Can you speak French? Can you help us? weird question....?

Question

My friend loves tattoos and she wants to get this phrase tatooed on her back shoulder.

"Etre votre propre meilleur ami" (be your own best friend)

If you are French, or if you speak French:

Is this the grammatically correct way to write the above saying?
Does it sound good out loud? Any other tips before its on her FOREVER???

Answer 1

No, STOP WAIT, you don't want to say it like that!

1) I suppose you probably want to say it as an imperative (telling the world it's a good idea to be your own best friend), not an infinitive ("TO be..."), because then something would have to follow that statement, like "to be your own best friend is the way to go", or whatever.

2) I'm sure you don't want to be using the formal "votre" (not used for close friends)

...

so the informal & imperative:
Be your own best friend =

Sois ton propre meilleur ami !(when saying it to a male)
Sois ta propre meilleure amie !(when saying it to a female)

and in case you need the plural (saying it to many people, perhaps to the world in general?):
Soyez vos propres meilleurs amis!

(...because I was thinking maybe that's why you were going to use the "votre"... not meaning to be formal but meaning to address many people informally?)

Answer 2

The translation is horrible! It doesn't sound right at all.

The more appropriate translation I can find ( I can render the idea but not the beauty of the original version) is :

"Sois toi-même ton meilleur ami" (said to a a boy)
"Sois toi-même ta meilleure amie" (said to a girl)

Nevertheless, I don't like it ... it doesn't sound poetic as the english version .. it doesn't sound good at all, I would not get this phrase tatooed on me. Tell your friend, do not make that mistake, the way it's sound looks horrible to me.

Answer 3

"Etre votre propre meilleur ami" isn't gramatically correct, and doesn't sound good. "Etre" is to be. If it's the imperative you want to use, it's "sois".

So, it's "Sois ta propre meillleure amie" that should be written (if the message is adressed only to girls)
or BETTER : "Sois ton propre meillleur ami" (if message is adressed to both girls and boys).

(Harald C is correct, except it's "SOIS" and not "SOIT". IMO, it doesn't sound so great, but it's a question of taste.

"Sois toi-même ton meilleur ami" ("Be yourself your best friend") can also be used, but doesn't sound great either...

"Sois ton meilleur ami" or "Sois ta meilleur ami" is shorter and maybe better appropriated, although you lose the notion of "own" - "be your best friend" may sound awful in English, but not so bad in French.

Quite diificult in fact...

Answer 4

if you mean it to yourself, it's like that:

- Sois ton meilleur ami;

But if I can give you an advice, search more you could find better words, a sentence what you can't translate, a kind of old expression, which would sounds better.... but I don't know which one to give you. search on old books of famous philosophers/writers ; what is sure is: don't use "ETRE votre propre" (that is the translation for: "TO BE your own... " but "Sois ton seul ...." )

You should have a look on old sentences from medieval families\ clans, which are strong and class for tattoos ;
try searchin these keywords: blasons, dictons, proverbes, citations...

Bonne journée

Answer 5

Well being a native speaker of french I wouldn't want that to be on my body for 24 hours, it doesn't sound sexy or romantic and the word "propre" is not at it's best place and it certainly doesn't give the meaning intended here !
My advice is to go for something shorter and more powerful like "Rien qu'a toi" or "Ton ami a jamais" etc... there plenty of other ways !

Answer 6

Mais, non! On ne le dit pas comme ça!
If you want to say a wish, or a kind order, you don't use être. you use soyez. So you don't say être bien, but soyez bien, if you want to wish someone all the goodness.

Besides, although we francophones usually speak in polite form (vous instead of tu), you don't use the vous form if you are talking to yourself.

Finally, you are talking about a she. She should use the female form of friend (amie) together with "ta" instead of "ton"

Therefore it should be:
"Soit ta propre meilleure amie!"

Answer 7

french is my 1st language: relax.
"be your own best friend in french is : "sois ta propre meilleure amie" if it is a guy: it should be " sois ton propre meilleur ami"

Answer 8

I don't know if it's correct, and I don't think it sounds good either. Too many Rs. The e in etre has to have that thing above it, i dont know what it's called.

Answer 9

soyez votre meilleur ami

Answer 10

The grammar is correct and it doesn't sound too bad.... Why don't you try saying : "je suis mon meilleur ami" (I am my best friend).....