How to say to hurt someone

Question

I was asked to write "she's going to hurt him" and I answered "Elle va faire mal a lui" (accent on a). This was scored incorrect, with a proper answer of "Elle va lui faire du mal". Given that there was no way for me to know whether whe was going to hurt him physically or emotionally, I believe my answer was correct. If not, why?

Accepted Answer

The main problem is with use of “à lui” - either ‘ Elle va lui faire mal’ or ‘elle va lui faire du mal’ . Worth a reread of the section marked “Attention”.

Answer

Hi Claude,When you state "there was no way for me to know physical or emotional" then the point has to be context. For any given situation with respect to "hurting" someone, the context of the written piece would guide you.Don't you agree?Jim

Answer

But there was absolutely NO context in the written piece, as she stated.

Answer

Rebecca, I can’t check, but in that case, both ‘answers’ I indicated - … va lui faire mal or … va lui faire du mal - can be correct. In a drop down answer, usually only 1 correct option is included. In a free form answer both should be accepted. The original post included use of  ‘ … mal à lui’, which is wrong in both expressions.

Answer

I agree with Claude. Nothing in this sentence suggests emotional hurt. You need to rewrite the sentence OR allow both to be correct. va lui faire mal or … va lui faire du mal