Many times per day I hear the phrase “quand même”. I have looked it up and I know there are several possible translations, such as “even so”, “all the same”, “anyway”. What are other possible meanings? What does it mean when used alone... as an exclamation:> Quand même!As a question:> Quand même?And when it seems to finish off a sentence?> Tu peux le faire quand même.I personally tend to ignore it when I hear it because it seems to be a throwaway phrase like “anyway” in English, which can be used just to link sentences but doesn't really add information to the sentence. Is it the same with “quand même”? Can someone explain this enigmatic phrase please?
quand même! as you said, has several possible meanings:
Si tu es malade, tu viendras quand même à mon anniversaire. In this case quand meme means "even if": Even if you are ill, you'll come to my birthday
Ah! quand même!, tu as trouvé la solution! Here "quand même" means "finally" Ah!, finally, you found the solution. However, in the form "tu as quand même trouvé la solution" it could also be translated into: You did find the solution despite the fact that you did not study.
