It seems I am not the only one to have difficulty with these three concepts using rappeler. I get it wrong in every A2 kwiz. I think I need a simpler explanation. I feel brain-dead with it at the moment, so I'm going to leave it and come back later. That diamond is going to be elusive!
Complicated or what!!!
- « Back to Q&A Forum
- « Previous questionNext question »
Complicated or what!!!
Marie rappelle ma soeur à ma mère. -- Marie reminds my mother of my sister.
The problem with this construction is that the grammatical roles of the sister and the mother are different in French and English.
French: Marie recalls my sister to my mother. -- Sister=direct object, mother=indirect object.English: Marie reminds my mother of my sister. -- Mother=direct object, sister=indirect object.
Further confusion usually arises when a personal pronoun is used for one or the other person because in this case the personal pronoun moves to a new place in the sentence, according to the rules of word order for pronouns:
Marie la rappelle à ma mère. -- Marie reminds my mother of her.Marie lui rappelle ma soeur. -- Marie reminds her of my sister.Marie la lui rappelle. -- Marie reminds her of her.
Complicated or what!!!
It seems I am not the only one to have difficulty with these three concepts using rappeler. I get it wrong in every A2 kwiz. I think I need a simpler explanation. I feel brain-dead with it at the moment, so I'm going to leave it and come back later. That diamond is going to be elusive!
Don't have an account yet? Join today
Find your French level for FREE
Test your French to the CEFR standard
Find your French level