FR: lui fait perdre

[PotatoTomato]

Bonjour tout le monde!

I have a question regarding the preposition in the construction "Fair + l'infinitif". The following sentence comes from a Canadian government page:

"...Désigne la déformation d'une membrure qui lui fait perdre une partie de ses propriétés de raidissement"

I am not sure why the preposition before "fait perdre" is lui and not the direct object pronoun le. For me, this part seems to mean "....which causes it to lose", so I don't understand where the preposition comes in. Can someone explain why this is the case?

Merci!

 

[Yendred]

The pronoun is lui because the form is "faire perdre X à Y", and lui stands for the indirect object (à Y).

In your sentence, lui stands for implicit "à la membrure". The sentence can be written:
La déformation d'une membrure (subject) fait perdre (verb) une partie de ses propriétés de raidissement (direct object: what is lost) à la membrure (indirect object: what is losing).

 

[Maître Capello]

I have a question regarding the preposition in the construction "Fair + l'infinitif".

There is no “preposition” in lui fait perdre. As a matter of fact, lui is an indirect object pronoun.

 

[PotatoTomato]

Thank you for your responses! I understand that there isn't a preposition, but it seemed weird that an indirect pronoun is used. To me, "fait perdre à la membrure" means "making something lose to the frame", not "making the frame lose something".

 

[jekoh]

It's fairly common for a French verb to take an indirect object when the corresponding English verb takes a direct object, and vice versa.

écouter quelqu'un = to listen to someone
obéir à quelqu'un = to obey someone