44 Comments
20
"Me too" without an exclamation mark was wrong for me. Pretty sure that's not supposed to happen. :p
SAME PROBLEM. Unexpected to me as I never put the punctuation and so far it has never been rejected ! Will be more careful next time !
In Russian, I have been told the punctuation is important to let us know when the phrase is actually a sentence, since the conjugation of the verb "to be" is omitted. So "I am too!" is really the best answer when the first letter is capital and there is ending punctuation.
I feel like "me too!" has simply become a fixed phrase for agreement, even if it's not grammatically correct.
"I also" makes more grammatical sense when you replace the implied words ("I am hungry" "What a coincidence! I am also hungry!" not "Me am too hungry!), but it just feels...stilted and not like something anyone would ever say out loud.
"Me, too." is grammatically correct in most instances. For example, if someone said "He rekt us", an you respond "Me too.", you are correct, because you are saying "[He rekt] me too." Saying "I too." would be grammatically incorrect because you are saying "He rekt I too." But however, if someone were to say for example "We are Power Rangers fans.", "I too" would be grammatically correct, because you are saying "I, too, am a Power Rangers fan."
However, "Я" is a subject pronoun (Меня would be the accusative case), while "Me" is an object pronoun. I is the subject pronoun in English. So "I, too" or "I also" would be more correct.
The answer that is accepted is "I am too!" and the key to recognizing the omitted verb is that the first letter of the sentence is capitalized and there is ending punctuation. They are mercifully also accepting the very common English way of putting that which is "Me too!"
- 1808
While мне would translate to "me", "me too" is technically not correct grammar, even though it has become common use (see comments above).
So "me too" can't be translated literally - you have to go with "I" instead of "me". That goes for the other languages I know, as well (German and Spanish).
Pronouns are the last vestige of the case system in English, and when using this construction in speech, we always use the objective case (me/him/her/us/them) in this construction--even when it's the subject (I/he/she/we/they) of the original statement.
Like, "Joe refuses to eat hamburgers. He's a vegetarian" "Really? Him too?"
"The teachers have joined in the public-sector worker's strike." "Them too?"
Even though Joe and the teachers are subjects, "he too" and "they too" only feel right in a complete sentence--and even then, they sound a little affected (He too refused to eat hamburgers. They too joined the strike).
I wonder if there's a logical explanation to it, or if it's just more of English being English.
I had never considered pronouns as the "last vestige of the case system", but that is a great way to describe it!
French also does this (moi aussi! and not je aussi!*), so it's not really that weird.
I dunno if it's not weird so much as it's just that English and French are weird in a lot of the same ways.
RIght...a Frenchman points to 'imself and says "Moi!" Am I wrong? An Englishman says "Me!" Whereas a Dutchman says "Ich!" (by Dutchman I mean German for those of you who don't understand the old ways)or an Italian says "Io!" Probably came over with the Normans.
I would say it depends on the context of "me too". If you tell your friend your teacher gave you a good grade and your friend says, "Yeah, me too", then in German the last bit would be "mir auch" (ie, "me too", and not "ich auch").
I'm curious what a Russian speaker would say about the use of pronouns in tag sentences!
If it is referring to a dative function (eg. someone tells you Преподаватель дал мне мои оценки!) you could and should reply with dative too (А мне тоже!), because you are referring to whom (notice the -m, another case-system relic) the teacher gave the grades to.
I agree. It's the grammatically correct version of me also when the subject of the implied sentence
Any native speaker would say "you also what?" to "I also". "I also" is not grammatical in vernacular English.
- 570
Is this less formal than 'У меня тоже' or are both considered the same? (or is the version I've always heard actually wrong?)
My guess is: у меня тоже would be if you're saying that you also have something, since outside of English, the common thing to indicate agreement is to mirror the case of what the other person said. (In spoken English, it seems to be "me too!" no matter what.)
-
Тебе холодно? Мне тоже! (It's cold to you? [i.e., You're cold?] It is to me too!)
-
У тебя собака? У меня тоже! (You have a dog? Me too!)
Which means you have to pay attention to the case when you're dealing with a transitive verb to know whether you're agreeing with the subject or the object.
-
Она хочет убивать тебя? (She wants to kill you?)
-
Меня тоже! Me too! (She also wants to kill me!) vs. Я тоже! I do too! (I also want to kill you!)
I think that last point is a great way to illustrate the important difference between "me too" and "so do I".
“I too” should be an acceptable answer. Or have we forgotten how English works?
English has a strong French tradition. As such "me too" is usually heard. Similar to "moi aussi". Ironically the U.K. has a much stronger knowledge of French than the U.S., but shuns Frenchisms. I would think you might hear "I too." in the U.K., but "me too" would still have more usage.
I don't know the actual exercise it's referring to as I've come to this discussion from a different route. But I would argue that "me" is used disjunctively here - not in a sentence, so is usually used in the form of "me" not "I". "I" sounds pedantic. It also implies emphasis. There is a slight problem when it comes to the 3rd person. Can we say "she (or he) too"? We would probably say something like "she (or he) does too" OR "she (or he) is too", depending on the context. (You of course never changes). That is, if we use the subject form we would probably make it happy by supplying it with a suitable verb to be the subject of. (Sorry I meant to say "me" used disjunctively implies emphasis - not "I") English often definitely uses "me" ungrammatically as in "Me and John (or more politely "John and me..") went to town yesterday. It should be "John and I went to town..." or is that beginning to sound pedantic now? Funnily enough I have never heard "I and John went.............". Perhaps old-fashioned implies better manners? Just kidding.
I would argue "Me too!" is a sentence. Not unlike "Я Иван". First person: "I want ice cream." Second person: "Me too! (I do too!)" In context a complete sentence. One doesn't yell out "Me too!" in isolation. In Russian "Я тоже!". In German "Ich auch!" In Italian "Anchi'io!" In Spanish "¡Yo también!" (All translated literally as "I too!") But never "I too!" in English. In the negative in English "Not me!" or "Not I!" used in the same context. In this instance "me" and "I" are interchangeable. Which leads to my larger point. The disjunctive compound subject ("you and me") is perfectly consistent with English irregularities.
I've heard from a Russian coworker who told me that "мнё тоже" works for "me too" as well. Is this still correct?
