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- Topic: Russian >
- "Я тоже!"
47 Comments
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.
2344
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 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!
1093
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.)
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Тебе холодно? Мне тоже! (It's cold to you? [i.e., You're cold?] It is to me too!)
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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.
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Она хочет убивать тебя? (She wants to kill you?)
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Меня тоже! Me too! (She also wants to kill me!) vs. Я тоже! I do too! (I also want to kill you!)
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.
487
Listening exercise and I thought I heard him say и я тоже (and me too/So do I). Hard to hear actually without context. Maybe it should be allowed? Not important really.