Breakdown of Cette chaussure me fait mal au pied.
Questions & Answers about Cette chaussure me fait mal au pied.
Why is it cette chaussure and not ce chaussure?
Because chaussure is a feminine singular noun.
French demonstratives change to match the noun:
- ce = masculine singular
- cet = masculine singular before a vowel or mute h
- cette = feminine singular
- ces = plural
So:
- ce livre = this book
- cet homme = this man
- cette chaussure = this shoe
- ces chaussures = these shoes
What does me fait mal mean grammatically?
Faire mal à quelqu’un means to hurt someone / to cause pain to someone.
In Cette chaussure me fait mal au pied:
- cette chaussure = the subject
- fait = does / makes / causes
- me = to me
- mal = pain / badly
So the structure is basically:
This shoe causes pain to me in the foot.
That is why French uses faire mal here instead of building the sentence exactly like English.
Why is it me and not moi?
Because me is the object pronoun used before the verb.
French object pronouns usually come before the conjugated verb:
Moi is a stressed pronoun, used in other situations, for example:
So here, me is the normal form.
Why is it au pied and not à mon pied?
French often uses the definite article with body parts when the person is already shown by a pronoun.
So instead of saying to my foot, French often says literally to the foot, while making clear whose foot it is through me:
- Je me lave les mains. = I wash my hands.
- Il me fait mal à la tête. = It gives me a headache / It hurts my head.
- Cette chaussure me fait mal au pied. = This shoe hurts my foot.
So me already tells us whose foot it is, and French does not usually need mon here.
Why is it au pied in the singular? Why not aux pieds?
Because the sentence is talking about one foot.
A single shoe often hurts one foot, so au pied is natural.
If the idea were that the shoes hurt both feet, you could say:
- Ces chaussures me font mal aux pieds.
Compare:
- Cette chaussure me fait mal au pied. = This shoe hurts my foot.
- Ces chaussures me font mal aux pieds. = These shoes hurt my feet.
So the singular or plural depends on the real situation.
Why is it au and not just à le?
Why does French say faire mal here instead of using avoir mal?
Because avoir mal and faire mal do different jobs.
- avoir mal = to be in pain
- faire mal à = to hurt / to cause pain to
So:
- J’ai mal au pied. = My foot hurts / I have pain in my foot.
- Cette chaussure me fait mal au pied. = This shoe hurts my foot.
The first sentence focuses on your pain. The second focuses on the shoe as the cause.
Could I also say J’ai mal au pied avec cette chaussure?
Yes, that is possible, but it means something slightly different in focus.
Cette chaussure me fait mal au pied.
Focus: the shoe is causing the painJ’ai mal au pied avec cette chaussure.
Focus: I have foot pain when I wear this shoe
Both are natural, but the original sentence is more direct when you want to blame the shoe itself.
Does chaussure mean shoe or pair of shoes?
Why is the verb fait singular?
Is mal an adjective here?
Why is the pronoun placed before the verb: me fait?
Because in French, object pronouns usually come before the conjugated verb.
That is a basic French word-order rule.
Examples:
- Il me voit. = He sees me.
- Elle nous parle. = She talks to us.
- Cette chaussure me fait mal. = This shoe hurts me.
English puts these after the verb, but French usually puts them before it.
Can this sentence also imply when I wear it?
How would I say the same thing if I were talking about these shoes?
You would make everything plural where needed:
Ces chaussures me font mal aux pieds.
Changes:
- cette → ces
- chaussure → chaussures
- fait → font
- au pied → aux pieds
That gives the natural plural version.
Sign up free — start using our AI language tutor
Start learning FrenchMaster French — from Cette chaussure me fait mal au pied to fluency
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓Infinitely deep — unlimited vocabulary and grammar
- ✓Fast-paced — build complex sentences from the start
- ✓Unforgettable — efficient spaced repetition system
- ✓ AI tutor to answer your grammar questions