Learn Italian: Il fantasma mi fa paura.

Il fantasma mi fa paura.

The ghost scares me.

Breakdown of Il fantasma mi fa paura.

to scare (mi fa paura = it scares me)

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Questions & Answers about Il fantasma mi fa paura.

Why is it il fantasma if the word ends in -a?

Fantasma is one of those exception words in Italian that end in -a but are actually masculine. Many of these masculine words ending in -a come from Greek (like il problema or il sistema). Because it is masculine, it takes the masculine article il.

Why does Italian use fa here instead of a verb for "to scare"?

In Italian, the most common way to express that something scares you is to use the phrase fare paura a (literally, "to make fear to"). So instead of saying "The ghost scares me," Italians literally say "The ghost makes fear to me."

Is mi a direct or indirect object pronoun in this sentence?

It is an indirect object. Because the full expression is fare paura a qualcuno (to make fear to someone), the pronoun mi actually stands for a me (to me).