Hi teachers,
Somebody asked me a question in my language and wanted me to translate it but I couldn’t…
I translated it as below but it is not correct.
There are two kinds of tomorrows. One is tomorrow and second is yesterday.
Many thanks.
Grammatically you can say “There are two kinds of tomorrow. One is tomorrow and the other is yesterday.”
Whether this actually makes any sense is debatable.
Thank you, dozy. Is there any expression or any other words used to form this sentence?
Untaught, is this a translation of a saying or expression in your language? If so, it probably can’t be translated literally. In English the meaning is very hard to understand. I would need to understand the original meaning in your language.
Yes. “Kal” is the word for both “tomorrow” and “yesterday” in my language. Therefore, I don’t know what expression is used to say this.
If the expression has a meaning beyond simple wordplay then that meaning could presumably be somehow translated (though perhaps not as pithily). However, you will need to explain using other words what that meaning is. It is not clear from the literal English translation.
Incidentally, when the expression is written in your language (which I’m assuming is probably Urdu), do you use different words for “tomorrow” and “yesterday” in the part “One is tomorrow and second is yesterday”? Or does it take the form “There are two kinds of kal. One is kal and the other is kal.”?
I googled and found this.
Time is of two
types - one is the
Future and other is
the Past. What do you think?
That should say “one is the Future and the other is the Past.” However, since I do not understand what the original expression means in your language, I cannot comment on whether this is a plausible translation.
It means exactly: “there are two kinds of tomorrow: one is tomorrow and the other is yesterday.” but since in Urdu, “kal” is the only word used for both. We understand through contexts.
In English, using ‘tomorrow’ doesn’t make sense.
‘There are two kinds of time…’ is an improvement.
Untaught, as I have explained several times, this does not make sense in English. It sounds like a riddle, or some kind of nonsense saying.
Yes, it doesn’t make sense. I asked an English professor. He said, “it’s a proverb and I will tell you later.”