Faire mal à vs faire du mal à = to hurt someone

Hi Jay,

If you use the 'Report it' button in your Correction Board, it links to the specific quiz you are referring to and makes it easier for us to answer you.

But in any case, "Marie fait du mal à moi quand elle dit ça" should be -"Marie me fait mal quand elle dit ça .

Hope this helps!

Hi Carole,

Indeed if you have à + les it will become aux.

e.g. Nous avons fait du mal aux parents de Bertrand.

Hope this helps!

 

Bonjour Jennifer !

"Paul me fait mal" means he's hurting you physically.

"Paul me fait du mal" would be emotionally.

Bonne journée !

Merci!

Blesser can be used to connote physical as well as emotional hurt whereas "faire du mal" only works for emtional slights. You have the option, it's your choice. As I understand it, "blesser" stands for more serious injuries, in general.

-- Chris (not a native speaker).

Hi Stephen,

The verb 'blesser' is just another way of saying to hurt/to harm  in French . Both 'blesser' and 'faire mal'  can both used to describe physical and emotional hurt.

Blesser has the advantage of having a noun - un blessé which would describe an injured person sometimes used with a number or a numerical expression to describe the casualties in an accident.

e.g. Il y a un grand nombre de blessés sur les routes tous les ans .= There a large number of casualties on the roads every year.

Se blesser = se faire mal = to hurt yourself

Je me suis blessé(e) = je me suis fait mal = I hurt myself 

You can 'blesser quelqu'un' or 'faire (du) mal à quelqu'un'= which can be either physical or figurative hurt or harm.

Hope this helps!

Bonjour Terri !

I agree with you that this question definitely needed a clearer context, and I've now added it:
___ hier quand je lui ai marché sur le pied. (I hurt Olive yesterday when I stepped on her foot.)

Note: for these types of specific questions, please use the "Report it" button in your correction board in the future  :)

À bientôt !

Bonsoir,
Il va faire mal à ma meilleure amie.
He's going to hurt my best friend. (physically)
Il va faire du mal à ma meilleure amie.
He's going to hurt my best friend. (emotionally)
This is an excellent question because given the two examples above, sans the state in parentheses it would be very difficult to differentiate a translation; however, also in the lesson it states that «faire du mal à» is specific to emotional or psychological pain, hurt while «faire mal à» is specific to a physical hurt, i.e. cut, bruised, kicked, etc.
Votre question m'a plu certainement parce qu'il m'a fallu penser. Merci beaucoup ! Bon travail!
J'espère que ma réponse vous aidera.

Bonjour Antoinette !

This is a trickier question than it looks!
It depends on whether you're describing the whole action of hurting, or if you're focusing on the level of hurt you're inflicting.
Indeed, remember that the expression in French is literally "to do harm/hurt to someone".

1- If it's the whole action (often, never...), then the rule is as usual with adverbs:
- in simple tenses, it comes after the verb =
"Tu me fais *souvent* mal. / Tu fais *souvent* du mal à ta sœur."
- in compound tenses, between the auxiliary and the past participle:
"Tu m'as *souvent* fait mal. / Tu as *souvent* fait du mal à ta sœur."

2- if you're focusing on the level of hurt you're inflicting, therefore qualifying "mal" =
- With "faire mal", the adverb will come before "mal":
"Tu m'as fait *très/extrêmement* mal." (You hurt me very much / badly.)
"Il me fait *vraiment* mal." (He really hurt me.)

- With "faire du mal", because here "mal" is a noun, you will use "beaucoup de" (a lot of "hurt"), etc:
"Il me fait *beaucoup de* mal." (He hurts me a lot.)
"Tu lui as fait *moins de* mal que lui." (You hurt her less than him.)

I hope that's helpful!
À bientôt !

Une réponse superbe! Merci.

Bonjour Debra !

I've looked at this lesson, and made sure there was sound for all examples and questions :)

Merci et à bientôt !