mener amener emmener the difference?

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Permalink Reply by idreamboy on October 8, 2009 at 12:40am

"mener" means "to lead"
amener means "to bring along"
emmener means "to take away" ( not a take-away)

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Permalink Reply by Crack1 on October 8, 2009 at 9:44pm

Amener uses to say bring people or animal with you.

J'ai amené ma femme ...
I brougt my wife ...

J'ai emmené ma femme ...
I took my wife ...

I hope you understand the difference between I brought my wife to grandma's house and I took my wife to grandma's house. There is a minute difference in the meaning.

I took my wife with me when I visited the USA.

Let us say that you are going to buy a new car and will want to visit a car dealer. You want to get her opinion when buying a new car.

I brought my wife with me to the shop.

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Permalink Reply by Neil Coffey on October 8, 2009 at 10:08pm

There are cases where mener and amener are more or less interchangeable, though, essentially when these verbs have more of a figurative sense. For example:

Ce chemin vous (a)mènera au lac.
Cela nous (a)mène à croire que...

Also, in an expression such as Le train qui l'amène/l'emmène à..., I guess there's a slight difference in whether you're focussing on the point of departure or arrival, but I think the essential meaning is similar.

So it is definitely worth checking trends (e.g. with Google searches) of the use of a particular expression with these verbs-- don't just go by the simplistic translations mentioned above (though of course they're a starting point).

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