faire de nouvelles sandales

Julie E.C1Kwiziq community member

faire de nouvelles sandales

The expression "to make new sandals" is "faire de nouvelles sandales" 

To say I have new sandals made, the correct answer is "Je me fais faire de nouvelles sandales" but I don't understand why it is a reflexive verb. I would have thought the answer is "Je fais faire de nouvelles sandales"

Asked 9 hours ago
Maarten K.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Julie, 

to make something for yourself is ‘ se faire qqc ‘. 

This sentence ‘ Je me fais faire de nouvelles sandales ‘,  tells us not just that the speaker is having some sandals made, but specifically that he/she are having them made for him/herself. 

As strange as it may seem to be English speakers, and maybe other non-native French speakers, that results in ‘ having (someone else) make something for yourself being ‘ se faire faire qqc ‘, with the word order for reflexive verbs in the causative structure as discussed in the lesson.  

 “. ATTENTION:

If the action done is expressed with a reflexive verb (se couper, se raser...), then the reflexive pronoun will be placed before faire, as such:

se faire + [infinitive] + [object] “

Even though the English sentence is not specific on the point of ‘ for whom’,  the French sentence quoted is the only one of the options that I see given that can be a correct answer as the other options are not in the proper causative format.

https://www.wordreference.com/fren/se%20faire

Julie E. asked:

faire de nouvelles sandales

The expression "to make new sandals" is "faire de nouvelles sandales" 

To say I have new sandals made, the correct answer is "Je me fais faire de nouvelles sandales" but I don't understand why it is a reflexive verb. I would have thought the answer is "Je fais faire de nouvelles sandales"

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