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Fri 25 Jul, 2008 10:44 pm
I would like to know when is it appropriate to use tu, toi, and vous. (is toi the conjucation of tu by any chance?) Those are the 3 I know of. Is there any other ones out there? According to the dictionary, vous is the general form/ informal way to address the word "you". If I want to say something like you are my super star or you are my motivation and strength... would it be corret to use vous estes? And how would you translate that sentence?
It is similar to the question above. Mon, mes, and ma are the same as "my". I understand that mes is the plural form. What I don't get is the differece between mon and ma. Can someone please clarify that for me? tnx.
Vous is used
1. When we want to be polite, e.g. when a child or younger person is addressing an adult they are not related to or know well, such as an older person or teacher, or when an adult is speaking or writing to a supervisor, boss, customer, etc.
2. When addressing a group consisting of more than one person.
Tu is used to address friends, children, close relatives etc. It is also used to convey rudeness so beware! I mean, in situations when a person would normally use vous, if they use deliberately use tu they are being rude. Like for example a policeman telling a hobo to move on, or a gang member insulting a member of a rival gang, or someone spoiling for a fight, or a master speaking to a slave.
we use mon when the thing being referred to is masculine in gender and ma when it is feminine. Mon bras (my arm) but ma main (my hand).
It sounds like you are just starting out learning French. It is great fun to learn a new language, and I don't want to spoil it for you by taking away the fun of learning how to translate, so I won't translate the sentence you ask about. You should be asking your teacher these things.
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