Will you be my valentine? (2024)

Well, I don't think we have an equivalent for "valentine" in France, but maybe our canadian friends have one.
In any case I think you could say "Voudrais-tu être ma valentine ?" if the demoiselle you want to ask knows what a valentine is.

Otherwise, to ask a girl out you would say "Voudrais-tu sortir avec moi ?" or "Ca te dirait de sortir avec moi ?"

¿Qué? said:

Isn't it, Serez-vous mon Valentin? It's a guess.

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Nope, it's not understood in French.

¿Qué? said:

Isn't it, Serez-vous mon Valentin? It's a guess.

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Salut,

It is february! Back to valentines, please. Is it Ok to say:

seras-tu mon Valentin?

My friend lives in France too far away to ask if he wants to go out for a meal or anything like that.

I am confused. Marie-Christine said that St Valentin is masculine, but then in her example, she wrote "Aimerais-tu passer la St. Valentin avec moi?"

Why did she write "la St. Valentin"?

Merci mille fois!

francofou2

To summarise:

• In England and America, Valentine is a person who is your (temporary?) partner. E.g. will you be my Valentine = seras-tu ma petite amie/ veux-tu sortir avec moi ?
• In France St Valentin is a day - E.g. le 14 février est la fête de St-Valentin, c'est bientôt la St Valentin = February 14th is Valentine's day.

I suppose you could say that in both cases, Valentine is a

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Keith Bradford said:

To summarise:

• In England and America, Valentine is a person who is your (temporary?) partner. E.g. will you be my Valentine = seras-tu ma petite amie/ veux-tu sortir avec moi ?
• In France St Valentin is a day - E.g. le 14 février est la fête de St-Valentin, c'est bientôt la St Valentin = February 14th is Valentine's day.

I suppose you could say that in both cases, Valentine is a

date

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This is misleading and/or incorrect. St-Valentin is a day in the United States and GB also.

A Valentine isn't necessarily your temporary petit(e) copain/copine, but can, especially recently, be anyone you spend the evening and maybe exchange a card or small gift, etc. with on Valentine's Day.

"Seras-tu mon ange?" means nothing at all, I'm afraid. The only reply you're likely to get is "What?"

Ok, "la St-Valentin" exists in France, but it's clearly commercial. You get lots of advertising for special gift occasions, etc., but that's the end of it. I mean, you might buy flowers to your wife, take your girlfriend to a restaurant or do anything romantic, but that's absolutely all, and it's recent (not 20years old), not what you call a tradition.

You definitely won't exchange cards or gifts with any one except your lover, and certainly not "just as friends". There is therefore no word or phrase equivalent to "a valentine" or "will you be my valentine?": your valentine is just your husband.wife/boyfriend/girlfriend... And maybe that's just me but I'd find it rather offensive if s.o. I'm not already having an affair with asked me out on that particular occasion.

A sentence like "Veux-tu être ma valentine?" may be understood by some, but those are clearly people with a degree of knowledge of over-the-water culture...

SteveRusso said:

If you still want to ask her out, you may do it as tactfully as possible. You could say, for instance “C’est la St Valentin. Pour cette journée si spéciale, toutes mes pensées vont pour toi”. Kind of cheesy, but girls may find it cute.

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Some girls may. I say, take no chances and wait till tomorrow!

I agree with Keith in that 'a valentine' has come to mean a person in the English speaking world, although the origin it is certianly a date, just like in France and elsewhere.

Francofou: the reason that Marie christine wrote "La St Valentin" is because "La St Valentin' means 'la fête de St Valentin', the la is the definite article relating to the word fête which is understood in her phrase.

I also agree that asking anybody French to be your Valentine would just not be understood and would definitely result in you getting a blank stare in response.

The best translation of the sentiment 'Will you be my valentine' is most definitely 'Veux-tu être mon/ma petit/e ami/e?"

I'd also stick with the 'tu'version as I think i fyou know someone well enough to ask them to be your valentine that you have gone beyond the vous stage in the proceedings.

Good luck!

Santana2002 said:

I agree with Keith in that 'a valentine' has come to mean a person in the English speaking world, although the origin it is certianly a date, just like in France and elsewhere.

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Thank you Santana. You'd never say in English "I'm going to send my girlfriend a card on Valentine" It's always "...on (Saint) Valentine's Day".

What you could say, of course, is I'm going to send my girlfriend a Valentine on Monday", where the Valentine is the card itself.

Viobi said:

I'd find it rather offensive if s.o. I'm not already having an affair with asked me out on that particular occasion.

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Here it is, French culture crystallized.

In the US, it is quite different; Valentine's Day is also a great day to reach out to someone you're interested in, even though you don't know him/her very well, or don't even believe you have a chance. I think it's a function of the American Dream principles and the relatively easy social mobility there.

Ironically, I found that the earliest known existing Valentine came from the Duke of Orléans, in which he calls his wife his tres doulce Valentinée. (This is Middle French, accent patrol )