 now.
- Apporter is only for inanimate things you can carry.
- Amener is for people, animals, and vehicles.
Par exemple…
To take
Emporter and emmener are used when you are taking someone/something to a different place than you are right now.
- Emporter is only for inanimate things you can carry.
- Emmener is for people, animals, or vehicles.
Par exemple…En résumé … However …
Despite the actual variations in meaning, amener tends to be used for all of the above in colloquial French. In other words, it’s a good idea to understand the difference between all four verbs, but it may not be required, as French speakers often use only amener. C’est la vie, eh? 🙂
To take back, to take again / To bring back, to bring again
There are four related French verbs: ramener, remmener, rapporter, and remporter, which mean to take back/again or to bring back/again. Note that these are the exact same verbs with the addition of the prefix r–, which simply adds the meaning "again" or "back" to the verb. The nuance of people/animals/vehicles vs portable things remains exactly the same.Note: Rapporter also belongs to another group of confusable verbs: to return.
LKL’s Top Secret Tips!
Here are my simple tricks for remembering which verb is which:
- The verbs with -men- within the word (amener, emmener, etc) are the ones that have to be used with people (sorry feminists :-), animals, and vehicles. The ones with -port- are used with portable objects.
- The ones that start with e- (or re-) mean take, because "take" has an e and "bring" doesn’t.
Verb ConjugationsRelated lesson
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