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- "Where were you so long?"
"Where were you so long?"
Translation:Wo seid ihr so lange gewesen?
26 Comments
147
They have accepted my answer "Wo bist du so lang gewesen?" Is it ok without the "e" in "lang"?
The distinction between the past tense (Präteritum) and the present perfect (Perfekt) is not as strict in German as it is in English. Mostly, it's just a matter of style. That's why an English sentence in the past tense ("Where were you so long?") can either be translated as "Wo warst du so lange?" (Präteritum, i.e. German past tense) or "Wo bist du so lange gewesen?" (Perfekt, i.e. German present perfect). Both translations are correct.
It is not broken English. Your second phrase has the same meaning and the same problem (ambiguity). See https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/so#Usage_notes_2
339
How to differentiate between "ihr(you plural)" and "du/Sie (you informal/formal)" from a normal sentence?
I came across all the sentence only 'formal/informal you' most of the time.
1601
"Where were you so long?" is not a common, or even valid, sentence in English. We don't talk like that. Not in America, anyway.
"Where were you for so long?" is better. I get that they don't put the "for" in Germany. But, in America, we do.
606
As a native English speaker, I can say that this sentence just does not feel right to say, and to be honest, I would not be surprised if this is not even proper English. I would personally say "where were you for so long?". This sentence just does not feel right at all.
Native U.S. English speaker here: This sentence is very much in use where I live. The "for" is understood. It is certainly possible that it is a colloquialism; however, the Grammarly app doesn't flag it as being incorrect, so its use seems to be widespread enough to be considered acceptable. I can understand why it would be confusing to someone trying to translate that from English to German, though, if s/he is not familiar with it.