What does the phrase je ne sais quoi?

Answer 1

In French, it literally means "I know not what". The French idiom can best be translated as "a certain something." It's used to indicate qualities that are intangible, and hard to put into words.

Example: "He did well with the ladies, as he had a certain je ne sais quoi."

The French pronunciation is (zhuh nuh say kwah) - ZH sound (JH) is the G in genre.

The US pronunciation sounds like (jen nay say quah).

Answer 2

The phrase 'Je ne sais pas quoi' means I don't know what. In the word-by-word translation, the personal pronoun 'je' means 'I'. The adverb 'ne...pas' means 'not'. The verb 'sais' means '[he/she/it] knows'. And the relative pronoun 'quoi' means 'what'.

Answer 3

It is "Je ne sais quoi", and it means "I don't know what" in French. Quoi ("kwah") means "what".

Other than the literal translation, the colloquialism translates as "I'm not sure what it is." There is something intangible about it, something that is difficult to describe in words.

You say it when you don't know what else to say. As an example, if you are tasting a recipe, and it is missing something, but you are not sure what it is missing, you might say "This is pretty good, but it is missing... je ne sais quoi"

This saying can also imply a positive message, for example, if you are tasting a recipe and it's fantastic, but you just can't put your finger on why, it's got a certain je ne sais quoi. It tastes great, but I can't tell you exactly why that is, it's got something I can't explain.

A note about the French: "Je ne sais quoi" is not a normal sentence for a French person to say in modern times. The normal sentence for "I don't know what" would be "je ne sais pas quoi" or more informally, "j'sais pas quoi". Dropping the "pas" and leaving only the "ne" for negation is very literary/poetic/old-fashioned. However, French people use this as a set phrase just like English speakers do. For example, "Il y a un je ne sais quoi qui fait que je ne peux pas détourner les yeux."

Answer 4

The phrase 'Je ne sais pas' means I don't know. In the word-by-word translation, the personal pronoun 'je' means 'I'. The adverb 'ne...pas' means 'not'. And the verb 'sais' means '[I] am knowing, do know, know'.

Answer 5

The statement 'Je ne sais pas pourquoi' means I don't know why. In the word-by-word translation, the personal pronoun 'je' means 'I'. The adverb 'ne...pas' means 'not'. The verb 'sais' means '[I] know'. And the adverb/conjunction 'pourquoi' means 'why'.

Answer 6

Je ne sais pas - I don't know

Answer 7

"I do not know what".

Answer 8

It translates as 'I do not know'