# FR: She can’t have seen me



## Spaciale

Hi everybody ))

Tell me please how can I translate the following phrase:

*She can’t have seen me*

Elle a dû ne pas m'avoir vu
              or
Elle n'a pas dû m'avoir vu?
(In the translation I should use the probability expressed by "must" devoir)

It's complicated for me...

Thank you in advance for your help


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## Chimel

I can fancy it's not easy...

The rule is: put one of the two verbs in the past, _devoir _or the infinitive, but not both. And use prefarably the negation with the infinitive, not with d_evoir._

So you have the choice between *Elle a dû ne pas me voir *(which is what I would say) and _Elle doit ne pas m'avoir vu _(which is also fine).

NB: You may also use the negation withe _devoir_, if you absolutely want to : Elle n'a pas dû me voir /  Elle doit ne pas m'avoir vu.


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## geostan

The meaning of the sentence is: _ll n'est pas possible qu'elle m'ait vu._ So you should use pouvoir not devoir.


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## Spaciale

Thank you very much for your help and very clear explanations. Now I undestand the principle.


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## Oddmania

As Geostan suggested, I would use the verb _pouvoir _(_can_).

_Elle n'a pas *pu *me voir._

The English sentence means that it's impossible (_I was hidden, so she can't have seen me_).
_
Elle n'a pas dû me voir_ (or _Elle a dû ne pas me voir_, more uncommon) simply conveys an hypothesis : _She mustn't have seen me_ (_I don't think she's seen me_).


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## jann

Actually, I'm afraid the English sentence is just as problematic as the French translation... or perhaps its ambiguity explains the difficulty of translation. 

"She can't have seen me" may be a statement of objective fact: you positively declare she did not see you because you know that it would have been physically impossible for her to do so.  She can't have seen you because you weren't there, because you were 100% hidden, because she was in the other room, because she's blind, etc. 

But "She can't have seen me" may also be a hypothesis:  based on your observations of what happened, based on the sequence of events from your own point of view, you think it unlikely that she saw you.  Perhaps think she didn't see you because if she had, she would have acted differently.  Perhaps you took great care not to be observed and you think you were successful in avoiding detection. Etc.

Since spatiale mentioned "probability" in post #1, I suspect that the intended meaning is the hypothesis, not the statement of objective fact.


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## Frenchrescue

Hello,

Just to give you my "first idea" : I would have translated "She can't have seen me" with "_Elle ne peut pas m'avoir vu_".

Hope it will help,

French rescue


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## Chimel

Oddmania said:


> _Elle n'a pas dû me voir_ (or _Elle a dû ne pas me voir_, more uncommon) simply conveys an hypothesis


You're right. Now that I think of it, I also feel that "Elle n'a pas dû me voir" is probably more common, contrary to what I wrote.

Anyway, it's up to the speaker to decide if he means an objective fact or an hypothesis, but what the grammatical structure is concerned, he should put only one verb in the past and he can place the negation by _pu__/_dû or by the infinitive. So there are theoretically four possibilities. The one with the main verb in the past and the negation (elle n'a pas dû/pu me voir) is perhaps more common, but the other three are also all right. Frenchrescue, for instance, obviously prefers the one with the main verb in the present:


> [I would have translated "She can't have seen me" with "_Elle ne peut pas m'avoir vu_".


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## jonnyricho

My suggestions are:

Elle ne pouvait pas m'avoir vu

sûrement elle ne m'a pas vu


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## Enquiring Mind

Spaciale said:


> (In the translation I should use the probability expressed by "must" devoir)


Donc: Elle n'a pas dû me voir.


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## L'Inconnu

Oddmania said:


> _Elle n'a pas *pu *me voir._
> The English sentence means that it's impossible (_I was hidden, so she can't have seen me_).



<couldn't> sounds more natural to me. <can't> strikes me as being rather British. But, regardless you would use it if you were fairly certain that she han't seen you. 

"I was very careful, so she _*couldn't*_ have seen me." (Quite certain)

You could also use <couldn't> if there was some chance that she _*had*_ seen you, and you want to reassert that it was not possible. 

"How did you find out? She *couldn't* have seen me!?" (fairly certain, but you have some doubt)

You would use <must> if there was *no* sign or indication that she had seen you. 

"Well, she didn't mention anything. She _*mustn't *_have seen me." (quite certain).


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## undergreenwoodtree

Alors, si je voulais dire "I can't [possibly] have used that much paper!" c.-à-d. il y a du papier qui manque et je ne crois pas que je l'aie utilisé (bien que j'en aie utilisé), puis-je dire "Je n'ai pas pu utiliser tant de papier" ou vaudrait-il mieux dire "Il est impossible que j'aie utilisé tant de papier" ?

 Merci


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## Oddmania

No, your first try sounds much more idiomatic  Maybe you could say _Ce n'est pas possible, je n'ai pas pu utiliser tout ce papier! _to make it sound even more idiomatic.

_C'est impossible que j'ai utilisé..._ sounds like a plain statement, not a dynamic exclamation.


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## Hurlevent

"Elle n'a pas dû me voir" = she probably didn't see me. "Pouvoir" and "devoir" have many different meanings in French.


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