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In French, there are some situations where we say "Moi non" or "Moi oui" (that could be literally translated as "Me no" or "Me yes"). You can use it when somebody told you something and for you, it is the opposite of what this person said; for example:

"I don't know how to open this bottle!"
"Me yes!"

or even in a case like this:

"Nobody knows how to open this bottle?!"
"Me yes."

I am not even sure if this is even completely correct grammatically, anyway, this is not formal language at all.

Do you know how to express that correctly in English ?

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19

If I understand your situation correctly, the normal way to express that in English would be one of "I do", "I can", "me neither", or "Not me":

"Drat! I don't know how to open this bottle."
"I do!" / "Me neither."

"Does anybody know how to open this bottle?"
"I do!" / Not me."

"Can anybody open this bottle?"
"I can!" / "Not me."

A couple of points to hopefully make it clear when to use what:

  • "I do" is the positive response to a statement or question with some (negative) form of "Do" in it; if another helping verb is used instead of do, you respond with that verb as well ("I can" and "I will" are the next most likely). (As StoneyB pointed out, if you are responding to a positive statement like "I can open it", you'd say "Me too", which is essentially short for "I also am able to do that.")
  • "Me neither" is only used after someone says they cannot do something, to say "I also am unable to do that."
  • "Not me" is used to indicate that you do not have the quality or ability that is being requested (generally via a question with "does anybody", "can anybody", "does somebody", or "can somebody").
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    For "Me neither", it is more correct to say 'Nor do I', or, 'Neither do I'. – Sam May 13 '14 at 22:47
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    @Sam A context requiring Nor (do) I would also require Not I rather than not me. But there ain't many such contexts left. – StoneyB May 13 '14 at 22:50
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    If I understand correctly, "me neither" is equivalent to the French "moi non plus". – bradhd May 13 '14 at 23:27
  • @Sam, you might hear "Neither do I" once in a while, but I'll bet you won't find "Nor do I" in the wild. – Hellion May 14 '14 at 1:04
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    @Hellion I hear it fairly frequently, out of my own mouth and out of those of several of my friends (ironically mostly the ones who learned English as a second+ language). I am in the UK though, not the US, which might make a difference? – Sam May 14 '14 at 6:43
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This is contextual so there could be many interpretations. I believe the most common response would be the most conversational, just like in French:

Yeah, me.

or

Yes, me.

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1

There would be contexts in which it would be natural to say

Personally, yes

especially when opinions are involved.

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« Moi oui », and « moi non » are conversational usage, not formal language. So the most appropriate translations would be the English colloquialisms “me too!” and “me neither!”

Nota bene: French is not my native language.

Edit: This only applies when the speaker agrees with the initial assertion. If the opposite sense is intended (Nobody knows how to open this can!? Moi oui .) the correct response would be the affirmative “I do!” Similarly, a more generic version of « Moi non » would be “Not me!” However, in English a double negative may or may not make an affirmative (colloquial usage is variable), so choose with care.

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    Actually not, "me too" and "me neither!" is in the case where you are in the same opinion/case than the other people. For example if somebody tells you "I hate this guy" you'll answer "Me too"/"Me neither". In my case this is when you are not of the same opinion. – Trevör May 14 '14 at 6:18
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  1. In response to an "affirmative statement" to indicate thet one's view of the situation IS THE SAME or IS NOT THE SAME as ours, we use: moi aussi and moi non. Ex: -J'aime le thé, Et toi? (I like tea, and you?)   -Confirming: Moi aussi, j'aime le thé (Me either, I like tea.)

-Refusing: Moi non, je n'aime pas le thé (Me no, I don't like tea.)

  1. In response to a "negative statement" to indicate thet one's view of the situation, IS THE SAME or IS NOT THE SAME as ours, we use: moi non plus and mio oui. Ex: Je n'aime pas le thé, Et toi? (I don't like tea, and you?)

-Confirming: Moi non plus, Je n'aime pas le thé. (Me neither, I don't like tea.)

-Refusing: Moi oui, J'aime le thé. (Me yes, I like tea.)

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    Hi Bahar, welcome to ELL! This is good information about the French side of things, do you have any more detail to add about how to accomplish the same effect in English? – Hellion Jan 9 at 13:23

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