In the sentence “Depuis qu’elle s’est fait mal avec le couteau l’année dernière” , why is it not “faite” as the subject is elle, or is it because it’s le couteau that hurt her and not a feminine object noun ?
Subject agreement
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Hi Anita,
No, it is correct... 'faire' behaves differently and becomes invariable in certain cases like this one - se faire mal = to get hurt
You will say -
Elle s'est fait mal au genou = She hurt her knee
or
Elles se sont fait mal en courant = They hurt themselves running
It is the same if 'se faire' is followed by another verb in the infinitive, the past participle of 'faire' will be invariable -
Elles se sont fait construire une maison à la campagne = They had a house built in the countryside
Breaks all the rules but true!
However, in the expression 'se faire à quelque chose' which means to get used to something the past participle will agree in the normal way -
Elle s'est faite à cette idée de déménagement = She has got used to this idea of moving
Hope this helps!
I found your response on “faire/fait” very informative! Thanks Cécile.
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