Reflexive pronoun or not?

helen w.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Reflexive pronoun or not?

I was speaking to a French woman today and I said, "My eyes didn't itch":  

Mes yeux n'ont pas démangé.   Elle m'a corrige est dit :  Mes yeux ne m'ont pas démangé.

If the latter is correct, do you use 'me'because you're talking about a body part? If so wouldn't you use "sont"?  Or , is there some other explanation?

Asked 8 months ago
Maarten K.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor Correct answer

Helen, 

the verb ‘ démanger ‘ is not reflexive, but it is transitive, and conjugates with avoir.

There must be an object - and in this case that happens to be you, so the direct object pronoun ‘ me ‘ is used. 

Note the definitions of ‘ démanger ‘, in Larousse and wordeference below

Démanger is not quite the same as what we might just call ‘feeling itchy’ in English. A more direct English literal translation of your sentence could be ‘ my eyes are not making me want to scratch ‘. 

https://www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais/d%C3%A9manger/23200

 https://www.wordreference.com/fren/d%C3%A9manger

CécileNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Hi Helen, 

I would say that the translation in English is just 'to itch'

Please note that it is conjugated like 'plaire', so -

quelque chose vous démange = something is itching

 

Mes yeux me démangent = My eyes are itching

Ça vous démange où ? = Where do you itch?

It can be used figuratively too when 'you are itching to do something', so take a look at the following page with more examples -

https://dictionnaire.reverso.net/francais-anglais/%C3%A7a+me+d%C3%A9mange+de+faire

Hope this helps!

helen w.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Maarten,  

Your explanation: " Démanger is not quite the same as what we might just call ‘feeling itchy’ in English. A more direct English literal translation of your sentence could be ‘ my eyes are not making me want to scratch ‘ really helps here!  And the link to wordreference.com totally reinforces what you said.  Thank you very much! 

Reflexive pronoun or not?

I was speaking to a French woman today and I said, "My eyes didn't itch":  

Mes yeux n'ont pas démangé.   Elle m'a corrige est dit :  Mes yeux ne m'ont pas démangé.

If the latter is correct, do you use 'me'because you're talking about a body part? If so wouldn't you use "sont"?  Or , is there some other explanation?

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