rappeler quelqu'un

Laura C.C1Kwiziq community member

rappeler quelqu'un

Salut

This lesson is giving me more grey hairs! I get it wrong constantly!

On the test, you ask “How would you say "You remind him of Audrey Hepburn." ?
the correct answer is: Tu lui rappelles Audrey Hepburn.

 

My answer is marked as incorrect “Tu rappelles Audrey Hepburn à lui.”

 

But in the lesson you say:

 Il rappelle son ex à Maria. He reminds Maria of her ex.

Elle rappelle sa sœur à Alain. She reminds Alain of his sister.

Thanks

Best, Laura 

Asked 3 days ago
Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor Correct answer

Indirect object pronouns already have the preposition à "built in", you don't need to say à lui. Furthermore, those pronouns jump forward in the sentence:

Il rappelle son ex à Maria. --> Il lui rappelle son ex.

Jim J.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Bonjour Laura,

This is very tricky, I agree.

"Tu lui rappelles Audrey Hepburn."

From the lesson:-

"With object pronouns (He reminds me, you, him...):

You will use indirect object pronouns before rappeler :

me/te/lui/nous/vous/leur + rappeler + person one is reminded of"

The French grammar does not use (remind of ...) as we expect in English.

Perhaps we need to see what a staff expert can offer to further clarify beyond the lesson text.

Bonne journée

JIm

Anne D.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

I think there are two problems here. Firstly, the English "remind" doesn’t mean quite the same in "He reminds me of someone" as it does in "I remind him to do something". Secondly, as mentioned below,"rappeler" doesn’t take a direct object, the person being reminded is introduced by à  (or is substituted by lui or another indirect object pronoun). 

Likewise, the French translations have differing constructions: "Il rappelle son ex à Maria", rappelle is nearer to "he recalls /brings to mind her ex to Maria". Whereas "Marie rappelle à Luc de faire la vaisselle" aligns better with the English usage, except that again it’s à + the person being reminded.

Laura C. asked:

rappeler quelqu'un

Salut

This lesson is giving me more grey hairs! I get it wrong constantly!

On the test, you ask “How would you say "You remind him of Audrey Hepburn." ?
the correct answer is: Tu lui rappelles Audrey Hepburn.

 

My answer is marked as incorrect “Tu rappelles Audrey Hepburn à lui.”

 

But in the lesson you say:

 Il rappelle son ex à Maria. He reminds Maria of her ex.

Elle rappelle sa sœur à Alain. She reminds Alain of his sister.

Thanks

Best, Laura 

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