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Je t'aime


Just Katie
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OK, I know the French speak arse backwards [Www] and that Je t'aime translates to "I you love".  However, I discovered today that if a young girl wants to tell her boyfriend that she misses him in french, we say Tu me manques (sp).  The bit I cannot get my head around is the Tu me bit. 

Frenchie? Missey? Claire/Bernard or whatever your name is? [blink]

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Yes, JK, I know about this one.  It translates as you are missing to me!

However, to use manquer in other senses, for example, I have missed the coach, it is simply j'ai manqué le car.

This back to front thing only seems to happen when you talk about missing people.

If I've got it wrong, some French person will kindly come along and put me right, I'm sure.[:D]

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It reminds me of fumthing when we waz young!

At the time of life when the testosterone and the hormones kick in, the favourite question the boys would ask to girls if they fancied them a bit was : Quelle est ta pointure ?   (What is your shoe size?) 

Never understood it then or now or ever will. I can only equate it that the shoe size must be relevant to the length of the  ... foot ?[8-)] 

[:-))] Shut up Missy !! Sorry [:$] to have brought on disrepute to the forum [:)] 

 

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[quote user="odile"]Missy,   wasn't it the other way round?
[/quote]

Indeed it was missy, it is girls who ask the boys their shoe size.  It is OK, you are French, so speak backwards so you may think it too. [:D][kiss]

Hey long time no.................What's been occurin?

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[quote user="LyndaandRichard"]If je t'aime is I love you, what is French for I like you? Always confused me aimer, as I was always taught at school (by a real French lady too) that aimer is to like, not to love.
[/quote]

Je t'aime bien.

Sounds stronger than Je t'aime but apparently not. Another example of the things being arse backwards.[:D]

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[quote user="Just Katie"]

[quote user="LyndaandRichard"]If je t'aime is I love you, what is French for I like you? Always confused me aimer, as I was always taught at school (by a real French lady too) that aimer is to like, not to love.
[/quote]

Je t'aime bien.

Sounds stronger than Je t'aime but apparently not. Another example of the things being arse backwards.[:D]

[/quote]

Yes, it's like je veux bien.  You'd think it means what I want, what I really, really want (to paraphrase the Spice Girls) and strengthens the "I want".

But, contrary to logic, it merely means "I wouldn't mind........"[:D]

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Use of "manquer" confuses me too but I think (and would welcome confirmation) that if you miss someone or something (in the sense of regretting their absence), you say it "back to front" e.g. Tu me manques = I miss you or Les montagnes me manquent = I miss the mountains. However, for "miss" in the sense of " fail to get", you say it the "obvious" way e.g. J'ai manqué le bus = I missed the bus.
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I have always been confused by the reverse use of  manquer, at first I thought incorrectly that it was a prenominal form i.e. se manquer which at least allowed me to get my head around it in the form of je me manque toi = tu me manques but of course that would not have the es terminaison.

Nowadays even though I am confident that I use the phrase correctly, whenever I say "tu me manques" and "elle me manque" there is  a certain degree of doubt which can be heard in my voice, the worst is when I ask someone close if they are missing me :- "est-ce que je te manque?"

It never sounds right, to my ears I am asking "am I missing you?" the uncertainty in my voice makes me sound plaintive which is not really the way to pose that question [:D]

editted

I usually use "rater" for missing a bus or appointment for fear of saying that the appointment missed me

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