Faire vs Rendre in French – How to Say “Make”
In English, we use the verb make in many different situations. We make someone happy, make someone laugh, make dinner, and make someone do something.
In French, however, you can’t use faire in every one of these situations. Depending on what you want to express, you may need faire or rendre.
The most important distinction is:
- FAIRE + noun: faire peur à quelqu’un — to frighten someone
- FAIRE + infinitive: faire rire quelqu’un — to make someone laugh
- RENDRE + adjective: rendre quelqu’un triste — to make someone sad
Compare:
- Cette histoire me fait peur. — This story frightens me.
- Cette histoire me rend triste. — This story makes me sad.
The difference comes down to the word that follows the verb: a noun, an infinitive, or an adjective.
In this lesson, you’ll learn when to use faire and rendre, how to recognize the different constructions, and how to use direct and indirect object pronouns with these expressions.
You can download a PDF of this lesson guide in my private French Grammar Library.
1. FAIRE + Noun
The verb faire is used with certain nouns to express the idea of making someone feel something.
When these expressions are followed by a person, that person is introduced by the preposition à. This means the person is an indirect object.
Here are two common examples:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| faire peur à quelqu’un | to frighten someone |
| faire plaisir à quelqu’un | to please someone / to make someone happy |
Notice that the person follows the preposition à.
Examples:
- Le bruit fort a fait peur aux chevaux.
The loud noise frightened the horses. - Le bruit fort leur a fait peur.
The loud noise frightened them. - Ces fleurs vont faire plaisir à Christiane.
These flowers are going to make Christiane happy. - Ces fleurs vont lui faire plaisir.
These flowers are going to make her happy.
In the last two examples, à Christiane is replaced by the indirect object pronoun lui. In the first two, aux chevaux is replaced by leur.
Other useful expressions with faire + noun include:
- faire mal à quelqu’un – to hurt someone
- faire honte à quelqu’un – to shame or embarrass someone
- faire envie à quelqu’un – to make someone envious
- faire du bien à quelqu’un – to do someone good
- faire de la peine à quelqu’un – to upset someone / to cause someone sorrow
If you need a refresher on why these are indirect objects and how to replace them with pronouns such as lui and leur, see my lesson on French direct and indirect object pronouns.
2. FAIRE + Infinitive
The verb faire is also used before an infinitive to express the idea of making someone do something or causing something to happen.
This construction is called the faire causative.
When the person directly follows the infinitive construction without the preposition à, that person is a direct object in examples such as these.
Here are two common examples:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| faire rire quelqu’un | to make someone laugh |
| faire travailler quelqu’un | to make someone work |
Examples:
- Son ami raconte toujours des blagues qui font rire Patrick.
His friend is always telling jokes that make Patrick laugh. - Son ami raconte toujours des blagues qui le font rire.
His friend is always telling jokes that make him laugh. - Tu fais travailler ton fils ?
Are you making your son work? - Tu le fais travailler ?
Are you making him work?
Notice that Patrick becomes le, and ton fils also becomes le when replaced by a direct object pronoun.
More examples:
- faire pleurer quelqu’un – to make someone cry
- faire réfléchir quelqu’un – to make someone think
- faire attendre quelqu’un – to make someone wait
- faire sourire quelqu’un – to make someone smile
For a more detailed explanation of this construction, including examples with different tenses and pronouns, read my lesson on the French faire causative construction.
3. RENDRE + Adjective
Use rendre + adjective when you want to say that someone or something makes a person or thing become a certain way or feel a certain way.
Unlike the expressions with faire followed by a noun, the verb rendre is followed by an adjective.
The person or thing affected is a direct object. You do not use the preposition à before naming that person.
| French | English |
|---|---|
| rendre quelqu’un triste | to make someone sad |
| rendre quelqu’un malade | to make someone sick |
| rendre quelqu’un fier / fière | to make someone proud |
| rendre quelqu’un heureux / heureuse | to make someone happy |
| rendre quelqu’un somnolent(e) | to make someone drowsy |
Examples:
- La nouvelle de notre déménagement a rendu nos amis tristes.
The news of our move made our friends sad. - La nouvelle de notre déménagement les a rendus tristes.
The news of our move made them sad. - Manger du poisson avarié peut vous rendre malade.
Eating spoiled fish can make you sick. - Cela rend les parents fiers de voir leurs enfants réussir.
It makes parents proud to see their children succeed. - Cela les rend fiers de voir leurs enfants réussir.
It makes them proud to see their children succeed. - Certains médicaments rendent Jeanne somnolente.
Some medications make Jeanne drowsy. - Certains médicaments la rendent somnolente.
Some medications make her drowsy.
Notice that the adjective agrees in gender and number with the person or thing it describes:
- rendre Paul heureux
- rendre Marie heureuse
- rendre les garçons heureux
- rendre les filles heureuses
The adjective describes the person or thing affected by the verb rendre.
4. RENDRE in the Passé Composé
The verb rendre is conjugated with avoir in the passé composé.
When a direct object pronoun comes before the conjugated verb, the past participle must agree with that preceding direct object.
Compare these examples:
Without a direct object pronoun before the verb:
- La nouvelle a rendu nos amies tristes.
- The news made our friends sad.
With a direct object pronoun before the verb:
- La nouvelle les a rendues tristes.
- The news made them sad.
In the second sentence, les refers to nos amies, a feminine plural group. Therefore, rendu becomes rendues.
Here are two more examples:
- Cette décision a rendu Paul furieux.
This decision made Paul furious. - Cette décision l’a rendu furieux.
This decision made him furious.
In the last sentence, l’ refers to Paul, so the past participle is masculine singular: rendu.
Remember that the adjective also agrees with the person or thing it describes. In les a rendues tristes, both rendues and tristes are feminine plural.
For a more complete explanation, read my lesson on French past participle agreement with preceding direct objects.
5. FAIRE vs RENDRE: What’s the Difference?
Here is a quick comparison of the three constructions.
| Construction | What follows the verb? | Example | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| FAIRE + noun | A noun | faire peur à quelqu’un | to frighten someone |
| FAIRE + infinitive | An infinitive | faire rire quelqu’un | to make someone laugh |
| RENDRE + adjective | An adjective | rendre quelqu’un triste | to make someone sad |
The easiest way to choose between faire and rendre is to look at the word that follows the verb.
- If you are using a noun, you may need faire.
- If you are using an infinitive, use faire in the causative construction.
- If you are using an adjective to describe the resulting state, use rendre.
Compare these sentences:
- Cette histoire me fait peur.
- This story scares me. (Peur is a noun.)
- Cette histoire me rend triste.
- This story makes me sad. (Triste is an adjective.)
Both sentences describe an emotional reaction, but the French construction changes depending on the part of speech.
Summary
The difference between faire and rendre becomes much easier when you pay attention to what follows the verb.
- FAIRE + noun: faire peur à quelqu’un
- FAIRE + infinitive: faire rire quelqu’un
- RENDRE + adjective: rendre quelqu’un triste
When you see a noun, an infinitive, or an adjective, you have an important clue about which verb to use.
Keep practicing these constructions in complete sentences so that choosing between faire and rendre becomes more natural.
