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.
Literally : "to do/give fear to [someone]"
If à is followed by le or les, use the contracted forms au and aux.
To scare [me, you, him...]
To express scaring someone using pronouns (me, you, him, her, us, them), you will use:
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
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!
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!
Q&A
Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
5/09/18
Bonjour Terry !
On dira plutôt : "Ne me fais pas peur comme ça !"
Bonne journée !
Terry
Kwiziq community member
5/09/18
Chris
Kwiziq community member
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).
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?
Kelly
Kwiziq community member
19 March 2019
3 replies
"If à is followed by le ou les, use the contracted forms au and aux."
Kelly
Kwiziq community member
19 March 2019
19/03/19
Sorry I accidentally pressed something and the message was sent (twice!)
I meant to say that I think the word "ou" should be "or" (in English) to avoid confusion in the above quoted sentence.
Cécile
Kwiziq language super star
24 March 2019
24/03/19
Hi Kelly,
Has been flagged up....
Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
26 March 2019
26/03/19
Merci beaucoup Kelly !
Cela a été corrigé :)
Bonne journée !