English Causative Verbs - MAKE, LET, HAVE and more. Part One.

What’s that for?

I’m going to hypnotize you Really?

Yes.

Just look at the pendant.

OK.

And let your body relax.

You’re not going to make me do anything stupid, are you?

Oh no.

Hi everyone!

In this lesson we’re looking at causative verbs.

So what are causative verbs?

Well, sometimes things just happen.

And sometimes other people or things make them happen.

They cause them to happen.

When we want to talk about that, we use causative verbs.

So they’re verbs about causing things and there are lots of them.

There’s a lot to cover here so in part one of this lesson we’re going to look at the

most common ones and what they mean, and in part two we’ll look the patterns they follow.

They’re a bit unusual, so we’ll fix some common mistakes.

Let’s start with most common verb.

Make.

One of the meanings of make is cause.

For example, cold temperatures make water freeze.

Hot air makes balloons rise.

One thing causes another.

It makes it happen.

Jay, do these jeans make my bum look big?

Err, yep.

Oh!

Oh.

They make you look great.

Only you could make a woman feel like this.

All I want is to be in your arms, now and always.

We often use ‘make’ with adjectives to say what causes a feeling or state.

For example, heights make me dizzy.

Spiders make me nervous.

What’s this?

It’s marmite.

It’s good for you.

It makes you strong and healthy.

But it tastes terrible.

No, it doesn’t.

So the effect of eating marmite is you get stronger and healthier.

We also use make to talk about forcing or requiring people to do things.

Jay this kitchen's a mess.

We need to clean it up before Graham and Carole come.

She always makes me clean up before guests come.

You’re not going to make me do anything stupid, are you?

Oh no.

So 'make' can mean cause, force or require.

OK.

Let’s look at another causative verb - have.

See if you can work out what 'have' means here.

I love taking Carter out for his walk, but I’m not always home.

When I’m not here, I have the dog walker take him out.

Can you work out what 'have' means?

When we have someone do something, we make arrangements for them to do it.

We don’t force them, but we give them the responsibility to do it.

Perhaps we employ them and we can instruct them to do it.

The elevator's broken down.

I had to climb up ten flights of stairs.

Oh dear.

Oh.

Hello.

Vicki I’ve got a package for you, but the elevator's broken down.

Yeah, I've just heard.

Don’t worry I’ll have Jay carry it up.

It’s quite heavy.

Oh, no problem.

I’ll have him come and collect it now.

OK, now we’re going to look at one more verb - let.

It has a very different meaning to make and have.

See if you can work out what it is.

I’ll let you have it.

Oh, thank you.

Come on Vicki.

It’s time to go to the gym.

Oh, do we have to?

Yes, go and get ready.

She’d sit here all day if I let her.

Just look at the pendant.

OK.

And let your body relax.

Did you get it?

'Let' means allow or permit.

So when we make people do things, it’s often things they don’t want to do.

But when we let people do things, it’s generally things they want to do.

What time do your parents make you go to bed?

At 10 o’clock.

10 o’clock.

Is that a bit early for you?

Yes.

Do they ever let you stay up later than that?

No.

Ah, never mind So let’s review.

We use 'make' when we require people to do things they don’t want to do, and 'let'

when we allow them to do things they do want to do, and we use ‘have’ when we arrange

for people to do things.

And that’s it!

Now you know the meanings of the three most common causative verbs.

In part two, we’re going to go deeper and look at the grammar because these verbs follow

an unusual pattern.

So make sure you subscribe to this channel so you don’t miss it and see you next week!