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The
passive III
The «have something done» structure is used when we
say that we are paying a professional to do a job for us, rather than do the job ourselves.
For example, if I say "I repaired my car yesterday", it means that I repaired it myself,
but if I say "I had my car repaired yesterday", it means
that I gave this job to the mechanic.
You have to bear in mind three things:
- The verb HAVE can be in any tense, depending on the context.
- After HAVE you need a direct object (Od). The Od can be a pronoun or a noun phrase
(= sintagma nominal).
- The verb that refers to the job that you want done is always in the past participle.
Here is another example:
I am going to do my nails. = Voy a arreglarme las uñas.
I am going to have my nails done. = Voy a ir (al salón de belleza)
a que me arreglen las uñas.
As you can see, translating this structure is not easy, and very often we use the same
translation for both in Spanish: "Mañana me voy a cortar el pelo."
Here are some more typical examples:
You need to have your hair cut.
I'm having a tooth pulled out tomorrow.
You should have your eyesight tested.
We could have this photo framed, couldn't we?
Why don't we have the house redecorated?
I have bad luck with computers. The three ones I have had have had to have their hard disks replaced.
One more thing: sometimes, the verb HAVE is replaced by GET, with the same meaning:
I'm going to get my hair done this morning, for the wedding.
There is a different use of this structure: we can also use it to talk about bad things that happen
to people or to things. For example, in a warning to a reckless soldier:
You're going to get yourself killed if you stick out
your head like that!
Look at these real examples from an email I got recently (today is the 30th of March 2020,
the 17th day without lessons at school) from an English friend (I have her permission to
publish it here; remember to do that before you show someone else what you have been sent
by email).
"The only hope is that [after the coronavirus crisis] things don't go straight back to normal
and that more money is permanently put into the health service, and other government
departments which have had staff numbers so reduced in recent years,
e.g. tax and pensions offices."
This means that the government has been cutting down on staff to save money, because of the
2008 economic crisis. Because it is obvious that it is the government who decides these
things, we use the "have something done" structure like the passive, to eliminate an
unnecesary agent.
"Local councils too have had their money from central government reduced
by a huge amount, which is why they've been closing libraries, not building accommodation
for the increasing number of homeless and so on."
This means that the money from the central government has been reduced. Evidently,
it is the central government who have done this, so there is no need to say it.
Notice that "by a huge amount" is not the agent: the preposition
BY is not translated in Spanish in some contexts, while in others it is translated
with a different preposition: "Su presupuesto se ha reducido EN gran medida."
© Juan José Castaño