Il m'aime un peu, beaucoup, passionnément, à la folie, pas du tout

Expression: Il m'aime un peu, beaucoup, passionnément, à la folie, pas du tout

Pronunciation: [eel meh moo(n) peu bo koo pah syo(n) nay ma(n) a la fuh lee pah du too]

Meaning: he loves me, he loves me not

Literal translation: he loves me a little, a lot, passionately, madly, not at all

Register: normal

Notes: Il (or Elle) m'aime un peu, beaucoup, passionnément, à la folie, pas du tout is the French equivalent of "he / she loves me, he / she loves me not," something that young girls and boys recite, while plucking individual petals off flowers, in order to determine if their beloveds love them back. It's pretty easy to "win" in English, since all you need to do is choose a flower with an odd number of petals - as long as there are three, five, seven, etc. petals, the last one will always match "he loves me." On the other hand, the French version is considerably more poetic, with five possible outcomes and much better odds. :-)

Related expression: effeuiller la marguerite - to play "he loves me, he loves me not"; literally, "to pick the petals off the daisy"


More

• French love language
• All about aimer
• Expressions with à
• Expressions with pas
• Expressions with de
• Expressions with tout
• Most common French phrases