Il s'est fait piqué - French Mistake

Mistakes will always be made in French, and now you can learn from them

Wrong: Il s'est fait piqué

Right: Il s'est fait piquer (He got stung)

Explanation: The French causative constructions faire + verb (to have something done) and se faire + verb (to have something done to oneself) have to be followed by the infinitive. Many people, including me and even some native French speakers, wrongly use the past participle instead. Obviously, it's not because we don't know the difference between them; it's just that the infinitive and past participle of -ER verbs are homophones, and even when typing I "hear" them the same way, so I mix them up.

I would never make this mistake with a non-ER verb. "I had my gas tank filled" is obviously J'ai fait remplir mon réservoir d'essence, not "J'ai fait rempli mon réservoir d'essence." But no matter how many times I proofread something like "Je me suis fait coupé les cheveux," I simply cannot see the error and so can't correct it to Je me suis fait couper les cheveux.

(I like to joke that this ironically proves how good my French is, because so many native speakers make the same mistake ;-)

Related lessons: Causative faire | Infinitive | Past participle | Homophones