Look at these examples:
À Halloween, je fais peur à mes neveux !
At Halloween, I scare my nephews!
Nous faisons peur à Elsa à chaque fois.
We scare Elsa every time.
Tu as fait peur au vieux monsieur !
You scared the old man!
To say "to scare someone" in French, you use the expression faire peur à + noun (lit. to do fear to).
Note: If à is followed by le ou les, use the contracted forms au and aux.
To express the fear of someone using pronouns (i.e. me, you, him...), you will use indirect object pronouns (me, te, lui, nous, vous, leur) in front of faire peur :
Il me faisait peur quand j'étais petit.
He used to scare me when I was small.
Tu es bête ! Tu nous as fait peur !
You're silly! You scared us!
Elle leur fait vraiment peur quand elle fait ça.
She really scares them when she does that.
See also the previous lesson: Avoir peur de = To be afraid/scared of
See also Me, te, nous, vous = Me, you, us, you (direct and indirect object pronouns) and Replacing people with lui, leur = him, her, them (indirect object pronouns)
Learn more about these related French grammar topics
Examples and resources
Elle leur fait vraiment peur quand elle fait ça.
She really scares them when she does that.
Il me faisait peur quand j'étais petit.
He used to scare me when I was small.
Tu es bête ! Tu nous as fait peur !
You're silly! You scared us!
Tu as fait peur au vieux monsieur !
You scared the old man!
Nous faisons peur à Elsa à chaque fois.
We scare Elsa every time.
À Halloween, je fais peur à mes neveux !
At Halloween, I scare my nephews!
Q&A
Steven
Kwiziq community member
24 February 2018
2 replies
Vieux vs Vieil
Chris
Kwiziq community member
24/02/18
Cécile
Kwiziq language super star
23/06/18
Hi Steven,
Could you be more specific in your question?
Thekla
Kwiziq community member
6 March 2018
1 reply
Can’t we say” il m’a fait peur quand j’étais petit?”
Chris
Kwiziq community member
7 March 2018
7/03/18
Hi Thekla,
yes, you could say that. It would mean that there was one occasion when you were small that he scared you. If you wanted to express that he did it habitually when you were small you would use the imperfect in both clauses:
Il me faisait peur quand j'étais petit.
-- Chris (not a native speaker).