# EN: c'est moi qui ai



## mari06

"It's me who" me semble incorrect et calqué sur le français. Je dirais plutôt "I'm the one who". Ai-je raison ? Ou est-ce acceptable ? Merci de votre aide.


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## sebastiano.

Non, on peut aussi dire "it's me who".


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## Donaldos

Je pense que _I'm the one who ..._ reste préférable (du point de vue grammatical notamment).


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## afbyorb

It's me who ....  incorrect grammar
It is I who ....


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## Forero

"It is I who have ..." - very formal.
"I am the one that has ..." - standard.
"I'm the one who has ..." - standard, informal because of the contraction.
"It's me who has ..." - colloquial.


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## tedgale

"_I'm the one who has to do the singin'! I'm the one who has to take the raspberries!_"
- Susan Kane, the failed opera singer in Orson Welles' film "Citizen Kane"

I support afbyorb's endorsement _It is I who_. Yes, I really do say "_It is I who am sick, not you_" in normal conversation.

I like Forero's explanations except I really do not think "it's me who has..." should be considered acceptable English. 

Of course, I accept "It's me", as in: Who is there? _It's me. _

But in any more complex sentence, I think standard English should prevail.


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## geostan

Forero said:


> "It is I who have ..." - very formal.
> "I am the one that has ..." - standard.
> "I'm the one who has ..." - standard, informal because of the contraction.
> "It's me who has ..." - colloquial.



Isn't it odd that _It's me who has_ rather than hav_e_" is used? Just part of the colloquialism, I suppose.

Just for the record, I would also say _It is I who have_...


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## Forero

geostan said:


> Isn't it odd that _It's me who has_ rather than hav_e_" is used? Just part of the colloquialism, I suppose.
> 
> Just for the record, I would also say _It is I who have_...


There is a reason _has_ is used in the colloquial version instead of _have_.

The more formal version "It is I who have ..." comes from traditional Latin-based analysis, which says, though the subject with which the verb _is_ agrees is _it_, that what follows the _is_ is meant to be in nominative case ("predicate nominative" is the traditional term). Then since the _who_ clause, taken to be a relative clause, appears to modify _I_, the _who_ becomes first person (singular) nominative and the verb should agree.

But the English language was not based on Latin. Latin-based analysis of English sentences and the prescriptions that go with it were created to help Latin grammar make sense to young students who spoke English natively but needed to learn classical Latin to communicate with the Enlightenment community beyond Great Britain.

None of the versions I listed is "calqué sur le français". The formal "It is I who have ..." is based on Latin grammar but is not really a calque of Latin either since "It is I/me" in Latin is "_Ego sum._"

In Old English, people did not say "It is I" or "It is me" but "_Hit æm ic_". Divided usage between "It is I" and "It is me" began when the verb ceased to agree with _ic_/"I". This divided usage continues today.

Both French and English are noted for what are called "cleft sentences".

An English "cleft sentence" such as "It is ... that ..."  resembles a sentence with a relative clause, but the _it_ is actually a placeholder for the clause that follows, and that clause is really an interrogative clause, similar to, but different from, a relative clause.

Consider the sentence "I don't know who took the book." Even if _you_ took the book, this sentence does not usually mean "I don't know _you_." The reason is that "who took the book" here is usually taken as interrogative, referring not to you the person but to the answer to the question "Who took the book?"

A cleft sentence with an adverbial interrogative works like this:

_How is this done?
__ - Only slowly. _(_How this is done is only slowly._)_ It is only slowly that this is done.
_
Here _only slowly_, I dare say, is not a good candidate for nominative case. Also note that the interrogative word _how_ becomes _that_ in the cleft sentence. 

Similarly, "It is me ..." cleft sentences can arise as similarly:

_Whom do they trust?
- Me. _(_Whom they trust is me._)_ It is me that they trust.
_
_ Who has the key?_ [Notice the third-person verb.]
 - _Me. _(_Who has __the key is me._)_ It is me that__ has the key.
_
_Who was the key given to?
- Me. _(_Who the key was given to is me._)_ It is me that the key was given to.
_
Here the person answering is not thinking of _me_ as an object or subject but just as the answer to a question, like _only slowly_ in the adverbial case.  No attempt is made to have a verb agree with _me_. Because "who has the key" is interrogative, it takes the third-person singular verb _is_ and can be represented by _it_. Again the interrogative word becomes _that_ since the referent of the interrogative clause is not "I", the person, but "me", the answer to the question.

The colloquial version with _who_ shows confusion about the nature of the interrogative clause, but is essentially a cleft sentence. The same thing can sometimes happen, less commonly, in a cleft sentence with an adverbial interrogative: _It is only slowly how this is done._

Sentences like "It is I who has the key" can also be found in the speech and writing of native speakers, apparently confused about the Latin-based usage. What I have never heard from a native is anything like "It is me that/who have the key."

I will add that, even in a normal relative clause, the verb can be confusing: _He gave it to me, who have?_/_has? no idea what to do with it.

_


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## Chris' Spokesperson

I think anglophones just like referring to themselves in the third person. When you say something like _He gave it to me, who has no idea what to do with it. _You are talking about yourself from a remote perspective, you are relating a tale that features you as a participant while sharing the view point of the person you are relating the tale to. A few months ago this vagary of English prompted me to ask whether in French one would say 'C'est moi qui ai' or 'C'est moi qui a' - and of course I was told it is the former.

However I find it a little odd the number of suggestions that are being thrown about without any clear context given. I can see almost all of them being correct in certain situations and some not at all in others.


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## Grop

Hello,

I think that in French we often say _C'est moi qui..._ only to emphasize the subject. In such situations in English you may merely stress it:

_C'est moi qui ai fait la vaisselle._ -> _*I* washed the dishes._

(Likewise _L'état, c'est moi_ is often translated as _I am the state_).

French doesn't play on stress as easily as English.


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## lrosa

Chris' Spokesperson said:


> I think anglophones just like referring to themselves in the third person. When you say something like _He gave it to me, who has no idea what to do with it. _You are talking about yourself from a remote perspective, you are relating a tale that features you as a participant while sharing the view point of the person you are relating the tale to.



Are you sure this mightn't be a Hibernicism?


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## Chris' Spokesperson

Do you think a British person would say _He gave it to me, who have no idea what to do with it _?  I don't think anyone would say that except maybe in pidgin English 

No, it's not an Irishism, it's grammatically correct and stands for all verbs; I go home first / It's me who goes home first. I take the blame every time / It's me who takes the blame every time.


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## jann

Chris' Spokesperson said:


> _He gave it to me, who have no idea what to do with it _





Chris' Spokesperson said:


> _He gave it to me, who has no idea what to do with it. _


The thing is, I wouldn't say either of those sentences.   Neither of them sounds very good to me, regardless of what is grammatically preferrable, so I avoid the problem entirely.  Instead, I'd end up saying something like:

_He gave it to me - the one/person/etc. who has no idea what to do with it._


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## Chris' Spokesperson

Haha, well, you're right there - but it wasn't my example!


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## lrosa

Indeed, I was thinking that non-Irish people might not be mad about either of those sentences! I can see where you're coming from, though


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