Je fais confiance à Marie.

I trust Marie.

Breakdown of Je fais confiance à Marie.

• je: I
• Marie: Marie
• faire confiance à: to trust

Questions & Answers about Je fais confiance à Marie.

Why do we say Je fais confiance instead of using a single verb that means “to trust”?

French doesn’t have a simple verb that maps directly onto English to trust in everyday use. Instead, it commonly uses the fixed expression faire confiance à quelqu’un (literally: to make confidence to someone).

So:

• Je fais confiance à Marie. = I trust Marie.
• Nous faisons confiance au professeur. = We trust the teacher.

You can think of faire confiance à as a unit, like a phrasal verb in English. It’s just how French naturally expresses the idea of trusting someone.

What is the role of à in à Marie? Why do we need it?

In faire confiance à quelqu’un, the preposition à introduces the indirect object – the person you trust.

• Je fais confiance à Marie.
  
  • Je = subject
  • fais = verb
  • confiance = noun (object of the verb)
  • à Marie = indirect object (the person you trust)

You must keep the à in this expression. Without à, the sentence is ungrammatical:

• ❌ Je fais confiance Marie. (incorrect)
• ✅ Je fais confiance à Marie. (correct)

Why is there no article before confiance? Why not Je fais la confiance à Marie?

In the expression faire confiance à, confiance is used without an article. This is just the fixed pattern of the expression.

Compare:

• ❌ Je fais la confiance à Marie. (wrong)
• ✅ Je fais confiance à Marie.

This happens in several common faire + noun expressions where English uses a verb:

• faire peur à quelqu’un = to scare someone (no article: not la peur)
• faire attention à quelque chose = to pay attention to something (no article)

So just memorize the pattern: faire confiance à quelqu’un, with no article.

Can I say Je confie Marie to mean “I trust Marie”?

No. Confier does not mean to trust in the same way.

• confier quelqu’un / quelque chose à quelqu’un = to entrust someone/something to someone, to confide (something) to someone.

Examples:

• Je confie les enfants à Marie.
  = I am entrusting the children to Marie / leaving the children in Marie’s care.

• Je me confie à Marie.
  = I confide in Marie (I tell her my secrets/problems).

None of these simply mean I trust Marie.
For that, you must use:

• Je fais confiance à Marie.

What’s the difference between Je fais confiance à Marie and J’ai confiance en Marie?

They are very close in meaning and often interchangeable.

• Je fais confiance à Marie.
  – Very common, straightforward: I trust Marie.

• J’ai confiance en Marie.
  – Also natural: I have confidence in Marie / I trust Marie.

Nuances:

• faire confiance à is extremely common with people.
• avoir confiance en is used with both people and things/abstract ideas:
  • J’ai confiance en toi. = I trust you.
  • J’ai confiance en l’avenir. = I have confidence in the future.

You wouldn’t say Je fais confiance en l’avenir; that sounds odd.
For Marie specifically, both Je fais confiance à Marie and J’ai confiance en Marie are fine.

How do I say “I don’t trust Marie” in French?

Use normal French negation around fais:

• Je ne fais pas confiance à Marie. = I don’t trust Marie.

In spoken French, people often drop ne:

• Je fais pas confiance à Marie. (very common in casual speech)

How do I turn Je fais confiance à Marie into a question?

There are three common ways:

1. Est-ce que question

   • Est-ce que tu fais confiance à Marie ?
     = Do you trust Marie?

2. Intonation only (very common in speech)

   • Tu fais confiance à Marie ?
     (say it with rising intonation)

3. Inversion (more formal / written)

   • Fais-tu confiance à Marie ?

How do I replace à Marie with a pronoun? What’s the correct form?

For à + person, French usually uses the indirect object pronoun lui (singular) or leur (plural).

So:

• Je fais confiance à Marie.
  → Je lui fais confiance.
  (I trust her.)

• Je fais confiance à mes parents.
  → Je leur fais confiance.
  (I trust them.)

Important points:

• The pronoun goes before the verb faire: Je lui fais confiance, not Je fais lui confiance.
• You don’t use y for people here; y mostly replaces à + thing.

If Marie is female, why is the pronoun lui and not elle?

In French, indirect object pronouns (replacing à + person) are:

• lui = to him / to her
• leur = to them

They do not change with gender in the singular. So:

• Je fais confiance à Paul. → Je lui fais confiance. (him)
• Je fais confiance à Marie. → Je lui fais confiance. (her)

Elle is a subject or stressed pronoun, not an indirect object pronoun.
So:

• Elle fait confiance à Marie. = She trusts Marie. (subject)
• Je parle d’elle. = I’m talking about her. (stressed pronoun)

But for à Marie after faire confiance, you must use lui, not elle.

Is Je fais confiance à elle correct?

Normally, you would NOT say that. The natural, neutral form is:

• ✅ Je lui fais confiance.

You might occasionally see/hear Je fais confiance à elle only for very strong emphasis, and even then, native speakers usually prefer another structure, like:

• C’est à elle que je fais confiance.

For everyday French, just use:

• Je lui fais confiance.

Can I say Je me fais confiance to mean “I trust myself”?

Yes.

• Je me fais confiance. = I trust myself.

Here, me is a reflexive pronoun (myself). The pattern is:

• Je me fais confiance. = I trust myself.
• Tu te fais confiance. = You trust yourself.
• Il / Elle se fait confiance. = He/She trusts himself/herself.
• Nous nous faisons confiance. = We trust ourselves/each other.
• Vous vous faites confiance.
• Ils / Elles se font confiance.

Could I use croire instead, like Je crois Marie to mean “I trust Marie”?

Not exactly.

• croire quelqu’un = to believe someone (to think they’re telling the truth).

  • Je crois Marie. = I believe Marie (I think what she says is true).

• croire en quelqu’un = to believe in someone (have faith in them, in their abilities or goodness).

  • Je crois en Marie. = I believe in Marie.

faire confiance à quelqu’un is specifically to trust someone, to rely on them, count on them.
So:

• Je fais confiance à Marie. = I trust Marie (I rely on her).
• Je crois Marie. = I believe what Marie says.
• Je crois en Marie. = I believe in Marie (I have faith in her).

Context decides which is most appropriate.

Why is it je fais and not je fait?

Because faire is an irregular verb, and its present-tense conjugation is:

• je fais
• tu fais
• il / elle / on fait
• nous faisons
• vous faites
• ils / elles font

So with je, the correct form is fais, never fait:

• ✅ Je fais confiance à Marie.
• ❌ Je fait confiance à Marie.

Do we pronounce the final s in fais in this sentence?

No, not by itself. In Je fais confiance à Marie, fais is pronounced like [fɛ], similar to fait.

• Je fais → /ʒə fɛ/

The final s can be pronounced only if there is a liaison with a following vowel sound (e.g., fais‿attention), but in fais confiance, there is no liaison, so the s is silent.

Can I drop the je like in Spanish or Italian and just say Fais confiance à Marie?

Not in normal statements. In French, the subject pronoun is almost always required:

• ✅ Je fais confiance à Marie.
• ❌ Fais confiance à Marie. (as a statement)

However, Fais confiance à Marie. is correct as an imperative, meaning:

• Fais confiance à Marie. = Trust Marie. (spoken to tu)
• Faites confiance à Marie. = Trust Marie. (spoken to vous)

So:

• Statement: Je fais confiance à Marie.
• Order/advice: Fais/Faites confiance à Marie.