4

I am having a difficulty understanding the meaning of this sentense.

En France, tout le monde parle français, même les enfants.

In particular, what does

même les enfants

mean ?

My attempt at translation..

In France everyone speaks French, just like children. ..Or same as children.

Please correct me.

1
  • 4
    A dictionary would have answered your question.
    – None
    Commented May 22, 2016 at 7:04

5 Answers 5

10

In this case même is an emphasizer. It means even.

In France everyone speaks French, even the children.

6

Même also means even not only same

It has an emphatic role in this case to stress that the children speak it as well!

Example:

Même avec des sacs gonflables perfectionnés...

Even with advanced airbags... You may often see that in cars.

In this example it translates to:

In France, everyone speaks French, even the children.

3

We use it as adjective to identify something is identical to an other OR is is being use in an expressive manner to put emphasis on something.

The best trick I can give you the recognize it is when, même, is not used as a comparative, it often being use like that : ...même qu'il a dit ça. ... lui-même.

It being use almost the same as even in english. For example

Oh!, I can't beleive it !! even him did that ?

Oh, Je peux y croire!! Même lui a fait ça ?

Or sometimes it will be use like you would say himself

This as been written by Mi4_Slayer himself.

Ceci a été écrit par Mi4_Slayer lui-même.

Even the French is my native language, I am no expert in the very depth of it's grammar, but I hope this help you to understand more of it use in a sentence.

Also I am from Quebec and we tend to multipurpose more the word même more than our cousins from Europe. But I think it will be enough to get the general idea.

2

Or "In France everyone speaks French, including children."

1

Possible meanings:
If used before an article: even
If used before a noun: same
If used after a noun: very

1
  • Bad formatting and some incorrect information there. Commented May 25, 2016 at 20:40

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