) — English verb patterns
Somebody else does it for you.
The shape
have / get + thing + third form
Say you had something done for you.
In Hindi
काम कोई और आपके लिए करता है।
CoCap explains every structure in both languages, because a rule you understand in Hindi is a rule you can use in English.
The mistake to fix first
The sentence Indian-English speakers actually produce, and the reason it is wrong.
| Commonly said | Correct English |
|---|---|
I cut my hair yesterday. | I had my hair cut yesterday. Unless you cut it yourself, use "had it cut". |
Easy to confuse with
Close enough to be mixed up with this one. Knowing the difference is most of knowing either.
- have somebody do itB2Say you arranged for a person to do something
- Active vs PassiveB2Talk about what was done without saying who did it
Questions people ask
- What is the causatives (have it done) used for?
- Somebody else does it for you. In practice: say you had something done for you.
- How do you form the causatives (have it done)?
- have / get + thing + third form.
- What is the most common mistake with the causatives (have it done)?
- Saying “I cut my hair yesterday.” instead of “I had my hair cut yesterday.”. Unless you cut it yourself, use "had it cut".
Where causatives (have it done) fits
Where this structure sits in the ladder, and what surrounds it.
Causatives (have it done) is a CEFR B2 structure — the confident band — and it belongs to verb patterns. CoCap’s syllabus files every structure this way so you can learn in order instead of jumping between whatever a search happened to return.
Reading it is not the same as saying it.
CoCap turns this page into practice: Hindi sentence in, English sentence out, corrected one thing at a time. Free, no card.
Practise the causatives (have it done) →