A lot of my students get confused when I say something and they want to agree with it. They then think: … “oh which one was it again ech och, mech och, mir och …..”??
In English it is easy to agree with somebody. Whether they say ‘I’m cold’, ‘I’m hungry’ or ‘I like you’ we can just answer with ‘me too’.
In Luxembourgish it’s not so easy. You need to decide between:
- ech och
- mir och
- mech och
But how shall you know when do you use which one? Let me explain!
Ech och
This is ‘me too’ in the nominative case, meaning that ech is the subject of the sentence.
Beispiller (examples)
Ech sinn doheem. Ech och! – I’m at home. Me too (or ‘I also’)
Ech hunn Honger. Ech och! – I’m hungry. Me too.
Ech wunnen an der Stad. Ech och! – I live in Luxembourg city. Me too.
Ech ginn all Dag spadséieren. Ech och! – I go for a walk everyday. Me too.
Mir och
This means ‘(to) me too’ in the dative case, meaning that mir is either the indirect object or after a dative preposition.
Beispiller (examples)
Mir ass et kal. Mir och! – I’m cold (lit. It is cold to me). (To) me too.
Hien hëlleft mir. Mir och! – He’s helping me (lit. he’s giving help to me) . (To) me too.
D’Buch gefält mir. Mir och! – I like that book (lit. that book is pleasing to me). (To) me too.
Et geet mir gut. Mir och! – I’m fine (lit. It goes well to me). (To) me too.
Hatt ass oft bei mir. Bei mir och. – She often is with me (at my place). With me too.
⇒When you use a preposition that requires the dative case you will need to add it to the answer, eg. mat mir och, vu mir och, bei mir och …
Mech och
This is ‘me too’ in the accustaive case, meaning that mech is either the direct object of the sentence or after an accusative preposition.
Beispiller (examples)
Hatt freet mech oft eppes. Mech och! – She often asks me something. (She asks ) me too.
Dat freet mech. Mech och! – That pleases me. Me too.
Dat war fir mech. Fir mech och. – That was for me. For me too.
Maacht dat ouni mech! An ouni mech och! – Do that without me! And without me too!
⇒When you use an accusative preposition you will need to add it to the answer, eg. fir mech och, ouni mech och .
Remark:
When you have a reflexive verb like sech freeën you have as well to use mech och. BUT here “mech” is the reflexive pronoun.
Beispiller (examples)
Ech freeë mech, datt haut schéint Wieder ass. Ech mech och.
I am happy that the weather is nice today. Me too.
Ech wäsche mir elo d’Hänn. Ech mir och. – I’m washing my hands. Me too.
Übung (exercise)
Let’s try it. Here are 10 sentences for you to decide whether to answer with ech och, mir och, mech och or with a preposition & mech or mir och.
- Ech si midd.
- Hatt huet mech gesinn.
- Ech hu Kanner gär.
- Et deet mir leed.
- Ech war am Summer a Spuenien.
- Mir ass et schlecht!
- Si ginn heiansdo mat eis eppes drénken.
- Hien huet eppes fir d’Marie.
- Bei eis gëtt et freides Pizza.
- Hien äntwert mir net.
Download the PDF so to get the answers to the exercise!
I hope you liked it and found it useful. And …. why not sharing this lesson with your friends:-)
If you want to learn Luxembourgish from scratch but you don’t have time to attend classes then this my online course is for you!
