Why is fait mal à moi incorrect ?

Question

Mon frère ________ quand on joue ensemblewhy me fait mal is correct but fait mal à moi is incorrect ?

Accepted Answer

Hi Phuc,
Just to add to Jim's excellent answer, this is just the way it is.
You will hear very very young native children (when learning to speak French) say -
Il a fait mal à moi = He hurt me 
This is called a logical error, as children learn grammar patterns in a logical manner without the exceptions to start with.
You will never hear an older child or adult say this.
It should be -

Il m'a fait mal = He hurt me
Il t'a fait mal = He hurt you
Il lui a fait mal = He hurt her/him
Il nous a fait mal = He hurt us
Il vous a fait mal = He hurt you
Ils leur a fait mal = He hurt them

Bonne Continuation !

Answer

Bonjour Phuc From the lesson:-"ATTENTION: To use both these expressions with to hurt me/you/him/her/us/you/them, you will use me/te/lui/nous/vous/leur before the whole expression in simple and compound tenses"This points out that direct or indirect objects are used in expressions, but your proposed sentence contruction uses "moi" which is a stress pronoun rather than a direct or indirect pronoun as per the lesson note above."Mon frère m'a fait mal quand on joue ensemble" should be acceptable where "m'a" represents me before the vowel of auxiliary "a". Bonne journéeJim