French expression: N'importe quoi

Comments

October 24, 2008 at 1:09 pm

(1) Barbara says:

Thanks for the explanations on n’importe quoi, etc. This expression is used in one of my favorite song lyrics, French Waltz, sung by Nicolette Larson:

Quand je vois ton visage,
dans n’importe quel langage
Je dis je t’aime, je dis je t’aime, je ‘aime, Marie

ttp://tinyurl.com/5vkodg

I think this website has the last word wrong though. I always heard Nicolette singing “mon mari,” i.e. “my husband” at the end, not the name “Marie.” I think that would make more sense for a woman to be singing… Anyway… Or rather, n’importe quoi…

So I’d translate those lyrics as:

When I see your face,
In any language I’d say
I love you,
I’d say I love you, I love you, my dear (husband implied).

Merci pour le bon website, Laura!

October 24, 2008 at 1:49 pm

(2) WiNG says:

Thanks SO MUCH! When I lived in France my aunt used to say this all the time. I figured out what it meant in a sentence but not why she would scream “ANYTHING!” all the time. This has cleared up so much! Thanks.

August 10, 2010 at 9:17 pm

(3) bill boll says:

Laura,

Your discussion on “n’importe qui/quoi” is accurate and informative. The expression is so variously translated, you need to know the context to understand any given usage. But I must disagree with you about the meaning of Remi Gaillard’s motto. I think it means,

“If you’re willing to do anything, you can become anyone.”

January 8, 2011 at 12:42 am

(4) Gaylan Harris says:

A young lady from Georgia wrote a letter to John Esten Cooke about the death of his special friend, Maj. John Pelham of the Confederate States Army in 1863. (The Gallant Pelham) She ended the letter with this word, N’importe. With a small bouquet of spring flowers tied up with a tress of her hair, she wrote in part, “you loved the “gallant Pelham,” and your words of love and sympathy are ‘immortelles’ in the hearts that loved him. I have never met you, I may never meet you, but you have a true friend in me. I know that sad hearts mourn
him in Virginia, and a darkened home in Alabama tells the sorrow there. My friendship for him was pure as a sister’s love, or a spirit’s. I had never heard his voice. Your name is ever in my prayers! God Bless you! N’importe.”

February 28, 2011 at 8:12 pm

(5) Robyn says:

Very accurate translations, growing up in Québec City and still being quite young, I can vouch that we most often use the expression with regard to the english word whatever. Not ‘whatever’ with an attitude but in a casual nonchalant sort of way.

April 13, 2011 at 12:49 pm

(6) pierre says:

hi
nice translation.

as you understood, there is no direct translation for “n’importe quoi”.
the same way, there is no word in french for “whatever”. but one can use different translations like “peu importe”, “quoi qu’il en soit”, “n’importe quoi”, …

May 15, 2012 at 3:11 pm

(7) Aidan says:

My son goes to school in France.. he gave me another translation for “n’importe quoi” : “Yeah right!”

May 22, 2012 at 8:17 pm

(8) Jamie says:

I had a friend living in Paris who had the motto ‘N’importe quoi avec n’importe qui’ – anything with anyone.
This was back in our louche days, but I suspect it was mostly fantasy.

May 23, 2012 at 5:30 pm

(9) Preston says:

On utilise “n’importe quoi” pour signifie “whatever.” Par exemple, si quelqu’un me demande de quelle sorte de thé je préfère, je peux lui répondre, “n’importe quoi, c’est bien.”

November 1, 2012 at 3:44 pm

(10) tomasz says:

I think one can say “N’importe quoi de n’importe quoi !” as well

December 9, 2012 at 3:04 pm

(11) Sébastien says:

très bien. Merci beaucoup