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"Must" as a speculative word | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Philological Room |  | |
| Heriotza Groupie Dominican Republic Joined 4681 days ago 48 posts - 71 votes  Speaks: Spanish* | Message 9 of 15 24 August 2012 at 8:44pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
In Spanish the same verb is used: "deber": Debí dejar la puerta abierta. Deben de estar congelándose. Debe de estar en un atasco. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6598 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 10 of 15 24 August 2012 at 11:31pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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This also sort of exists in Russian, like "it must be that ...". Должно быть, он застрял в пробке.
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| Edudg Pentaglot Newbie Brazil Joined 4672 days ago 16 posts - 28 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Italian, English, French, Spanish Studies: Mandarin, Swedish | Message 11 of 15 25 August 2012 at 12:01am | IP Logged | ||||||||
As someone already said, in portuguese we use the verb "dever". In Italian it is the future that conveys this idea: "È in ritardo. Sarà bloccato nel traffico" "Staranno congelando" "Avrò lasciato la porta aperta" Italians, please correct me if my translations are not accurate! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| viedums Hexaglot Senior Member Thailand Joined 4667 days ago 327 posts - 528 votes Speaks: Latvian, English*, German, Mandarin, Thai, French Studies: Vietnamese | Message 12 of 15 25 August 2012 at 5:50am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Latvian seems to work like Italian here, using the future rather than ‘must’.
Viņš ir nokavējies. Viņš būs nokļuvis autosastrēgumā. (This is correct.) *Viņš ir nokavējies. Viņam jābūt autosastrēgumā. (This is not.) (Meaning here: "He's late. He must be stuck in traffic.") Adding an adverb such as laikam ‘probably’ or noteikti ‘certainly’ (as in Chinese) would also do the job: “Laikam nokļuvis autosastrēgumā.” Edited by viedums on 25 August 2012 at 5:53am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| morinkhuur Triglot Groupie Germany Joined 4678 days ago 79 posts - 157 votes Speaks: German*, Latin, English Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Arabic (Egyptian), Arabic (Maghribi) | Message 13 of 15 25 August 2012 at 4:56pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Although in this case it is also possible to use the future tense like in Spanish: Er wird wohl noch zu Hause sein It seems to me that different construction are used in different situations: He's late. He must be stuck in traffic. - Er ist zu spät. Er wird wohl im Stau stecken (stehen) / Er steht (steckt) wahrscheinlich noch im Stau / Er muss wohl im Stau stehen (stecken). (all three are possible, but the last one sounds the least natural to me) They must be freezing. - Sie frieren bestimmt. ("werden" or "müssen" would not be used in this case) I must have left the door open. - Ich muss die Tür offen gelassen haben. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Zetko86 Heptaglot Newbie Italy Joined 4510 days ago 18 posts - 33 votes Speaks: Slovenian, Italian*, English, Serbo-Croatian, FrenchB1, GermanB2, Russian Studies: Japanese, Hungarian | Message 14 of 15 25 August 2012 at 7:36pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Your translations are correct, but you can say as well "È in ritardo, deve essere stato bloccato dal traffico" or "Devo aver lasciato la porta aperta" in Italian. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Edudg Pentaglot Newbie Brazil Joined 4672 days ago 16 posts - 28 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Italian, English, French, Spanish Studies: Mandarin, Swedish | Message 15 of 15 27 August 2012 at 4:08am | IP Logged | ||||||||
Grazie per la precisazione. In fact the verb "dovere" can also do the job just like in portuguese. Anyway, I myself tend to use the future in this kind of situation.. maybe because it's more common? I have a doubt about your translation with "dovere" though. I believe "He's late. He must be stuck in traffic." should be "È in ritardo, deve essere bloccato nel traffico" ? Wouldn't your statement be " He must have been stuck in traffic" in English? 1 person has voted this message useful |
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