Um, Francophones? Help?

[jedusor]

Okay, people on my flist who speak French. I need a hand.

What, exactly, is the difference between amener and emmener? I thought I had it down pat: amener is to bring someone or something with you to a place, and emmener is to take them from a place. Then my French book offered as an example, "Tante Georgette doit partir en voyage. Elle ne veut pas laisser Fido seul. Elle l'emmène avec elle aux Bermudes." Going by the rules I thought defined the verbs, this should be amener, because she's taking him with her TO Bermuda. My French teacher says that it's emmener because she's taking him FROM wherever she lives... but when you go somewhere, isn't there always a Point A and a Point B? How do you tell when to use which verb?

Thanks in advance for your help...

Comments

[imagines.livejournal.com]

Um. Wow. I'm of no help here, but it sounds like how you can emigrate from a country, but immigrate to a country. I always thought those could be used however you wanted, as long as you used the correct preposition.

[jedusor.livejournal.com]

No, that's not it. If it were, the example above would still be amener. "Elle l'amène avec elle aux Bermudes" (she takes him with her to Bermuda). If it were emmène de, it would be "she takes him from home," because "she takes him from Bermuda" doesn't make sense with the context.

Besides, there aren't any Google hits for either "emmene de" or "amene de."

[jeffurrynpl.livejournal.com]

Maybe this will help.

[jedusor.livejournal.com]

But my French teacher said that, in the example I quoted, the answer is definitely emmener. According to that site, the two verbs mean "to bring" and "to take," and if I'm reading it correctly, either verb could be used in that example. ("She brings him with her to Bermuda" and "she takes him with her to Bermuda.") I guess I don't really see much of a difference between the two verbs in English, either.

Thanks for trying, though. I appreciate it.

[jeffurrynpl.livejournal.com]

I've been told that bring always has to mean "to me" but I tend to forget it in practice.

[jedusor.livejournal.com]

Really? That makes no sense to me. Where did you hear it?

Dictionary.com lists "to carry, convey, lead, or cause to go along to another place" as the first meaning for "bring" and the twenty-sixth meaning for "take."

[crazybutsound]

Basically, it has more to do with where the person who's talking is rather than the person who's taking stuff. In your example, grandma is taking Fido to Bermuda, not bringing him to anywhere where the person speaking is. If the person speaking had been in Bermuda herself/himself, then it woukld have been "amener". I guess you could say that "amener" is bringing someone or something towards a place where the narrator or pov is set, and "emmener" is taking something or someone with oneself away fronm where the narrator/pov is. Hard to explain this clearly but I hope I helped. :-)