Whilst not directly on this subject but is anyone able to explain the use of "vaut" from the example. Il vaut mieux le faire soi même.
In French, to emphasise a person's involvement in an action (myself, yourself...), you will use:
moi/toi/lui/elle/soi/nous/vous/eux/elles - même/s
Look at these examples:
Moi-même, je pense que c'est juste
I myself think it's fair
Tu te laves toi-même!
You're washing yourself! (i.e. You do it on your own!)
Il l'a fait lui-même
He did it himself
Nous les avons préparés nous-mêmes !
We made them ourselves!
Vous le dites vous-mêmes !
You say so yourselves!
Ils l'ont dessiné eux-mêmes.
They drew it themselves.
Elles vous accueilleront elles-mêmes.
They will greet you themselves.
Here are the forms:
| moi-même | myself |
| toi-même | yourself |
| lui-même | himself |
| elle-même | herself |
| soi-même | oneself/yourself/ourselves |
| nous-mêmes | ourselves |
| vous-mêmes | yourselves (plural 'vous' form) |
| vous-même | yourself (polite and singular 'vous' form) |
| eux-mêmes | themselves (male or mixed group) |
| elles-mêmes | themselves (female group only) |
Case of "soi-même"
Soi-même is used in general statements and definitions, and is the direct equivalent of oneself.
It is used with the pronoun on (see On = we, one, people) or the impersonal il:
J'ai acheté une armoire à assembler soi-même.
I bought an "assembly required" wardrobe. [Lit: I bought a wardrobe to assemble oneself.]
Il vaut mieux le faire soi-même.
It's better to do it yourself/oneself/ourselves.
On peut assembler les meubles Ikéa soi-même !
One can assemble Ikea furniture oneself!
Dans ce cas, on est soi-même responsable.
In this case, we're responsible ourselves.
In this case, one is responsible oneself.
See also Même can mean "same", "itself", "very", "exact" and "precise" as an adjective, and "even" as an adverb
Learn more about these related French grammar topics
Examples and resources
Il vaut mieux le faire soi-même.
It's better to do it yourself/oneself/ourselves.
Ils l'ont dessiné eux-mêmes.
They drew it themselves.
Vous le dites vous-mêmes !
You say so yourselves!
Il l'a fait lui-même
He did it himself
Elles vous accueilleront elles-mêmes.
They will greet you themselves.
Moi-même, je pense que c'est juste
I myself think it's fair
Dans ce cas, on est soi-même responsable.
In this case, we're responsible ourselves.
In this case, one is responsible oneself.
Nous les avons préparés nous-mêmes !
We made them ourselves!
Tu te laves toi-même!
You're washing yourself! (i.e. You do it on your own!)
J'ai acheté une armoire à assembler soi-même.
I bought an "assembly required" wardrobe. [Lit: I bought a wardrobe to assemble oneself.]
On peut assembler les meubles Ikéa soi-même !
One can assemble Ikea furniture oneself!
Q&A Forum 8 questions, 20 answers
Hi Kris,
It is the verb 'valoir' which meant to be worth something and you can use in the literal way to mean the worth/the price :
Ce bureau vaut 125 € = This desk is worth €125
When used as an impersonal expression with only 'il' or sometimes 'ça'
followed by 'vaut', it indicates a general comment or a saying/proverb.
Il vaut mieux entendre ça que d'être sourd = (It's) better to hear that than be deaf
Ça vaut la peine de venir = It's worth your while coming
Il vaut mieux le faire soi-même = (It's) better to do it yourself
Ça ne vaut pas le coup! = It's not worth it!
Hope this helps!
Kris asked:View original
The use of vaut?
Whilst not directly on this subject but is anyone able to explain the use of "vaut" from the example. Il vaut mieux le faire soi même.
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FanKwiziq community member
why there is no 's' after dessiné?
Ils l'ont dessiné eux-mêmes.
why not:
Ils l'ont dessinés eux-mêmes.
Asked 4 months ago
Hi Fan,
Here, 'le' represents the object they drew themselves which is 'it' in this case in English so it is singular, nothing to do with the subject which is plural.
Hope this helps!
Fan asked:View original
why there is no 's' after dessiné?
Ils l'ont dessiné eux-mêmes.
why not:
Ils l'ont dessinés eux-mêmes.
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JerryKwiziq community member
If vous is referring to a single person, is it vous-même rather than vous-mêmes?
Asked 1 year ago
Hi Jerry,
It would be vous-meme. ( sorry my circonflex accent does not work this morning!)
Jerry asked:View original
If vous is referring to a single person, is it vous-même rather than vous-mêmes?
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CrystalMaidenKwiziq Q&A regular contributor
Sometimes French just uses moi, not moi-même. What about that?
Take this sentence: " Je veux bien le garder pour moi... " instead of, moi-même. I saw this in a French game.
Asked 1 year ago
Chris Kwiziq Q&A super contributor
In my understanding, adding -même emphasises the "self" aspect even more.
-- Chris (not a native speaker).
Chris Kwiziq Q&A super contributor
Come to think of it, there are cases where you need to add -même:
Il a fait ça lui-même. -- He did it himself.
You couldn't say this sentence without the -même.
-- Chris (not a native speaker).
CrystalMaiden asked:View original
Sometimes French just uses moi, not moi-même. What about that?
Take this sentence: " Je veux bien le garder pour moi... " instead of, moi-même. I saw this in a French game.
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Hi Damien,
you are correct in that the past participle does not match the COD in the case of avoir
BUT (and there always is a but!)
except for the case when the COD precedes the particple, in which case it IS matched. Let's look at your example:
Nous les avons préparés. --"les" is the COD and precedes the participle ("préparés"). Since "les" is plural (and apparently not all female), the participle needs to take this into account --> "preparés".
-- Chris (not a anative speaker).
Bonjour Damien and Chris !
Here is the link to our lesson on past participle agreement with the direct object pronoun with auxiliary avoir :
Bonne journée !
Kwiziq community member
nous les avons préparés. Why not préparé? i thought past participle did not change to match subject when avoir is auxiliary.
Kwiziq community member
thanks Chris, very interesting. By the way, what does COD stand for? i would have called "les" a direct object pronoun.
Chris Kwiziq Q&A super contributor
COD = Complément d'objet direct.
Yes, "direct object pronoun" is exactly what COD means.
-- Chris.
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PaulKwiziq Q&A regular contributor
Case of "soi-même"
Is the use of même optional in the examples given using soi-même?
Asked 1 year ago
No, you need "même".
Moi-même
Toi-même
Lui-même/elle-même
Soi-même
Nous-mêmes
Vous-même/vous-mêmes
Eux mêmes/elles-mêmes
-- Chris (not a native speaker).
Chris Kwiziq Q&A super contributor
Sorry, a mistake: it is, of course, eux-mêmes and NOT ils-mêmes, because you need the stress pronoun.
Sorry for that, -- Chris.
Paul asked:View original
Case of "soi-même"
Is the use of même optional in the examples given using soi-même?
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RodKwiziq 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 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
DonaldKwiziq 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 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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LauraKwiziq team member
Bonjour Janice,
The French pronoun soi is for impersonal constructions, so you use it with another impersonal word such as on.
For example, On doit le faire soi-même = One has to do it oneself
Compare that to Tu dois le faire toi-même = You have to do it yourself.
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