je pensais que tu m'avais oublié
To say I thought you forgot about me in French, use je pensais que tu m'avais oublié. It tells someone you believed they had stopped thinking of you.
je pensais que tu m'avais oublié is a friendly phrase for someone you address as tu, often said when they get in touch after a long silence.
What does it mean word for word?
je pensais means I thought, que means that, tu means you and m'avais oublié means had forgotten me.
Which one should you use?
Je croyais que tu m'avais oublié(e). means the same thing and is equally common in casual speech.
How does it change in a sentence?
The past participle agrees with me, so a woman speaking writes oublié with an extra e. To use the formal or plural you, say je pensais que vous m'aviez oublié. The imperfect pensais is used to describe a state of thinking that lasted in the past.
Did you know?
- In French, the word oublié comes from the same root as the English word 'oblivion', which refers to the state of being forgotten.
- The French pronoun tu is a cognate with the German 'du' and Russian 'ты', all descending from a single Proto-Indo-European root.
- If you were to say 'I thought you forgot me' instead of 'forgot about me', you would use the same French structure tu m'avais oublié.
Examples in context
- Je pensais que tu m'avais oublié après notre dispute.I thought you had forgotten about me after our argument.
- Je pensais que tu m'avais oublié complètement.I thought you had completely forgotten about me.
- Puisque tu ne m'as pas appelé, je pensais que tu m'avais oublié.Since you didn't call me, I thought you had forgotten about me.
Example conversation
Hugo and Emma meet after several months of no contact.
- HugoSalut Emma ! Ça fait longtemps.Hi Emma! It's been a long time.
- EmmaOui, désolée, j'étais très occupée.Yes, sorry, I was very busy.
- HugoJe pensais que tu m'avais oublié.I thought you forgot about me.
- EmmaMais non, je ne t'oublie jamais !No way, I never forget you!
Sources
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries je, que, tu, CC BY-SA 4.0.
