The causative is a structure for talking about arranging for someone else to do an action. You don't do the work yourself — you pay for it, ask for it, or persuade someone else to do it. The focus stays on the result, not on who performed the task.
In each sentence, the subject organized the service. A hairdresser, a car wash, and a decorator actually did the work, but English doesn't need to mention them.
Form
The pattern is fixed: subject + have/get + object + past participle.
The object (my hair, her car, the kitchen, his eyes) sits between the causative verb and the past participle. That order is the key signal of the structure — anything else breaks it.
The past participle is the same form you'd see in the passive (washed, painted, cut, tested), which is why the causative can look passive at first glance. The difference is meaning: the subject arranged the action instead of simply receiving it.
Have vs get
Have is slightly more formal and neutral. Get is more informal and conversational. Both are correct in everyday English, and most speakers mix them freely.
In writing and more formal contexts, have is the safer default. In speech, get is at least as common and often sounds more natural.
Across tenses
The structure works in any tense — only the form of have or get changes. The object and past participle stay in place.
| TENSE | EXAMPLE |
|---|---|
| Present simple | I have my car washed every month. |
| Past simple | I had my car washed yesterday. |
| Present continuous | I'm having my car washed right now. |
| Present perfect | I've just had my car washed. |
| Future | I'll have my car washed tomorrow. |
| Modal | You should get your car washed. |
Questions and negatives follow the normal rules for the tense: Where did you have your hair cut? I haven't had the kitchen painted yet.
When something bad happens to you
The same structure has a second use: describing something unwanted or unexpected that happened to the subject. Here the subject didn't arrange anything — they were affected by the action.
The grammar is identical to the service use, but the meaning flips: the subject is a victim, not a customer. Context tells the reader which reading applies. I had my hair cut is clearly a service; I had my bike stolen is clearly a misfortune.
This use is especially common with verbs like steal, break, damage, destroy.
Have/get + person + to do something
A related structure names the person who performs the action: have + person + bare infinitive, or get + person + to + infinitive.
The form is different — have takes the bare infinitive, get takes to + infinitive — but the idea is similar to the causative: arranging for someone else to act. Get someone to often carries a sense of persuading or convincing, while have someone is more neutral instruction.
Common mistakes
Word order
Wrong verb form
Confusing causative with present perfect
Have + person structure