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Thread: Before I noticed it... (help with grammar here! )

 
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    Forum User Blonda's Avatar
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    Default Before I noticed it... (help with grammar here! )

    Hi, I'm trying to translate this phrase into English and I have lots of doubts about its tenses:

    "Antes de que me diera cuenta, todo sobre mí ya le pertenecía a él"

    mi intento es:

    "before I noticed it, everything about me was already of his possession"


    could you tell me if the tenses (specially the first part of the sentence) are alright?

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    Default Re: Before I noticed it... (help with grammar here! )

    I'm a native of Spanish, and I checked with an Australian translator. It sounds good!

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    Forum User Blonda's Avatar
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    Default Re: Before I noticed it... (help with grammar here! )

    Quote Originally Posted by rociot View Post
    I'm a native of Spanish, and I checked with an Australian translator. It sounds good!

    thank you! Before siempre me confunde un poco

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    Default Re: Before I noticed it... (help with grammar here! )

    Mi intento: Before I realized it, he already knew everything there was to know about me.
    Last edited by gernt; 01-11-2011 at 02:32 PM.

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    Senior Member Cotty's Avatar
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    Default Re: Before I noticed it... (help with grammar here! )

    Before I knew it, the whole of me* belonged to him.

    *My entire self, everything about me...
    Last edited by Cotty; 01-11-2011 at 04:17 PM.

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    Default Re: Before I noticed it... (help with grammar here! )

    If “todo sobre mí” can mean “my entire self”, then the common version would be “Without even knowing it, I became his and his alone”. But there’s something here I’m not quite getting. I guess that's not too unusual.

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    Senior Member Cotty's Avatar
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    Default Re: Before I noticed it... (help with grammar here! )

    When you say the common version, you mean Without even knowing it, I became his and his alone is a saying?

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    Senior Member Xóchitl L.'s Avatar
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    Default Re: Before I noticed it... (help with grammar here! )

    Hola Blonda:


    Aunque yo me dedico a traducir del inglés al español, también me gusta intentar de español a inglés. Aquí te dejo mi aportación y estaré al pendiente de los comentarios y sugerencias al respecto.


    "Antes de que me diera cuenta, todo sobre mí ya le pertenecía a él"

    "Before I knew it, all of me belonged to him."


    Gracias... Xóchitl

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    Default Re: Before I noticed it... (help with grammar here! )

    Cotty, I just meant in love stories, that is a trite line. If "todo sobre mí" referred to knowledge about me, the other translation would also be a trite line, but in mystery novels. That's why I was perplexed. Those are very different things. Neither is a real saying, but people mimic them when acting dramatic.

    But I can tell you I will be careful from now on when using the phrase "todo sobre". In English, "everything about me" is only information. In fact, one hears "He knew everything about me, but he did not know me".
    Last edited by gernt; 01-12-2011 at 09:34 AM.

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    Senior Member Cotty's Avatar
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    Default Re: Before I noticed it... (help with grammar here! )

    Hi gernt, when you read that line in Spanish, the first thing that comes to mind is that it's definitely romantic or out of a love story.

    Todo sobre mí involves my mind, my heart, my body, my life...todo being the key word here is everything/all that I am.

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