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

You had it exactly right earlier with "my entire being". All about me or all about anything is basically just info. In romance novels they want you to be sure, so they really extend it such as: "I belonged completely to him, my body, my soul, my mind, my senses - everything about me, everything I am, everything I wanted to be" etc. until it gets sickening.

No, my problem is sobre. The usual translation of about really slaps a meaning of information apparently where it may be unwanted. All doesn't change that. It is very common for someone to say "tell me all about yourself". But "Give me all about yourself" or "I want all about you" doesn't really make any sense. It has to be "Give yourself to me" or "I want you and you alone".

How did this ever get so complicated?

mvictoria is right. The word "part" is often understood as abstract in English. "She is a part of who I am". "Part of me wants to say 'yes' and part of me wants to run away". "There are parts of our relationship that I believe will become a problem down the road". It is so abstract that it is rare (but possible) for someone to use it in word play. One example would be:

"Part of me wants to go out with you".
"Which part"?

Hi gernt

How did this ever get so complicated?

I wouldn't say complicated, I'd say interesting instead.

mvictoria is right.

Right in what sense? Who said she was wrong? Based on what is she right?

This is not a test, IMO we are just exchanging our points of view with the purpose of getting a clear understanding of what we are attempting to translate. I don’t believe there is a right or wrong way (unless you say that black is white, in which case I would directly say you are flat out wrong); however, there are better sentences than others in the sense that they convey the meaning of the original sentence in a more precise way.

The word "part" is often understood as abstract in English. "She is a part of who I am". "Part of me wants to say 'yes' and part of me wants to run away". "There are parts of our relationship that I believe will become a problem down the road". It is so abstract that it is rare (but possible) for someone to use it in word play...

I know perfectly what the word part means and how it is used. But as I said before, if you change the whole sentence, then the word in question takes another tone. I never said that part meant a physical part in every single case. I said that the phrase ...every part of me... right off the bat gave me the feeling of referring to the physical aspect. So to me there are better sentences than that one to translate the sentence in Spanish. Our aim should be to be as exact as possible and to convey the meaning of the original sentence without ambiguity.

I asked four colleagues of mine that work with me in the same institution, and all agreed that the first thing that comes to mind with Before I realized [it], every part of me was his, was the physical side of it. Of course it also referst to other parts, but there are better ways to express todo de mí than that.