Learn English – English equivalent for French “Moi oui”

translation

In French, there are some situations where we say "Moi non" or "Moi oui" (that could be literally translated as "Me no" or "Me yes"). You can use it when somebody told you something and for you, it is the opposite of what this person said; for example:

"I don't know how to open this bottle!"
"Me yes!"

or even in a case like this:

"Nobody knows how to open this bottle?!"
"Me yes."

I am not even sure if this is even completely correct grammatically, anyway, this is not formal language at all.

Do you know how to express that correctly in English ?

Best Answer

If I understand your situation correctly, the normal way to express that in English would be one of "I do", "I can", "me neither", or "Not me":

"Drat! I don't know how to open this bottle."
"I do!" / "Me neither."

"Does anybody know how to open this bottle?"
"I do!" / Not me."

"Can anybody open this bottle?"
"I can!" / "Not me."

A couple of points to hopefully make it clear when to use what:

  • "I do" is the positive response to a statement or question with some (negative) form of "Do" in it; if another helping verb is used instead of do, you respond with that verb as well ("I can" and "I will" are the next most likely). (As StoneyB pointed out, if you are responding to a positive statement like "I can open it", you'd say "Me too", which is essentially short for "I also am able to do that.")
  • "Me neither" is only used after someone says they cannot do something, to say "I also am unable to do that."
  • "Not me" is used to indicate that you do not have the quality or ability that is being requested (generally via a question with "does anybody", "can anybody", "does somebody", or "can somebody").
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