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'Make', 'have', and 'let' take a bare infinitive; 'get', 'force', and 'allow' take 'to' + infinitive.
Side-by-side comparison
"Make" and "force" imply that you compel someone to do something against their will or with no other option. "Force" is the stronger version.
The rain made us change our plans and stay inside for the afternoon.
The teacher let us work in groups for the last exercise of the lesson.
She had the mechanic check all four tyres before the long road trip.
"Have" implies you instruct or arrange for someone to do something, without coercion. "Let" implies you give permission or remove obstacles.
The new app allows you to track your spending in real time.
His parents forced him to apologize after he broke the neighbour's window.
She got her friend to proofread the essay before she submitted it.
Common mistake
- •"She made him to work" and "She let us to leave" are wrong: make, have, and let take a bare infinitive (no to).
- •"She made him work / let us leave." The reverse error: "She got him sign" is wrong, get, force, allow, enable take to: "got him to sign".
Trick to remember it
- •Three without to: make, let, have.
- •Everything else (get, force, allow, enable) takes to.
- •Passive exception: "he was made TO resign", the passive of make brings the to back.
Quick rule
- •No to: make/let/have + object + bare inf.
- •With to: get/force/allow/enable + object + to + inf.
- •Exception: passive of make takes to.
Did you know?
The reason MAKE, LET, and HAVE do not take TO is historical: in Old English, all infinitives were bare forms without TO (the TO particle was progressively added during Middle English). MAKE, LET, and HAVE were so grammaticalized and frequent that they resisted the change and preserved the old infinitive form, the bare infinitive. They are, literally, grammatical fossils from 9th-century English still alive in the 21st century. All causative verbs that entered English later (via French or Latin, like "force," "permit," "allow") adopted the modern with-TO form, the current standard.
Practise what you learned
Exercise 1 · Pick the right one
Her parents _____ her practise the piano for an hour every day.
Exercise 2 · Pick the right one
She _____ her assistant book the flights and hotel for the trip.
Exercise 3 · Form the word
Related word pairs
In the active voice the subject acts; in the passive voice the subject receives the action.
'Have something done' and 'get something done' mean someone else does something for you; 'get' is more informal.
"Let" is to permit casually or personally; "allow" is to permit formally or with authority.
Causative verbs have fixed structures: 'make/let' + bare infinitive; 'get/allow' + 'to' + infinitive.
Bryan López
Founder of SpeakUP Academy