Two words for pinning things down
Propre stresses whose something is. Même stresses exactly who or what is meant, or means even. The sentence is correct without them. With them you rule out another reading or set up a contrast.
Same statement, with and without emphasis
Unmarked
Il critique son travail.
He criticises his work.
His own, or someone else's?
Je l'ai fait.
I did it.
With emphasis
Il critique son propre travail.
He criticises his own work.
Clearly his.
Je l'ai fait moi-même.
I did it myself.
propre: own, and really own
Between a possessive and a noun, propre reinforces ownership: not just anyone's, but precisely theirs. It agrees in number: ses propres enfants. Several set phrases are built on it.
Ce sont ses propres mots.
Those are his very words.
Je l'ai vu de mes propres yeux.
I saw it with my own eyes.
Elle a démissionné de son propre chef.
She resigned of her own accord.
As a noun, le propre de names what is characteristic of something. Propre à means specific to. Au sens propre means literally; the opposite is au sens figuré.
Le rire est le propre de l'homme.
Laughter is what makes us human.
Well-known saying after Rabelais.
C'est un problème propre à cette région.
It's a problem specific to this region.
Le mot « racine » s'emploie au sens propre comme au sens figuré.
The word "racine" is used both literally and figuratively.
moi-même, lui-même: that very person
Même attaches with a hyphen to the stressed pronoun. In the plural it takes an -s. With vous it depends on whether you are addressing one person politely or several people. With on, chacun and general statements you use soi-même.
The forms
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
| moi-même | nous-mêmes |
| toi-même · vous-même | vous-mêmes |
| lui-même · elle-même | eux-mêmes · elles-mêmes |
| soi-même | – |
Le directeur lui-même est venu s'excuser.
The director himself came to apologise.
None other than him.
Vous l'avez dit vous-même, Madame.
You said so yourself, madam.
One person, formal.
Il faut savoir rire de soi-même.
You have to be able to laugh at yourself.
English -self does two jobs: emphatic (I did it myself) and reflexive (he cut himself). -même only does the first. For the reflexive, French uses a pronominal verb: il s'est coupé.
même after nouns and adverbs
After an abstract noun, même turns it into the embodiment of a quality. After ici, là or aujourd'hui it means right or this very.
Ma grand-mère, c'était la patience même.
My grandmother was patience itself.
Rendez-vous ici même à midi.
Let's meet right here at noon.
La réponse doit partir aujourd'hui même.
The reply has to go out this very day.
même = even
Before an article or a pronoun, même means even and never changes form. The difference from identity is big: même le directeur surprisingly includes the director, le directeur lui-même stresses that it was him in person.
Even or themselves?
Even
Même les enfants ont compris.
Even the children understood.
Themselves
Les enfants eux-mêmes ont compris.
The children themselves understood.
de même: likewise
De même links two cases of the same kind. At the start of a sentence it means likewise. Il en va de même pour means the same goes for. De même que introduces a comparison.
Les loyers ont augmenté. De même, l'énergie coûte plus cher.
Rents have gone up. Likewise, energy costs more.
Les cadres doivent badger. Il en va de même pour la direction.
Managers have to clock in. The same goes for senior management.
De même qu'on ne choisit pas sa famille, on ne choisit pas ses voisins.
Just as you don't choose your family, you don't choose your neighbours.
