M'a fait mal

Question

I almost never get an answer to my questions, but I will try once more. I learned that ," J'ai mal a la tete" meant "My head hurts," or "I have a headache, (sorry but don't know the keystrokes here to get accent symbols). Now, in this exercise, it's using "faire" rather than "avoir" to express physical discomfort, but the answer concenrates only on the use of possessive adjectives, not the strange change from "avoir" to "faire." I feel frustrated and very confused. Help!

Accepted Answer

Hi Joanne, 
There are different ways to say something hurts -
Ma tête me fait mal = J'ai mal à la tête 
using two expressions to say the same thing -
Avoir mal à  + le/la/les + part of the body
e.g
J'ai mal aux dents ( à + les = les) = I have toothache
J'ai mal au dos (à + le= au)  = I have backache
J'ai mal à la cheville = My ankle hurts
but you could also say :
part of the body  (using the possessive adjectives)  + me fait mal
e.g.
Mon dos me fait mal = My back is painful
Mes jambes me font mal = My legs hurt
Ma cheville me fait mal = My ankle is painful
Hope this makes things clearer.

Answer

Hi Joanna,
Let me jump in and give my 2 cents' worth.
Faire du mal à quelqu'un = To hurt someone. 
Je me suis fait mal à la jambe. -- I hurt my leg.
Avoir mal à quelque part = To "have pain" somewhere, i.e., something hurts.
J'ai mal au pied car je me suis fait mal quand je suis tombé ce matin. -- My leg hurts because I hurt myself when I fell this morning.

Answer

Hi JoanneI'm sorry to hear you haven't had your questions answered, looking at your list of questions though it looks like almost all of them have been responded to either by our wonderful community members and/or a Kwiziq team member, https://french.kwiziq.com/user/17246 was there something missing in those answers?  We definitely don't want you to feel ignored!Please do let us knowSimon