French Help: Purpose of the word "me"?

Question

In the following two sentences, the meanings, I believe, are the same:

Je me donne un cadeau.
Je donne un cadeau.

So what's the point of the word "me"? Or, is the word "me" more appropriate for another type of sentence?

Answer 1

Je me donne un cadeau- I give myself a present
Je donne un cadeau- I give a present

The purpose of "me" is to represent a reflexive sentence or a sentence that describes what someone does to themself.

Je me lave- I wash my self (shower)
Je lave la voiture- I wash the car

There are relfexive words for each pronoun too:

Je me lave
Tu te laves
Il/elle se lave

nous nous lavons
vous vous lavez
ils/elles se lavent

so you see, the "me" does really have a point. It is meant to provide a direct obeject for the sentence, which in this case is reflexive.

But in addition, the "me" can be used in a non-reflexive sentence as a direct object.
Il me telephone-He telephone me.
Il m'aime (me + aime = m'aime) -He loves me.

This may be familiar in the phrase:
Je m'appelle... -My name is...
It literally means "I call myself...!"
I really hope this helped!!

Answer 2

The first sentence means 'I give myself a present.'

One of the uses of 'me' is as a direct object or indirect object pronoun (me or to me in English.) So,

Elle me donne un cadeau = She gives me a present.
Il me regarde = He is looking at me.

The other usage is in so called reflexive verbs - you'll come on to them later!

Answer 3

The first sentence does not make sense to me. As I understand it, it says "I am giving myself a gift." me is used in two cases as an object pronoun(when the object comes before the verb) or as a reflexive. Since this is not a reflexive verb then me would have to be used as an object which makes no sense. It would make more sense with a different object. Hope this helps.

Answer 4

Well in french me is translated in various ways depending on how you use it.. (" je me donne un cadeau" means i give myself a present...) me is "je" or "moi".. but usually "moi" is used behind "je" when giving one's point of view like " moi je pense que ce n'est pas vrai" ( i think it's not true).. being helf french i can tell you how hard that language is..

Answer 5

http://french.about.com/library/weekly/aa090200.htm
Go to this website in English and you'll find evrything about French pronoun.
Again : too many silly answers from Q/R !

Answer 6

I gave a present to myself.
I gave a present.

I think... I dunno. me is a reflexive thing- it's basically when you do something to yourself.