Dec. 8, 2020
Journal 12/08/20
我今天本来是想去外面吃早餐的，但是～
I have wanted to eat breakfast outside today, but ~
Is my translation correct? How do you translate 本来 in English?
Correction Settings
I have wanted to eatwas going to eat out for breakfast outside today, but... ~
I was going to eat out for breakfast today, but...
"eat outside" means 在户外吃饭 - eat outdoors, eat outside of any building. If you mean eat at a restaurant, then "eat out" is the way to say that.
Other options are:
I wanted to eat out for breakfast today, but....
I was originally planning to eat out for breakfast today, but...
I had originally planned to eat out for breakfast today, but...
I was thinking I'd eat out for breakfast today, but....
I had wanted to eat out for breakfast today, but...
Is my translation correct?
Feedback
profitendieu did a really good job describing the main translation of 本来. The best translation is usually "originally" or "from the start".
Sometimes, it can also translate to "of course". For example:
本来就该这样办。 = Of course it should be handled that way.
Also, sometimes it just translates to past tense in English. For example:
他们应该更加重视质量。- They should pay more attention to quality
他们本来应该更加重视质量。- They should have paid more attention to quality
If it is available to you, jukuu.com (句酷) is a helpful website for me. It is a website designed to help Chinese speakers learn English (but I use it the other way). You can search for a word or phrase in either English or Chinese and it will give you example sentences in both Chinese and English, so you can see how the word is translated or used. (That's where I got my example sentences from)
Dec. 8, 2020
Thank you for your patiently explanations. I got it. Thank you very much.
Journal 12/08/20
我今天本来是想去外面吃早餐的，但是～
I have wanted to eat breakfast outside today, but ~
I wanted to eat breakfast outside today, but ~
The sentence suggests something happened to change your mind, so we can’t use the present perfect.
Is my translation correct?
How do you translate 本来 in English?
Feedback
本來 generally translates to phrases like “originally," “originally planned to,” "was supposed to," "used to," etc. The exact translation depends on the circumstances.
My Chinese is very bad, so I'm not completely sure if these sentences are idiomatic, but here are some examples:
- 我本來今天上學，但是我早上發燒。I was (supposed/going) to go to school today, but I had a fever this morning [so I couldn't go].
- 本來他有五個蘋果，現在有兩個。他吃了多少蘋果？Before [=originally], he had 5 apples, and now he has two. How many apples did he eat?
Dec. 8, 2020
Thank you for your explanations.
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Journal 12/08/20 This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
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我今天本来是想去外面吃早餐的，但是～ This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
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I have wanted to eat breakfast outside today, but ~
I The sentence suggests something happened to change your mind, so we can’t use the present perfect.
I "eat outside" means 在户外吃饭 - eat outdoors, eat outside of any building. If you mean eat at a restaurant, then "eat out" is the way to say that. Other options are: I wanted to eat out for breakfast today, but.... I was originally planning to eat out for breakfast today, but... I had originally planned to eat out for breakfast today, but... I was thinking I'd eat out for breakfast today, but.... I had wanted to eat out for breakfast today, but... |
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Is my translation correct? This sentence has been marked as perfect! This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
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How do you translate 本来 in English? This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
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