"Ma fille tousse alors je l'emmène chez le médecin."
Translation:My daughter is coughing, so I'm bringing her to the doctor's.
39 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
1825
Same old, same old. Duolingo still has to learn that in sentences like this, English uses TAKE not bring.
908
I am totally American - never been out of the country for more than 8 days - and I wrote "taking"!
1332
But we do say "I'm bringing macaroni salad to the potluck" and "We brought our nephew with us to the festival."
The distinction between bring and take is very murky in real life. And I've read that it's just as murky among francophones with amener and emmener. A little flexibility is called for.
2111
Hi Richard. Someone can ask you to bring macaroni salad and you can reply: Yes I will bring macaroni salad. You can only say 'We brought our nephew with us' if you are already at the festival. It's not murky, just that people grow up saying what is commonplace in their own area. Doesn't make it right though, the correct usage is clear.
Ro0odie's phrase is locational projection - putting yourself into the space and/or time of another person or event. It's often done on the phone, where your voice is with your interlocutor. As in his "I'm bringing macaroni salad to the potluck," or "I'll bring the wine." It's almost a kind of instinctive courtesy-of-togetherness and is done in letters and emails, and video calls, too. As for the amener/emmener thing, whew! It has been claimed they are direct bring/take equivalents. I don't think so. There is frequently an element of 'taking to' in the first, and 'staying with after arrival' in the second, but not always.
2111
@clive143810. Hi Clive. I agree that both your examples are correct. But they are not the same as 'I'm bringing her to the doctor's' which is wrong. It's not wrong if you are on the phone to the doctor's receptionist and say 'I'm bringing my daughter to see the doctor'. We don't even need to consider 'emmener' and 'amener' when formulating an English sentence. The important thing is to convey the right meaning and to end up with an English sentence that uses 'bring' or 'take' correctly. As I previously said, it's also correct to say 'We brought our nephew with us' as long as you are already at the festival when you say that. But it is clearly wrong to say: 'We brought our nephew with us to the festival' if you are telling someone about something that has happened in the past. It must be 'We took our daughter with us to the festival'.
Hi, aussie3931. I agree with you; I was just stringing a couple of points together. Some of us have noted before that Duo can straw-suck its way towards the 'colline-guillaumy' (hillbilly) locution. This use of 'bring' is a bit like that. I am hoping the register in French is more standard, and Sitesurf sometimes (and very usefully) points these things out. By the way, I just looked up 'hillbilly' and there are dozens of words and expressions. 'Péquenaud' (pron. peck no) seems quite popular: "Pas mal pour un péquenaud des Pyrénées" - Not bad for a yokel from the Pyrénées."
2310
The use of "bring" where GB English speakers would typically use "take" is a well-known characteristic of Hiberno-English, and derives from Irish grammar.
I daresay it sounds odd if you're not used to it, but that doesn't make it "not proper English", just a different variety.
939
This is heard mostly from young children and those in elementary school, the same who would say, "I don't got a pencil." Teachers struggle to correct these errors but obviously don't succeed in every case.
2793
Taking!!!!! You bring something or someone from somewhere to where you are. You take something or someone from where you are to somewhere.
2111
Under certain circumstances, yes. If you are talking to a host of a planned dinner party you can say you will bring nibbles or an entrée or sweets. But when you are going there, perhaps in the car with your partner, you can only say (to your partner) 'We are taking.....' If you are in the car, on the way to the dinner party and someone rings you to ask what you are bringing, then you can say 'We are bringing.....'. Do you agree?
139
'My daughter has a cough so I'm taking her to the doctors' marked wrong. Shame because that's the perfect translation.
470
This should use amener, not emmener, correct? Emmener indicates you're dropping her off. Amener indicates you're going with her.
939
We must all learn to be patient. Duo is still struggling with the concepts of come and go, bring and take, up and down...
2111
That's very generous of you Gord. This particular error has only been there for a year:-)
772
Don't do that, the doctor won't thank you. Keep her warm indoors and buy her a packet of cough sweets!