Make it happen means to turn a plan into reality, to make sure that something you want actually takes place. People say it about a plan, a dream or an agreement when they take charge of the result themselves instead of waiting for luck. In a team, it often sounds like a call to action: Let's make it happen!
Want to remember make it happen?
Write a sentence — we'll show the mistakes right away and suggest how to say it more naturally.
The check is taking longer than usual. Your feedback will appear here automatically.
make it happen; make + something/someone + happen; make things happen
- We have the budget and the team, so let's make it happen this spring.
- She always wanted to study in Edinburgh, and last year she finally made it happen.
- If you really need the report by Monday, I'll find a way to make it happen.
What changed
First versionWe'll find the money and make it to happen.
RevisionWe'll find the money and make it happen.
After make + someone or something, the next verb comes without to: make it happen, make me laugh. The to slips in by habit from want someone to or ask someone to, where it is needed. The correction only removes the extra to.
Let it happen uses almost the same words but means the opposite: to allow something to happen and not stand in its way. Don't fight it, just let it happen. With make, you act and get results; with let, you let the situation take its course.
Your turn
Anna wanted her café to open by June, so she found a builder, borrowed money and ___.
Show the answer
made it happen — Anna found a builder and borrowed money herself, so she got the café open by her own efforts: made it happen. Let it happen would mean she simply didn't stand in the way of events, but here she took action.
Describe a goal you have achieved. Name the goal and one thing you did that helped you reach it.
I wanted to run a half marathon, and I made it happen by training three mornings a week.
Learn to use new words without mistakes
Write phrases with the words you are learning. LetsWords shows mistakes in usage and grammar, suggests corrections and explains them, and review helps the words stick.