 |
|
| Share / Tweet / Pin Me! | |
Informal French Expression
| Meaning | Don't be mad at me | |
| Literally | Don't want some from me | |
| Register | informal | |
| Pronunciation |  |
[neuh ma(n) veuh pah] |
| IPA | [nə mã vø pa] | |
Usage notes: The French expression en vouloir à is used informally to acknowledge that you may have wronged another person while simultaneously, albeit unapologetically, requesting exoneration.
Par exemple…
| J'ai fait de mon mieux, ne m'en veux pas. | I did my best, don't be mad at me. | |
| Ce n'est pas ma faute, ne m'en veux pas. | It's not my fault, don't hold it against me. | |
| Tu ne m’en veux pas ? | No hard feelings? |
It’s probably most commonly used in the tu imperative, as in the first two examples, but vouloir can of course be conjugated for other subjects and in other tenses and moods …
| Il ne m’en voulait pas. | He wasn’t mad at me. | |
| J’espère que vous ne m’en voudrez pas. | I hope you won’t be mad at me. |
and the indirect object pronoun can be changed to indicate other recipients of the potential anger.
| Ne leur en veux pas. | Don’t be mad at them. | |
| Nous ne t’en voulons pas. | We’re not mad at you. |
Or, instead of a pronoun, you can specify the recipient with the preposition à + noun or name:
| Nous n’en voulons pas aux médecins. | We don’t blame the doctors. | |
| Je n’en veux pas à Thomas. | I’m not mad at Thomas. |
The expression can also be used without ne … pas to ask or affirm that there is, in fact, a grudge being held:
| Tu m'en veux ? | Are you mad at me? | |
| Oui, je lui en veux ! | Yes, I’m mad at him! |
To specify what you’re mad about, use the preposition de + noun …
| Tu m’en veux de ma bêtise ? | Are you mad at me for my blunder? | |
| Je lui en veux de ce fouillis ! | I’m mad at him for this mess! |
… or + infinitive / past infinitive:
| Tu m’en veux d’être en retard ? | Are you mad at me for being late? | |
| Je lui en veux d’avoir triché. | I’m mad at him for cheating. |
In the expression en vouloir à, the adverbial pronoun en doesn’t really mean anything, but its inclusion is essential for this idiomatic meaning of being angry as opposed to wanting something.
Related lessons
- Vouloir conjugations
- À – preposition
- En – adverbial pronoun
- Imperative
- Me, te, lui … – Indirect objects
Share / Tweet / Pin Me!
This free website is created with love and a great deal of work. If you love it, please consider making a 
Verb conjugation tables for more than 1,600 French verbs in all the simple and compound tenses and moods.
In English, we say that the vowels are “a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y.” The last couple of words hint at one of the keys to understanding pronunciation: a vowel is not so much a letter as the sound represented by a letter or combination of letters.
Practice is the key to improving your French, and just 15 minutes a day on some kind of French activity can make a huge difference. Check out these ideas and draw up your own schedule.