even, either , yet

[Bettina]

Hi Thomas, how's it going?

Could you help me please?
I have a problem with this words. I'm always hesitating. I need the example of some usual phrases   where I will find them in the context. Show me, that it can be easy to use them, please. I think that you use them everyday when you are talking to someone...
I would be able to use them automatically without thinking, without translating!
thanks a lot 

[Paeleben]

I think yet is used in many contexts, but the first i know is at the time of a negative sentence to mean "pas.. encore".
An exemple but i'm not sure about the time of this sentence :
I have not drunk my cup of tea yet.
Je n'ai pas encore bu ma tasse de thé.

But yet is also used when you want to oppose somethnig in your sentence.
I like really much the sport but yet, the soccer doesn't interest me at all.
J'aime beaucoup le sport mais par contre (en revanche ou cependant), le football ne m'intéresse pas du tout.

Je sais que even if correspond à même si mais l'emploi de even tout court, je ne peux pas te dire.

[Bettina]

Thanks for all. "Yet" becomes to be clear now ! I will ask Thomas if he could use this three words for a new lesson. Probably, there are other people who have the same problem. I hope so...

[Thomas]

Hm...ok, well here's some examples for "even" and "either"...

Did you read any of the books yet?
No, I haven't read either of them.

In this case, either implies that there are only two books. In general, either is used in cases with two options. If there were 3 books or more, the answer would have to be "No, I haven't read any of them." And of course, we could easily throw in "yet" at the end of the sentence "No, I haven't read either of them yet."

Either of the two cars would be a good choice.
Ou l'un ou l'autre des deux voitures serait une bonne choix.

In this case you can see how "ou l'un ou l'autre" translates often as "either".

Are you going to the movies with Stephanie tonight?
Either that or we're going to rent one.

Tu vas au ciné avec Stephanie ce soir?
Ou ça ou on va louer un film. (Obviously "en louer un" is a better translation of the English, but since in French you don't "aller aux films" this doesn't make as much sense )

So either just is used to talk about a situation when there are two choices.

As for even, it has several uses...

Even kids can read this book.
Même les enfants peuvent lire ce livre.

Here, just like Paeleben's example, you can see "even" meaning "même".

Another case would be "Even so, I'm not going." meaning "Quand même, je n'y vais pas"
the expression "even so" can also be replaced with "regardless" here.

Here's a case which I don't know exactly how to translate into French (though I think it may involved même again, I'm just not sure), but it's a pretty common use of even. In this case, "even" implies that you are going to a large or unusual extent to do something. For example...

I liked the movie so much, I'm even going to buy the soundtrack!

Now usually, if you like a movie, you might buy the DVD, but you have to really like the movie to a large extent if you're going to buy the soundtrack (the CD with the music from the movie) as well.

Did Jerry finish the book for class next week?
Yeah, and he even finished the one for the week after that, too.

In this case you see how it is usually early for Jerry to have read the second book, so he "even" read that one, too.

Does that make sense? I feel like I'm rambling. Anyway, ask away if it doesn't or give me some examples you've come across.