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just in case?

от Chainy, 17 мая 2011 г.

Сообщений: 29

Язык: English

Chainy (Показать профиль) 17 мая 2011 г., 17:28:47

How would you translate this sentence?:

"I'll take an umbrella just in case."

geo63 (Показать профиль) 17 мая 2011 г., 17:38:12

Chainy:How would you translate this sentence?:

"I'll take an umbrella just in case."
Ĉiaokaze mi kunprenos la ombrelon.

Chainy (Показать профиль) 17 мая 2011 г., 18:13:43

geo63:Ĉiaokaze mi kunprenos la ombrelon.
That sounds more like:

I'll take the umbrella anyway.

darkweasel (Показать профиль) 17 мая 2011 г., 18:24:05

nur por la okazo (implying ... ke pluvos)
por ĉiuj okazoj (direct translation from German, I don't know how comprehensible it is)
or maybe the best way is to just say for what "case" you're taking the umbrella: por eventuala pluvo or something like that...

Chainy (Показать профиль) 17 мая 2011 г., 18:24:21

It's interesting to see how they say it in German and Russian:

1. German: Ich nehme für alle Fälle einen Regenschirm mit.
2. Russian: Я возьму зонтик на всякий случай.

Going by the above examples, a literal translation into Esperanto would be:

1. "Mi prenos ombrelon por ĉiuj okazoj" (from German)
2. "Mi prenos ombrelon por ĉia okazo" (from the Russian)

But, if you try doing a search in Google for the above ways of saying 'just in case', not much comes up. So, I'm wondering if there's a more accepted way of saying this?!

Miland (Показать профиль) 17 мая 2011 г., 18:25:52

Some suggestions:

Mi kunportos ombrelon, se necese.

Mi kunprenos ombrelon, se pluvos.

In the first example, I am applying se necese, "if necessary" to a future event that could happen in the real world. We have an example of such a use of se necese in Gerda Malaperis, chapter 21: Fortulo kiel vi tuj superos lin, se necese.

In the second example, I am following a use parallel to that of se in PMEG (first box, 6th example), but using the real mode of the future form of the verb.

In summary, I would translate "just in case" by se necese.

Chainy (Показать профиль) 17 мая 2011 г., 18:28:58

darkweasel:nur por la okazo (implying ... ke pluvos)
por ĉiuj okazoj (direct translation from German, I don't know how comprehensible it is)
Ah, you beat me to that! ridulo.gif

I'm personally tempted to go along with the German and Russian way of saying this - the languages of Zamenhof, close to the heart of Esperanto.

But, it's just really strange that there are so few written examples of such usage!

darkweasel:
or maybe the best way is to just say for what "case" you're taking the umbrella: por eventuala pluvo or something like that...
yes, that's possible, but it's a rather clumsy way of doing it.

darkweasel (Показать профиль) 17 мая 2011 г., 18:33:29

I somehow don't like se necese and se pluvos because these imply that I'm taking the umbrella only if it actually will rain (= this will be necessary).

Miland (Показать профиль) 17 мая 2011 г., 21:35:38

darkweasel:.. se necese and se pluvos .. imply that I'm taking the umbrella only if it actually will rain (= this will be necessary).
That is one possible interpretation. But in the context (a possible real future event), se necese means "if it should prove necessary (though it might not)". I believe that it is in that sense that the expression is used in Gerda Malaperis.

darkweasel (Показать профиль) 18 мая 2011 г., 5:32:42

Miland:I believe that it is in that sense that the expression is used in Gerda Malaperis.
Hmm... somehow fortulo kiel vi superos lin, se necese seems right because this sentence really says that you will top him only if this should be necessary.

However, "I'm taking an umbrella just in case" does explicitly mean that I'm taking an umbrella, no matter if it will actually rain.

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