Je l'ai fait peindre la clôture.

Sentence Discussions French
#1
English Translation

I got him to paint the fence.

The English translation seems wrong and differs from the explanation.

#2

I took the trouble to look up the sentence, which is in the Fast Track Level 3. The explanation says:

So, the sentence “Je l’ai fait peindre la clôture.” translates to “I had the fence painted.”

In my understanding, “je l’ai fait peindre la clôture” means “I had him/her paint the fence”; “I had the fence painted” would be “j’ai fait peindre la clôture”.

Here is where ChatGPT goes wrong, IMO:

  • Direct Object Pronoun: “l’” is a direct object pronoun, standing for “la clôture” (the fence) later in the sentence.

In my experience, French doesn’t normally use redundant object pronouns like that.

#3

Hello @MJMaranda / @morbrorper

That’s right.

I think that is indeed what whoever came up with this translation meant to say. That is also what immediately came to mind when I read it, and I suspect you would also hear it a fair bit in spoken French. Still, something felt slightly off to me.

You are also right about ChatGPT: What it says is wrong in this specific case, but to be fair, “l’” is in fact typically used as a direct object pronoun (together with le/la/les).

I had the fence painted. = J’ai fait peindre la clôture.
I had it painted. = Je l’ ai fait peindre. → “l’” stands for “la clôture” and is indeed direct object pronoun.

I had Bob paint the fence. = J’ai fait peindre la clôture à Bob.
(We could also use “par Bob”: J’ai fait peindre la clôture “par Bob” = I had the fence painted by Bob.)
I had him paint the fence = Je lui ai fait peindre la clôture.

That’s the main point: “lui” stands for Bob, it is an indirect object pronoun.

If we use only pronouns:

Je la lui ai fait peindre. = I had him/her paint it.

(if you try to use the “l’” in the given translation, well… see for yourself :slight_smile: )

tldr / correct translation:
“I had him/her paint the fence.” → Je lui ai fait peindre la clôture.

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#4

Many thanks, @yottapolyglot, for your thorough analysis! I made the mistake of assuming that the sentence was correct from the beginning. A sentence search for “I made him” or “I got him” would have set me on the right track here; the “legacy” FFT has quite a few examples using the indirect object pronoun. As for the “new” Fast Track, who knows?

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#5

You’re very welcome @morbrorper.
This translation is indeed incorrect, but it’s not one of those “it hurts my ears” mistakes.
I really think it may be quite common, at least in spoken French, and things can get kind of confusing sometimes.

Case in point…

Reading this just made me think of a couple more examples:

“I made him work.”
“I made him work on his serve.” (say you’re a tennis coach)

If you get confused trying to translate these, know that it’s not just you…

I don’t want to make things more complicated than they need to be, but I’m happy to answer questions if you have any.

I can’t really comment on the new FT. When it comes to French, I mostly answer questions as they come up :slight_smile:

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