Passive with two objects, and have/get something done

This lesson covers two extensions of passive voice that show up daily in American English: passive with verbs that take two objects (give, send, offer, tell, show, teach), and the causative structure have / get something done — used whenever someone else performs a service for you.

You don’t cut your own hair. You don’t fix your own car (most people don’t). For all those moments, English has a special pattern that makes the doer invisible while you stay in the subject position.

Part 1: Passive with two objects

Some verbs take two objects in active voice: an indirect object (the person) and a direct object (the thing).

Common verbs of this kind: give, send, offer, tell, show, teach, lend, pay, bring, write, hand, sell, owe, promise.

Because there are two objects, you can build two passive sentences:

Which passive is more natural?

The version with the person as subject is far more common in English. It puts the affected person first.

• ✅ I was given a present. (more natural)
• ⚠️ A present was given to me. (grammatically fine, but feels formal / shifted focus)

Use the thing as subject form mainly when you want to focus on the thing or describe a transaction:

• The award was given to the youngest player. (focus on what happened to the award)
• The keys have been handed to the new tenant. (formal handover language)

Note: to / for prepositions

When the thing becomes the subject, the person needs a preposition — usually to, sometimes for:

• give / send / show / lend / pay / tell / offer → to

• buy / make / get → for

• A present was given to me.

• A cake was made for me.

• The story was told to the children.

In casual speech, English speakers strongly prefer the person as subject version, so you rarely have to worry about to / for in passive.

Part 2: have / get something done — the causative

Causative means “make / arrange for someone else to do something.” Use this when another person performs a service for you — you don’t do the action yourself, but you cause it to happen.

Form: have / get + object + V3 (past participle).

The causative keeps you in the subject position while leaving the actual doer invisible (or unimportant).

have something done vs do something

This is the contrast that confuses beginners. Compare:

The English distinction matters because the social meaning differs. I painted my house = I did the work. I had my house painted = I paid someone to do it.

have vs get

Both work; the difference is mostly register and feel.

• have = standard, slightly more formal, focus on the result.
• get = more casual, informal, focus on the process / arranging it.

In American conversation, get something done is extremely common. Have something done is also fine but sounds slightly more careful.

Across tenses

The causative stretches through tenses just like passive. The have / get part takes the tense; the V3 stays.

Negatives and questions

Negative: insert not with the appropriate auxiliary (do, did, will, etc.).

• I don’t have my hair cut here anymore.
• We didn’t get the car fixed yet.
• She isn’t getting her photo taken today.

Question: invert the auxiliary with the subject.

• Do you have your hair cut at this place?
• Did you get the package delivered?
• Where do you have your shoes repaired?

get something done — bonus: things going wrong

The get version is also used when something happens to your stuff — often unwanted. This blurs into get-passive territory.

• We got our car towed. (someone towed our car — we didn’t choose it)
• He got his bike stolen. (someone stole his bike)
• I got my passport renewed. (I arranged it — chosen action)

Context distinguishes the meaning. With renewed, cleaned, fixed — usually a chosen service. With stolen, towed, broken — something happened to you.

AmE notes

American daily life is full of causative constructions, especially with get:

• I’m getting my taxes done by an accountant. (April ritual)
• I had my windshield replaced after the chip cracked. (insurance claim)
• We got the deck stained last weekend.
• She had her wisdom teeth pulled.
• I need to get my oil changed before the road trip.
• He got his hair done for prom. (yes — hair done in AmE includes cuts, color, styling)

You’ll hear get + V3 dozens of times a day in American conversation. Internalize the pattern; it’s not optional B1 grammar — it’s daily English.

Common causative collocations you should recognize and produce:

• get a haircut (the noun version) / get my hair cut (the verb version)
• get the oil changed
• have the carpet cleaned
• get the dog groomed
• have the dress altered
• get the laptop repaired

Pronunciation notes

• had my → /hæd maɪ/, often /hæmaɪ/ in fast speech as /d/ assimilates.
• get my → /ɡɛt maɪ/, often /ɡɛmaɪ/ — flap or drop on the /t/.
• have it done → /hævɪt dʌn/ — have it links smoothly.
• V3 endings keep their /t/, /d/, /ɪd/ rules: cut /kʌt/, fixed /fɪkst/, painted /ˈpeɪntɪd/.

Common Russian-speaker mistakes

1. Saying I cut my hair when you mean a haircut: I cut my hair yesterday → I got my hair cut yesterday (or I had my hair cut). Russian “постригся” maps directly to the causative; I cut my hair literally means you did it yourself.
2. Forgetting V3 in causative: I had my car repair → I had my car repaired. The structure needs a past participle, not the base verb.
3. Wrong word order: I had cut my hair (this is Past Perfect of cut) → I had my hair cut (causative). Causative order: have / get + OBJECT + V3.
4. Choosing the wrong passive: A present was given to me (overly formal) → I was given a present (natural). Person-as-subject passive is more common in English than thing-as-subject for two-object verbs.
5. Using to with people in causative: I had cut my hair to a barber → I had my hair cut at the barbershop / I had my hair cut by a barber. Mention the place with at or the doer with by — but usually neither is needed.
6. Confusing causative have with possession have: I have my watch repaired (causative, fine) vs I have a watch (possession, fine). Both exist; context decides.

Summary

• Verbs with two objects (give, send, tell, offer, show, teach, lend, pay) form two passives: person as subject (more common) or thing as subject + to / for.
• Causative: have / get + object + V3 = arrange for someone else to do something for you.
• I cut my hair = self; I had / got my hair cut = someone cut it for me.
• get is more casual; have is slightly more formal. AmE uses get heavily.
• Stretches across all tenses with the auxiliary do/did/will/be.
• Person-as-subject passive (I was given…) is more natural than thing-as-subject (A present was given to me).

Next lesson: reported speech — statements — backshift rules and the basics of reporting what someone said.