# FR: moi, je / toi, tu / me/te <verbe> (à) moi/toi / etc. - pronom disjoint redondant



## Rahela

In the phrase, "Je vais te dire à toi", I am unsure why both "te" and "à toi" are used.  Can you help?  Thanks.

It's from Anouilh's Antigone.  Créon has just learned of the deaths of three characters and he is reflecting on the matter with his page.  He addresses the page, who responds, "Monsieur?", and then Créon says, "Je vais te dire à toi.  Ils ne savent pas, les autres", and Créon then goes on to discuss life's duties.

Does a misprint seem likely?

*Moderator note:* Multiple threads merged to create this one.


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## janpol

ce n'est pas très corret car "te" suffit
c'est une manière d'insister et de sous entendre que je ne dis cela à personne d'autre


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## amelieee

I am looking at the phrase: Moi je n'étais rien. This is the first line of one of Frances Cabrel's songs. My question relates to Moi. I am trying to figure out whether a closer literal translation is: Me, I was nothing OR I was nothing to myself. 

In Spanish all disjunctive pronouns are like object pronouns […] to me. The disjunctive pronoun ([…] moi in French) cannot be the subject. In Spanish you always you "a" or "to". Is this preposition implied in French or can French disjunctive pronouns operate like extra subject pronouns?


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## cropje_jnr

Welcome to the forum.

_Moi_ is often used to simply emphasise the first-person nature of an utterance. It in no other way changes the meaning. The translation would therefore simply be "I was nothing", with appropriate emphasis on the personal pronoun (possibly by placing it in italics). Literally, "me, I was nothing" would of course be acceptable, although this practice of repeating pronouns is far less common in English.


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## Lacuzon

Hi,

What about _I, was nothing_?


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## Gwan

That doesn't work in English I'm afraid. That would be like "je, n'étais rien" which presumably sounds wrong to you in French too (?)
Cropje_jnr is right, in most cases you would just leave off the 'moi' (lui, toi etc.) altogether when translating.


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## jann

Welcome, Amelieee!

In spoken English, we can use the voice to emphasize different words in a sentence (tonic emphasis), thus changing the meaning.  "_I_ was nothing" is different from "I _was_ nothing" which is again different in nuance from "I was _nothing_."  

But in French, the tonic accent possibilities are more limited.  Instead of changing the spoken emphasis, we tend to add words.

"Moi, je n'étais rien" is quite comparable to "_I_ was nothing" (a focus on you instead of other people... as opposed to a contrast between then and now, or a focus on the word "nothing").


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## Doc Justice

_I was nothing before, still I stand here today   
As a keeper of dreams, till the night fades away   
Je l'aime à mourir   
You can tell me again, all the reasons to leave   
[...]

_ This is the English version of the song, quite true to the original, "Until Death Do Us Part".


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## rayloom

Bonjour à tous,

Est-ce que c'est possible de remplacer les objets ou les pronoms objets directs avec les pronoms emphatiques? (après le verbe évidemment).

On m'a appris que ce n'était qu'une faute.

Par exemple:
"J'ai vu toi" au lieu de "je t'ai vu".

Je vous pose cette question, parce que j'ai entendu des formes similaires. En fait, la dernière fois, c'était dans un film français, specifiquement, "Coco avant Chanel".

C'était quelque chose comme:

Coco: "Toutes les femmes te regardent".
Capel: "Toutes les femmes regardent toi". (Dit avec emphase)!!

Malheureusement, il n'y avait pas des sous-titres pour confirmer. Et sur google, je n'ai rien trouvé!

Merci beaucoup 

P.S. I would appreciated any corrections to my question...thanks again.


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## Maître Capello

Le pronom disjoint ne peut pas s'employer seul ici:
_
Je *t'*ai vu_ 
_J'ai vu *toi*_ 
_Je *t'*ai vu *toi*_


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## rayloom

Merci Maître Capello,

Apparemment c'était:
"Toutes les femmes te regardent toi".

Recherchant sur internet, j'en ai trouvé un seul exemple en twitter!!


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## Mr Swann

Je n'ai pas vu le film , mais si le monsieur voulait insister et faire un effet de surprise 
Au lieu de dire
Les gens te regarde
Il dit
Les gens regardent (un silence).   Toi !!!
Pas trés correct mais seul choix acceptable


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## atcheque

Bonjour,

C'est un pronom tonique, emphatique, pour accentuer.
[…]


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## atcheque

It is only to add emphasis. _ What do YOU do? What are YOU doing? _


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