Causative Have

A common mistake that Spanish speakers of English make is to say 'I have cut my hair'. This is a direct translation from the reflexive construction in Castellano 'Me he cortado el pelo'. When you say this in English, the implication is that you cut your own hair and that you didn't go to a hairdresser's. In English we like to specify that somebody else did the action for us, and we have a special construction just for that. It is known as the Causative Have.

FORM: HAVE + OBJECT + PAST PARTICIPLE

USE: We use the causative have when we arrange for someone else to do something for us.

EXAMPLE: I have had my hair cut.

This construction isn't only used to talk about getting a haircut. We can use it in any situation where somebody arranges for another person to do them a service or a job. It can be used in a variety of tenses and with a variety of subjects.

LOOK!

I had my nails done before the wedding.

(I went to a salon and a beautcian painted my nails)

I'm having the house painted on Saturday.

(Some decorators are going to paint my house)

Fred needs to have his car repaired.

(He needs a mechanic to repair his car)

Kelly has her legs waxed once a month

(She goes to a beauty salon and someone waxes her legs for her)

In more colloquial and spoken English the verb 'have' can be replaced by the verb 'get'.

Ex. I need to get my legs waxed / I'm getting my hair cut / Fred got his teeth whitened at the weekend