# Ne suis-je pas adorable ?



## Juju333

Comment dire en anglais quand on rend service à quelqu'un par exemple "Ne suis-je pas adorable?"  avec le sourire?

Peut-on dire:
I'm adorable, am I not? 

Merci!


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## Welsh_Sion

" ... am I not?"

Not impossible. Rather formal.

" ... aren't I?"

More natural. Neutral.

" ... ain't I?"

Colloquial. Informal. Cockney. Not recommended for foreign students to imitate.


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## Juju333

Thank you for your answer Welsh_Sion. But I'll just wait for some English native speakers to confirm. 

Muhahahahaha

(I'm totally kidding of course, inside joke)


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## misterk

I don't get the connection between being adorable and rendering a service.
If a woman put on some clothes that made her look pretty, she might say, "Am I not adorable?"


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## Juju333

I guess it's because in French "adorable" can mean "very nice". Hence the mistake here.


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## tartopom

Am I not sweet?


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## Jim in Phila

In this humorous context, _"ain't I_ sweet?" would work better.


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## elroy

In English, none of these would make any sense in this context.  This seems to be a culturally specific linguistic practice.


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## joelooc

Who's a peach, now?


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## Enquiring Mind

Isn't that nice of me? Aren't I kind? What a nice/kind person I am!


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## Le Gallois bilingue

Il serait aussi possible de dire:_“Aren’t I *just *adorable/Aren’t I just a sweetie/etc”._


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## elroy

I stand by what I said:


elroy said:


> In English, none of these would make any sense in this context. This seems to be a culturally specific linguistic practice.


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## antoine boileau

"Ain't she sweet" is a song written in the US and sung by dozens of artists, very few of whom are cockneys ! And if we can understand "ain't she sweet"" I don't see why "ain't I sweet?" would make no sense.


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## elroy

It wouldn’t make sense *in this context*, because we just don’t do that.  If someone did something nice to me and then said something like “Aren’t I sweet?” I’d be utterly flummoxed.


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## antoine boileau

And this too, would flummox you ? 
_"Love makes me treat you, The way that I do, Gee baby, ain't I good to you ?
Bought you a fur coat for Christmas, Diamond ring, Big Cadillac car and everything
What makes me treat you, The way that I do, Gee baby, ain't I good to you?"_
(1929 song written by Andy Razaf & Don Redman)


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## Şafak

I don't see how this gee baby amazing song has anything to do with the question in #1.


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## antoine boileau

Şafak said:


> I don't see how this gee baby amazing song has anything to do with the question in #1.


I was agreeing with replies N° 2 & N° 6, and questioning reply N°12 which claims that these replies (and similar  ones) make no sense.
In short, "Ain't I sweet?" is, to my ears, a good translation of "Ne suis-je pas adorable?"


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## Şafak

The literal translation is OK but the use is odd in all English-speaking countries. In other words, no one says anything like this after helping someone and rendering a service.


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## Nanon

There are very few people (not to say no one, since this thread has been opened) who say anything like this after helping someone and rendering a service in French-speaking countries, too .


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## antoine boileau

Is it possible that some contributors have not noticed that the question was : "Comment dire en anglais quand on rend service à quelqu'un par exemple "Ne suis-je pas adorable?"  avec le sourire?" and not "comment traduire cette expression bien-connue en anglais?"
I think that writers have the right to use unusual expressions from time to time, and a good translation should try to capture some of the mood of the original (in this case an ironic self-deprecation), even if the resulting phrase is rare (but not unknown, as my examples of well-known songs demonstrate).


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## elroy

All of the “translations” suggested so far sound ultra-cringey to me.  I can’t speak to how the original would sound in French, but the English just doesn’t work, no matter how you slice it.  It’s a disservice to the OP to suggest otherwise.


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## wildan1

In this kind of situation, informally with someone I knew well, I'd possibly say

_Ain't _(or_ Aren't_)_ I a sweetheart?_


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## Keith Bradford

_There, wasn't that good of me?
Say thank you very much now._


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## elroy

A culturally appropriate equivalent might be something like

_See, I can be nice!
See how nice I can be?_

Depending on the context and the relationship between the two speakers. 



Keith Bradford said:


> _There, wasn't that good of me?
> Say thank you very much now._


These, too, are along the right lines.  They may be more likely in UK English than US English.


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## abluter

"Aren't I good to you?" seems to be nearest to the context of the original post.

(budgie) - "Who's a pretty boy?"

(one's teenage son) - "God, I'm ravishing!"
(father) - "Don't you mean 'ravenous'?"
(one's teenage son) - "No!"


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## tswsots

I think I would translate it as "Aren't I just the nicest? " or "Aren't I just the greatest? "

But what someone really says depends a lot on the speaker's individual flair. With my roommates (with whom I have a pretty jokey relationship, and favors are likely to be small), I might absolutely say any of the following...

Welp, I just did your dishes. I know, right? I'm basically the nicest human ever!

I brought in your mail. Who's the best roommate in the whole wide world? YOU'RE WELCOME!!!

Yes, you may have ONE slice of my bread. Aren't I sooo generous?


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## JClaudeK

misterk said:


> If a woman put on some clothes that made her look pretty*, she might say, "Am I not adorable?"


Same in French!
"Ne suis-je pas adorable?"  for


Juju333 said:


> quand on rend service à quelqu'un par exemple


is most unusual! (see #19)


 Voici quelques exemples*:


> Regardez ma bouille, _ne suis je pas adorable_. Nous pouvons être adoptée ensemble ou séparément.
> Voici le chef d'oeuvre: _Ne suis je pas adorable_ avec ma petite robe bleue??????
> _Ne suis je pas adorable_ en maman Schtroumpfette ?


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## Juju333

JClaudeK said:


> Same in French!
> "Ne suis-je pas adorable?"  for "rendre un service"
> 
> is most unusual! (see #19)


I don't see how it's "unusual". It's something you could say and be perfectly understood. My friends can tell me things like that in funny situations (or "Je suis vraiment adorable!", "Je suis un amour hein?"). 
In speech it wouldn't sound weird or out dated at all but I don't think we belong to the same generation. Maybe that explains it.


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## rrose17

Sorry, Elroy but I also think "Ain't I sweet?" or "Aren't I just too sweet for words?" is cute and, at most, a little quirky but definitely not that odd. It would be the equivalent of batting your eyelashes at someone in an ironic way.


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## elroy

I never said it was odd.  I said it wouldn’t be used after doing someone a favor.  I was referring specifically to the context given in the OP.


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## Juju333

So if you ask me to tie your shoes because your fingers hurt and I do it, it wouldn't make sense to you if I said "Aren't I a sweetheart!"?


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## elroy

Right.  I would wonder why you were saying that. 

There are other ways to joke about it in that context.  For example: “You’re welcome!” (said in a certain tone of voice) or “There!  I’m such a good friend, aren’t I?” or “Gosh, what would you do without me?”


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## Juju333

Can we say "sweetheart" instead of "good friend" in your exemple? Such as "There! I'm such a sweetheart, aren't I?"?


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## elroy

You could, if you wanted to ramp up the cringe factor. 😖🥴


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## Juju333

But what if it's not a friend of yours, just an acquaintance and you want to joke around. You can't use "good friend".


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## elroy

There! Now wasn’t that nice of me?


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## ain'ttranslationfun?

"I'm [just/such] a saint, aren't I?" / "Ain't I just the saint?" (Or in my case "sain'tt" ...)


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