Recently, I have found a French relative on the net and I want to tell him:
I also have a vague memory of the old days.
How can I say the sentence above and specially the "old days" in French that can correctly convey the meaning?
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5 Answers
When you're speaking of something or someone becoming old, like in "You're really losing it in your old days", you can use "sur tes vieux jours". But in this case you've got, this seems to be a friendly conversation, and you remember good times you had with your friend (I hope so). So you should use "Je me souviens du bon vieux temps", where "le bon vieux temps" refers to an old time you lived with your friend.
Please note that "Le bon vieux temps" has a positive meaning. You cannot use it everytime you speak about something old.
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1Thanks for the very nice answer. But, this guy left to live in France when we were about 5~6 years old both and we both have very unclear but good memories of each other. I want to highlight the fact that I "vaguely" remember him. Commented Jan 6, 2016 at 12:53
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1@user2326844 I think I misunderstood what you wanted to highlight :P You can still use "le bon vieux temps", but to emphasise the fact that do not have clear memories of that time you can use "J'ai de vagues souvenir de ce bon vieux temps", or "Je me souviens vaguement de cette époque".– NicoCommented Jan 6, 2016 at 12:59
Je me souviens encore vaguement de cette époque / de ce temps là / des jours passés (eventually followed by "où...", "when...")
J'ai aussi une mémoire vague du temps jadis.
"Jadis" is a more poetic term, if you prefer.
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1I think that "jadis" is an adverb, not an adjective: Je me souviens que nous étions jadis etc., it qualifies a verb and isn't used to qualify a noun such as temps.– ChrisWCommented Jan 7, 2016 at 9:23
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@bhbr Maybe you could update the example phrase. Place "Jadis" as you would "A long time ago".– rolfedhCommented Jan 7, 2016 at 17:56
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3Temps jadis is actually correct French, jadis is both an adverb and an adjective. However j'ai une mémoire vague is an anglicism and should be something like j'ai un vague souvenir.– jlliagreCommented Jan 7, 2016 at 18:12
J'ai un vague souvenir de ces moments.
Becareful mes/tes vieux jours doesn't meaning the same thing. Is old people use that, to speak of the future days (days remaining).
When you speak of memory, you can use moment. It's usual use.
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+1 J'aime bien la notion de "moments" ici. Est-ce que "ces moments [si] lointains" serait idiomatique pour renforcer un peu l'idée de "old"? Commented Jan 6, 2016 at 22:55
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I think the translation would be: J eme souviens encore vaguement des jour passés or it would be better if you said des bons jours.
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Welcome! You can edit content by clicking the edit link below each post. Please also take a look at the other answers before answering, as je me souviens encore vaguement des jours passés is already mentioned (Manuel's answer). Thank you.– user3177Commented Jan 9, 2016 at 0:43