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How can I add an emotional undertone in English? (feddit.de)

submitted 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

56 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Context: I'm missing a cutting board. So I wrote in our telegram family group: "Wo ist eigentlich unser zweites großes Schneidebrett hin?" (literally: "Where is actually our second big cuttingboard thither?").

By using the modal particle "eigentlich" I insinuate that something is oddly off and express an emotional state of curiousity and/or mild discontent.

By adding "hin", I notify that I ask because it is not where it is supposed to be and not because I don't know where it should be.

Now I ask myself, how would I express this additional information in English?

Edit: Thank you all for your answers! I learned a lot. Just our cutting board is still gone, and probably enjoying it's freedom somewhere ... I suppose.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Are you asking how to express this information in a utilitarian way, as in, how do you convey the information to be understood? Or are you asking how to express it in a poetic way? The use of thither makes me think you're hoping to express this is a jokingly poetic sense.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

In an everyday colloquial way.

The directional particel "hin" is a commonly used word in German without an exact equivalent in English. "thither" is the best approximation I could find, though it's usage is completely different, of course.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

"gone to" is probably a more accurate translation, because "thither" is such an obscure word in English it gives the wrong impression.