Kissed themselves

Clarissa B.C1Kwiziq community member

Kissed themselves

In English we do not say they kissed themselves. I see this has been discussed before. It is an incorrect translation

Asked 2 years ago
CélineNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Bonjour Clarissa,

Maarten is correct here. Please follow the link below too: 

unusual-english

I hope this is helpful.

Bonne journée !

Jim J.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Hi Clarissa,

I can't find where it translates to "kissed themselves". This is clearly not correct although may be a literal translation. 

The meaning is  "They kissed each other"

I suspect you already realise this anyway?

Jim

Maarten K.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

"Then the 2 actors on stage kissed themselves". "You mean they kissed each other?" "No, I mean they each kissed themselves, not each other". Yes, it is unusual and weird, but the same can happen in English. 

The point of the examples though is that French uses pronominal verbs frequently, and it is often necessary to know context to understand whether the verb is being used in the reflexive or reciprocal form.

Kissed themselves

In English we do not say they kissed themselves. I see this has been discussed before. It is an incorrect translation

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