Yo también

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MEmilSami

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U.S.
U. S. of A., English
So, I have to apologize---I don't know exactly which forum to put this in, but this is the closest to what I'm looking for. Moderators, feel free to move this thread as you see fit...

I've puzzling over the Spanish phrase "yo también", meaning "me too". In comparison to other Romance languages, this is most strange, as it utilizes the subjective pronoun "yo", rather than "mi", the objective pronoun. English uses the objective pronoun, as does French ("moi aussi"), but the literal translation of "yo también" into English would be "I also".

Any thoughts on why this might be? Thanks!
 
    • The same happens in Catalan : "jo també" is the word for word translation of "yo también". In fact I can't see what is strange with this use, as you could think of "yo también" as a shortening of "yo también soy / estaré / tengo / vi .... ".

    But maybe you're missing that, depending on context, in Spanish it's also possible preposition + "mí" + "también". Examples :

    A - Estuve en el concierto.
    B - Yo también.

    A - Juan me saludó.
    B - A mí también.

    A - Juan habló conmigo.
    B - Conmigo también.
     
    Actually, French and English are the exceptions.

    Portuguese: eu também
    Italian: anch'io
    ...

    German: Ich auch

    You may like this page.
     
    Thank you for the quick replies;

    yes--I did find the Italian, and come to think of it was aware of the German all along, but what crudeness the internet translators could give me suggested that Portuguese was like French as well... so thank you for your expertise.

    Next question: can I perhaps assume, then, that this bit of grammar was taken by the anglophones during the time of French influence? Especially if there's no such pattern in Germanic languages..?

    Outsider, thanks también for the link. I had heard of copulas before but not of the term for disjunctive pronouns.
     
    MEmilSami said:
    Thank you for the quick replies;

    Outsider, thanks también for the link. I had heard of copulas before but not of the term for disjunctive pronouns.
    Click to expand...

    Copula is not the pronoun, it is verb "to be" when it is followed by a predicative noun or adjective.
     
    Oh, no, I didn't mean to call them the same thing... I meant to say that I had heard of the name for one concept and not for the other.
     
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