lui avait

had to him/her

→ lui

phrase Uncommon #19,684

had to him/her This combines the indirect object pronoun lui with avait. In context, it often means someone had given, left, or caused something for him/her.

FR: Marie lui avait envoyé un message.

EN: Marie had sent him a message.

La dernière fois, l'admission clinique lui avait fait du bien.

Last time, being admitted to the hospital had done him/her good.

— Benni (2019)

Tom a donné à Marie un des livres que Jean lui avait donné.

Tom gave Mary one of the books that John had given him.

Tom ne voulait pas porter la chemise que sa mère lui avait offerte pour Noël.

Tom didn’t want to wear the shirt his mother had given him for Christmas.

Elle cherchait peut-être ce qui lui avait manqué toute sa vie.

Perhaps she was looking for what she had been missing all her life.

— Vacances à Venise (1955)

Il a dépensé tout l'argent que son ami lui avait prêté.

He spent all the money his friend had lent him.

Il lui avait laissé de l'argent.

He had left him some money.

— Psychose (1960)

Ça lui avait rapporté gros.

It had paid off big for him.

— Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Mon père lui avait dit ça.

My father told him that.

Un gamin lui avait enfoncé un tuyau dans le ventre.

A kid had shoved a pipe into his stomach.

— Infernal Affairs (2002)

Lui avait-on fait des menaces ?

Had he been threatened?

— La dolce vita (1960)

Tom remarqua que Mary ne portait pas la bague qu'il lui avait donnée.

Tom noticed that Mary wasn't wearing the ring he had given her.

Tom l'a probablement acheté avec l'argent que lui avait donné son père.

Tom probably bought it with the money his father had given him.

On lui avait envoyé un câble.

They had sent him a telegram.

— Voyage à Tokyo (1953)

La jeune femme gifla l'homme qui lui avait pincé les fesses.

The young woman slapped the man who had pinched her buttocks.

Il lui avait promis la lune, sans la décrocher.

He had promised her the moon, without getting it.

Tout ça lui avait échappé.

All of this had escaped him.

— Le Dernier Empereur (1987)

Tom coupa le gâteau avec le nouveau couteau que Mary lui avait offert.

Tom cut the cake with the new knife Mary had given him.

Il ne lui avait laissé que ceci.

He had left her with nothing but this.

— Wake Up Dead Man : Une histoire à couteaux tirés (2025)

Tom a trouvé le livre que Mary lui avait donné plutôt ennuyeux.

Tom found the book Mary gave him rather boring.