In French, to emphasise a person's involvement in an action (myself, yourself...), you will use:
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) |
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.
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!
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!
You're washing yourself! (i.e. You do it on your own!)
I thought when it means on your own it is 'tout seul'. Is this phrase idiomatic, and doesn't necessary mean 'washing'? I am confused with i.e. you do it on your own. For example, can I use this phrase to say a kid baked a cake on his own?
You're washing yourself! (i.e. You do it on your own!)
I thought when it means on your own it is 'tout seul'. Is this phrase idiomatic, and doesn't necessary mean 'washing'? I am confused with i.e. you do it on your own. For example, can I use this phrase to say a kid baked a cake on his own?
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What is the French translation for " The director sweeps the floor himself" (Not the cleaner, not his employees, not someone else, but the director himself who sweeps the floor)?
Hi Joan,
Moi-même doesn't mean on my own, it just means, myself which is not the same thing
You would use 'tout seul' for, on my own -
Je travaille mieux tout (e) seul(e) = I work better on my own
Je l'ai fabriqué moi-même means you made it yourself, you didn't buy it.
Hope this helps!
What is the French translation for " The director sweeps the floor himself" (Not the cleaner, not his employees, not someone else, but the director himself who sweeps the floor)?
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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.
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!
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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why not:
Ils l'ont dessinés eux-mêmes.
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!
why not:
Ils l'ont dessinés eux-mêmes.
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Hi Jerry,
It would be vous-meme. ( sorry my circonflex accent does not work this morning!)
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In my understanding, adding -même emphasises the "self" aspect even more.
-- Chris (not a native speaker).
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).
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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 !
COD = Complément d'objet direct.
Yes, "direct object pronoun" is exactly what COD means.
-- Chris.
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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).
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