Tu ne peux t'en prendre qu'à toi-même
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Rod B.Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor
Tu ne peux t'en prendre qu'à toi-même
This question relates to:French lesson "Using [French stress pronouns] + même(s) to express "myself/yourself/etc" in French"
Asked 7 years ago
Rod B.Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor
I’m lost as to how this means You can only blame yourself. I get the Tu ne peux ....que part, meaning You can only, but can you help me with the t’en prendre part? Thanks!
GruffKwiziq team member
Hi Rod, the expression "s'en prendre à [quelqu'un]" is actually quite close in structure and sense as "to take it out on " but it can also mean to blame someone. Hope that helps!
Ron T. Kwiziq Q&A super contributor
Merci Gruff pour votre réponse. I have not seen this locution previously. The words/phrases that I learned are:
reprocher
être responsable, i.e. tu es responsable. . .
attribuer à quelqu'un la responsabilité de qch
Is the phrase «s'en prendre à» an idiomatique phrase?
Bonne journée
Donald H.Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor
Rod/Ron: J'ai eu le même question moi-même. Je pense qu'on pourrait écrire Je ne peux m'en prendre à moi-même. J'aimerais aussi savoir que la phrase soit une phrase idiomatique. C'est très interessante.
Chris W. Kwiziq Q&A super contributor
Just to complement the answer:
French is a pretty idiomatic language, meaning that it relies heavily on the specific meaning of idioms. Of those there are many using "en". You can't literally translate them. Just learn them by heart and start using them. You'll see they work very nicely in everyday speech.
J'en ai marre = I am sick of it.
Tu m'en veux = You are mad at me.
Il s'en va = He is leaving.
Je m'en fiche = I don't care.
There are many more (also using "y"), of which your example is only one among many.
-- Chris (not a native speaker).
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