Use of hacer

Pati E.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Use of hacer

I'm a little confused as to why one use of hacer seems to actually be employing hacerse. The example I'm referring to is below:

Me hice construir un anexo al lado...

Why wasn't this written simply as "Hice contruir un anexo al lado..."?

Another way to ask my question concerns another example.

Hicieron pintar de nuevo ...

Why was this example not structured as Nos hicieron pintar de nuevo...?

Saludos,

Pati Ecuamiga


Asked 5 years ago
InmaKwiziq Head of Spanish, Native Spanish Teacher

Hola Pati,

this sentence:

Me hice construir un anexo al lado...

using the reflexive pronoun sounds as if the subject did the action himself/herself, but this is a structure that follows the same pattern as that one explained in this lesson (there is a link at the bottom of the lesson that takes you here):

How to say to have something done

With that structure the reflexive pronouns are used but the action is performed by someone else. If we forget for a moment about the verb "hacer" and just use "construir", the sentence could have also been (with the same effect):

Me construí un anexo al lado... 

This again sounds as if you did it yourself but that is not normally the case; it indicates someone else (the builders) did it. 

I hope this clarified it.

Saludos

Inma

 

Dallas D.Kwiziq community member

So both Hicieron pintar de nuevo su piso and Se hicieron pintar de nuevo su piso would be correct and interchangable then? As in the case of Me hice construir un anexo? I guess what my question really is, is why wasn't hicieron pintar de nuevo su piso, written with the reflexive pronoun "se", like Me hice construir un anexo was? And would it have the same effect and meaning if I said hice construir un anexo without the reflexive pronoun?

Pati E. asked:

Use of hacer

I'm a little confused as to why one use of hacer seems to actually be employing hacerse. The example I'm referring to is below:

Me hice construir un anexo al lado...

Why wasn't this written simply as "Hice contruir un anexo al lado..."?

Another way to ask my question concerns another example.

Hicieron pintar de nuevo ...

Why was this example not structured as Nos hicieron pintar de nuevo...?

Saludos,

Pati Ecuamiga


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