My crib sheet for answering questions: Oui = Agreement to a question
Si = Yes to a negative. "Is the sky not blue? Si, it is blue."
Moi aussi = Me too
Moi non plus = Me neither
Pas = "not" for a partial negative answer "Is the sky blue everyday?" Not everyday.
I find the use of "si" the most difficult to learn but it would be very handy in English. Sometimes we don't know if someone answered in the affirmative to our question. This can lead to all kinds of situational comedies. "Don't you want to have dinner, sweetie?" "Si, I want to have dinner." Yup, works for me.
Don't use 'si' to respond to a question anywhere in French speaking Canada, they will just think you're Spanish. You need to say something like "mais ben oui". My language partner in Quebec had no idea they said that in France.
ReplyDeleteThis is quite interesting. Is it taught in French class that way in Canada? I wonder if my Canadian French spell-checker, grammar-checker would try to correct this "si" situation? Maybe your language partner in Quebec doesn't watch French movies which constantly use this form. My Google translator converts "mais ben oui" to "but yeah" in English.
ReplyDeleteThey teach 'si' in classes at the Alliance Française here but their mission is to spread the language and culture of France and most of their teachers are French. There are no AF locations in Quebec. I don't remember what they taught in high school French classes. My friend doesn't even watch much Quebec cinema, he watches American films to improve his English. He thought I was joking when I told him that people respond with 'si' in France. I am sure there are Quebecers who do watch French films though.
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