Soi vs. soi-même

Joseph K.B2Kwiziq community member

Soi vs. soi-même

Why doesn’t Kwiziq also accept “ On ne pense que soi-même”?

Asked 2 years ago
N. Hilary (Shamrockhill) W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor Correct answer

Hi Jim and Joseph,

I believe that the sentence should read: "On ne pense qu'à soi."  

Or: "On ne pense qu'à soi-même"  

Both Larousse and Collins dictionaries list "soi-même" as a personal pronoun. 

Here is the entry from Collins Dictionary:

soi-même oneself ⧫ yourself

 

Pour l’apprendre aux autres il faut le savoir soi-même. To teach it to other people you need to know it yourself. ⧫ To teach it to other people one needs to know it oneself.

 

 

soi-même [swamɛm ]

PRONOUN oneself

Il vaut mieux le faire soi-même. It’s better to do it yourself.

 

 

 

Jim J.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Hi Joseph.

Soi-même is not a stress pronoun.

Bonne continuation.

Jim 

N. Hilary (Shamrockhill) W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Bonjour Joseph,

"Soi-meme" is indeed a stress pronoun. 

Here is the link to the French Grammar Topic on Stress Pronouns in Lawless French:

Pronom disjonctif: Pronoun Type. How to use Pronom disjonctif in French (lawlessfrench.com)

And, here is the link to the Lesson on Stress Pronouns using meme:

French lesson: Using [French stress pronouns] + même(s) to express "myself/yourself/etc" in French (lawlessfrench.com)

I suspect that your sentence was not accepted because it should read:

"On ne pense qu'a soi-meme." (vs. "On ne pense que soi-meme.") When using "penser" to express to "think about/of someone" it is followed by "a". 

When expressing an opinion of something/someone, "penser" uses "de". 

As in: "Que penses-tu de ce roman?" 

I hope this helps.

Bonne Continuation !

P.S. You may have to copy and paste the links I gave you.

Soi vs. soi-même

Why doesn’t Kwiziq also accept “ On ne pense que soi-même”?

Sign in to submit your answer

Don't have an account yet? Join today

Ask a question

Find your French level for FREE

Test your French to the CEFR standard

Find your French level
Getting that for you now...