# si / beaucoup



## Musical Chairs

I heard this in a song:
"j'ai si faim de toi"

Could you say this instead and not have it sound awkward:
"j'ai beaucoup de faim de toi"

I am confused as to when to use "si" and "beaucoup."


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## Ploupinet

No, you can't. "Si" means "tant", "tellement", in that case I would translate it by "I'm so hungry for you!"


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## Musical Chairs

But what's the difference? How do you know?


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## Ploupinet

Sorry, I should have explained 
Here, this is a shorten way to say "J'ai si faim de toi que..."+sthg: I mean something is expected after the sentence. Usually, when you use this kind of expression, you last a little the end of your sentence, like with "...": "J'ai si faim de toi..." and you wait a while before going on speaking. Is that more clear now?


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## Musical Chairs

OOOH I get it. So you expect an outcome. Like "I am so hungry for you (that)...I might die if I don't see you."

I guess it implies that it's more than just "beaucoup."


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## Ploupinet

No exactly! In that case anyway, "beaucoup" is wrong (in French, you can't "avoir beaucoup faim"), we would say "très", I guess because "faim" has no plural form: "j'ai très faim". Nevertheless... "J'ai très faim de toi" wouldn't be said either!


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## Musical Chairs

Um this is confusing. If you wanted to say "I'm so hungry that I die," what would you say? How about "I'm very hungry, so I die."


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## Ploupinet

This is not the same context! "J'ai si faim de toi" is poetry, for that reason you can't say "très".
But your two last sentences look strange, even in English I think, and I wouldn't say that!


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## Globug

In the case of "I am so hungry, I could die," wouldn't one use something like, 
"j'ai si faim que je pourrais mourir"
in which case we are again using "si" but in a totally different context than the literary version of your poem, n'est-ce pas, Ploupinet?


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## Musical Chairs

Well, I haven't read any poetry in class so I'd have no idea. I know the last two sentences are extreme, and I think the last one is awkward. The first one isn't that awkward. I just wanted more examples.

So say this is NOT poetry. Then how would you say those sentences?


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## Ploupinet

Globug said:


> In the case of "I am so hungry, I could die," wouldn't one use something like,
> "j'ai si faim que je pourrais mourir"
> in which case we are again using "si" but in a totally different context than the literary version of your poem, n'est-ce pas, Ploupinet?


 No, this is the same context! ("J'ai si faim _("de toi" or not)_ que je pourrais en mourir")



Musical Chairs said:


> Well, I haven't read any poetry in class so I'd have no idea. I know the last two sentences are extreme, and I think the last one is awkward. The first one isn't that awkward. I just wanted more examples.
> 
> So say this is NOT poetry. Then how would you say those sentences?


Your last sentences are so strange that I'm not able to give you a translation as I don't understand what they mean 
But to sum it up:
- you can't use "beaucoup" with "avoir faim"
- you might "avoir très faim"
- you can "avoir si faim que..." you could die of it for instance, but that's it
- you can't "avoir très faim de quelqu'un", this is not poetic so strange! ("j'ai si faim de toi..." is as strange as that, BUT this is poetry and then comprehensible )


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## Globug

pardon, it is the same context because the "que" of the song lyrics is implied. je suis en d'accord.


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## Musical Chairs

Ploupinet said:


> No, this is the same context! ("J'ai si faim _("de toi" or not)_ que je pourrais en mourir")
> 
> 
> Your last sentences are so strange that I'm not able to give you a translation as I don't understand what they mean
> But to sum it up:
> - you can't use "beaucoup" with "avoir faim"
> - you might "avoir très faim"
> - you can "avoir si faim que..." you could die of it for instance, but that's it
> - you can't "avoir très faim de quelqu'un", this is not poetic so strange! ("j'ai si faim de toi..." is as strange as that, BUT this is poetry and then comprehensible )



This is very confusing. So, you can use "beaucoup" with "avoir" but not when the noun has no plural (like love, peace, etc).

Still confused about when you can use "si" and not. How about these:
"Je suis si triste que je ne peux pas manger."
"J'ai beaucoup de pommes, alors je les mange."
"J'ai si chaud que je ne peux pas marcher."


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## Ploupinet

Exactly! You got it


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