Hello everyone,
Have you ever struggled with some French verbs that really look alike??
Well, who hasn't?
And honestly, some of them are really used daily, like:
"Take you there", "bring you this", "take that", "I hear", "I wait", "I turned it off" and so on.
So, let's see the first group:
1) Apporter, Emporter, Amener, Emmener, Ramener
Ok, they look quite similar, and they are all about the same stuff:
Bring/take with someone/something.
Most spoken languages in the world only have two verbs for all those situations:
- To Bring
- To take
However, the French language splits them into more categories according to the "object" of the phrase and situation. So, that's why it is so confusing.
Instead of simply giving the definitions, let's talk about some real scenarios where you can see them in use (Then we go back to the definition later)
1) You want to ask to bring something to you:
- Could you bring some salt, please?
- Could you bring some napkins?
- Could you bring that thing there?
- Don't forget to bring your laptop next time!
In this case, it is apporter!
Porter you can relate to port (Like Docks); You know, the Docks? That is a port. A place where things arrive and leave by ship. So, apporter = "bring things".
Translating the examples above:
- Est-ce que vous pourriez m'apporter du sel, s'il vous plaît?
- Est-ce que vous pourriez m'apporter quelques serviettes, s'il vous plaît?
- Est-ce que tu peux m'apporter le truc qui est là-bas? (And you point out a thing)
- N'oublie pas d'apporter ton ordinateur portable la prochaine fois
Obs: Pronouns and prepositions you need to figure out according to the situation, like: m'apporter, d'apporter.
2) You want to take something out with you
So, let's say:
- Can I take it with me?
- To eat in or to take away? Take away
Well, in this case, it is emporter!
Same principle.
Porter you can relate to port (Like Docks); You know, the Docks? That is a port. A place where things arrive and leave by ship. So, emporter = "to take things".
So, let's see the translation to the examples above:
- Est-ce que je peux l'emporter?
- Sûr place ou pour emporter? Emporter (Or "pour emporter")
3) You want to take someone somewhere.
Ok, let's see a case like this:
Someone is lost, wants to find the exit, and asks for your help. And since you are nice, you will take the person to that place. Then you say:
- Ah, finding your way out is a little bit hard indeed. Don't worry, I will take you there
In this case, it is emmener!
- Ah, c'est un peu difficile de trouver la sortie! Ne vous inquiétez pas, je vous y emmène!
Obs: "Y" is the pronoun that replaces the place, in this case, "La sortie".
4) You want to bring someone with you
Ok, the same thing as apporter, but in this case, you are bringing someone (Or another living thing: A pet, for example).
- Can I bring a friend?
- Who will you bring with you?
In this case, it is amener!
- Est-ce que je peux amener un ami?
- Qui vas-tu amener? (Or even more informal "Tu amenerai qui?")
5) Ramener = Amener
Ok, this one, I listed directly like above because it is the same as "Amener": To bring someone (Or some living being) with you. It is interchangeable with "Amener".
Definitions:
Apporter: Porter avec soi quelque chose en venant dans un lieu.
Emmener: Mener quelqu'un avec soi d'un lieu dans un autre.
Amener: Faire venir quelqu'un avec soi; Dites-moi ce qui vous amène.
Emporter: Prendre quelque chose avec soi en quittant un lieu; Il est sorti sans emporter ses clés.
Rule of thumb
(To help you memorize them):
Porter: Things
Mener: Living beings
So,
Aporter, Emporter for things
Amener, Emmener, for living beings
Prefix "A" to bring to/with you (I am using "to you" just to be didactic)
Prefix "E" to take with you.
2) Group entendre, eteindre, attendre, atteindre.
Ok, their usage is simple; however, it turns tricky because of their pronunciation since they may sound so similar. There is a slight pronunciation difference between "en" and "ein" (Attendre and etteindre for example).
For this group, I will give you the definitions directly (Because it is not hard to learn their utilization, just the pronunciation).
Entendre
Meaning: To hear
Ex: You are in an online meeting room and unsure if people on the other side can hear you.
So,
- Can you hear me
- Tu m'entends? - Talking to a colleague
- Vous m'entendez? - Talking to some group (Or to someone in formal mode)
Eteindre
Meaning: To turn off
- Who turned off the lights?
- Qui a éteint les lumières?
Attendre
Meaning: To wait
- I hate to wait
- The line was huge!
So,
- Je déteste attendre
- La queue d'attente était énorme!
Atteindre
Meaning: To reach
So, let's say
You reach the max amount of data in your mobile plan and receive a text message from them.
"Vous avez atteint votre limit de 15Gb mensuele. Veillez vous..."
3) Group Passer, depasser and repasser
Ok, the only tricky thing here is not to use passer as "exceed".
Passer means "To pass by or to happen".
For example,
I will pass there | Je vais passer lá-bas |
I passed by him | Je lui ai passé |
She passed by me | Elle m'a passé |
I passed by that store and it was closed. | J'ai passé là-bas et le magasin était fermé. |
What is happening here? | Qu'est-ce qu'il se passe? |
What happened? | Qu'est-ce qu'il s'est passé? |
Depasser
This means "To exceed or surpass".
So, imagine you receive your mobile bill and notice that you have to pay extra money (exceeding the amount you have hired). Then you decide to call customer service in order to figure out what happened. Then they tell you the following:
"That happened because the number of minutes spent in calls exceeded what you hired in your plan. That's why your bill surpassed the value you are used to paying".
"Ce qu'a passé c'est que vous avez dépassé la quantité contractée pour votre plan. C'est pour ça que le montant de votre facture a dépassé le valuer que vous êtes habitué à payer".
Repasser
This means "To iron".
Yes, simply like that, to iron.
- My clothes are still wrinkled. I will iron them again
- Mes vêtements sont encore froissés. Je vais les dépasser encore à nouveau.
Conclusion
Ok, that's it!
I hope you liked it!
See you on the next post.
À toute, àt la prochaine!
Kyle.
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