Not sure this is the right forum, but if not please redirect. The problem is not as serious as usually posted here, but it is driving me insane so I decided to ask for help.
My fiancé is one exam away from graduating at Architecture college here in Serbia where we live. She hasn’t been able to pass that exam for nearly a year, and because of that has missed couple of potential job opportunities. That last exam is English language. She has taken classes, used my help, but nothing worked. Point is, they have some random sentences in Serbian that need to be translated in English. My level of English is understanding nearly everything I read and a lot of what I hear and I can translate from English to Serbian easily. From Serbian to English is more difficult because you need to know English grammar very well. I have translated some of things she managed to remember from the last time she took the exam, and took it to some English schools here to compare. For certain things they had a different opinion to mine, and for some different to each other. I figured the only way to be a hundred percent sure what is correct is to ask English native speakers . So, if anyone has a bit of time, help would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.
This is how I did it, opinions from others are in the brackets.
1. Did you know he was my neighbor? He moved in two months ago.
2. He asked her if her birthday was soon, and she was quiet.
3. They have already arrived, and they said they had had a great time. ( this one was problematic, English teacher translated with only one had, but I think due to a sequence of tenses it should be moved to past perfect tense ) Your opinion?
4. We let him know not to come, because we have too much work. ( or because we had too much work ) . Our work is not finished yet, so i think present tense should be used in the second part.
5. A new member has been elected, and I believe you knew that, didn’t you. ( A new member has been elected, and I believe you have known that, haven’t you? ). For this one we might be all wrong, so go ahead!
6. Tell us where did your parents relocate? ( where your parents relocated; where did your parents move; where your parents moved ). Lots of options here, you say?
7. Why didn’t you tell me we would celebrate your birthday in the Café? ( we were going to celebrate your birthday in a Café )
8. My friend has been in London for two weeks, and now she’s coming home. ( or she was in London for two weeks and now she comes home)
9. You may have thought they would finish the job on time, haven’t you? ( Maybe you thought they would finish the job on time, didn’t you? Maybe you have thought they will finish the job on time, haven’t you? )
10. They had a good rest, and now they can learn English. ( They have had a good rest ).
11. Where did you leave my bag? I have been looking for it since morning but I haven’t been able to find it. ( or simply I can’t find it).
12. You knew we would come, but you didn’t tell her, did you? ( you haven’t told her , have you? )
13. The students have translated one text, and they have one more left. They are allowed to do that at home.
14. We asked them if they had passed all the exams.
Okay , that’s what I have. The sentences may look stupid, but this is just a translation, I didn’t write them. Thanks again.
My fiancé is one exam away from graduating at Architecture college here in Serbia where we live. She hasn’t been able to pass that exam for nearly a year, and because of that has missed couple of potential job opportunities. That last exam is English language. She has taken classes, used my help, but nothing worked. Point is, they have some random sentences in Serbian that need to be translated in English. My level of English is understanding nearly everything I read and a lot of what I hear and I can translate from English to Serbian easily. From Serbian to English is more difficult because you need to know English grammar very well. I have translated some of things she managed to remember from the last time she took the exam, and took it to some English schools here to compare. For certain things they had a different opinion to mine, and for some different to each other. I figured the only way to be a hundred percent sure what is correct is to ask English native speakers . So, if anyone has a bit of time, help would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.
This is how I did it, opinions from others are in the brackets.
1. Did you know he was my neighbor? He moved in two months ago.
2. He asked her if her birthday was soon, and she was quiet.
3. They have already arrived, and they said they had had a great time. ( this one was problematic, English teacher translated with only one had, but I think due to a sequence of tenses it should be moved to past perfect tense ) Your opinion?
4. We let him know not to come, because we have too much work. ( or because we had too much work ) . Our work is not finished yet, so i think present tense should be used in the second part.
5. A new member has been elected, and I believe you knew that, didn’t you. ( A new member has been elected, and I believe you have known that, haven’t you? ). For this one we might be all wrong, so go ahead!
6. Tell us where did your parents relocate? ( where your parents relocated; where did your parents move; where your parents moved ). Lots of options here, you say?
7. Why didn’t you tell me we would celebrate your birthday in the Café? ( we were going to celebrate your birthday in a Café )
8. My friend has been in London for two weeks, and now she’s coming home. ( or she was in London for two weeks and now she comes home)
9. You may have thought they would finish the job on time, haven’t you? ( Maybe you thought they would finish the job on time, didn’t you? Maybe you have thought they will finish the job on time, haven’t you? )
10. They had a good rest, and now they can learn English. ( They have had a good rest ).
11. Where did you leave my bag? I have been looking for it since morning but I haven’t been able to find it. ( or simply I can’t find it).
12. You knew we would come, but you didn’t tell her, did you? ( you haven’t told her , have you? )
13. The students have translated one text, and they have one more left. They are allowed to do that at home.
14. We asked them if they had passed all the exams.
Okay , that’s what I have. The sentences may look stupid, but this is just a translation, I didn’t write them. Thanks again.