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- "And in the meanwhile we've h…
"And in the meanwhile we've had a baby."
Translation:Und inzwischen haben wir ein Baby.
13 Comments
The prompt was "we have had" so I tried including the past participle: Und haben wir inzwischen ein Baby gehabt. Perhaps the child is grown up now, but you're recounting a story.
To have a baby means to give birth. A litteral translation will only be appropriate in odd cases. see also http://dict.leo.org/ende?lp=endelang=desearchLoc=0cmpType=relaxedsectHdr=onspellToler=search=have+baby I know that I am not supposed to report an error here, but where should I? the "Report a Problem" button only allows me to click but not to explain.
The translation of the verb phrase is fine, but I'm not sure if "in the meanwhile" fits here. I'd say "We have a baby now".
I wouldn't use "in the meanwhile". It isn't really an accepted expression. If the person was catching up with someone they hadn't seen in quite sometime, they could have expressed some sort of a time line to include "in the meantime" or "meanwhile" such as..."My wife and I started our own business 2 years ago, we got a huge contract with a foreign government, we moved to a new country, had our house built and in the meantime, we had a baby." Or alternatively...."and meanwhile, we had a baby."
I don't know/understand the feeling of the German sentence, but the English implies that between a period in the past and the current moment (or also in the past), we had a baby. I don't know if that answers any questions, but I hope it helped a bit!
Thanks. I think they should change the English to "And we have a baby now".
I don't know about the German sentence, but the English sentence isn't stating that the couple now has a baby. It is stating that at some point (in the meantime) they gave birth (delivered a baby). "we have a baby now" doesn't quite convey the same message. Not to be morbid, but the baby could have died since. "In the meantime, we had a baby. Unfortunately, it died last year." Based on the little looking I did, I think wudama is right in that the German version of what "having a baby" means in English is "ein Baby bekommen". If the German sentence implies something more along the lines of "we now have a baby", then the English sentence needs a complete re-write. I guess it might come down to which sentence you chose as your "master" sentence?
Or perhaps the other possible translation of inzwischen -- that being "By now"... hence, "And by now, we've had a baby".. although that use of "had" instead of "have" seems awfully awkward.
I have the same feeling that "in the meanwhile" does not cover the complete meaning of "inzwischen". I would say that "in the meanwhile" refers to a period between two points of time, while "inzwischen" can be a statement for how things are now. How things are now is of course the result of what happened during the preceding period, but I feel that that period is less specific for inzwischen.
"Ja, es ist seit lange das wir einander gesehen haben und inzwischen haben wir ein Kind." "Ja, es geht uns gut und inzwischen haben wir ein Kind."
"Yes, it has been a long time since we have seen each other and in the meanwhile we've had a child." "Yes, we are well and in the meanwhile we've had a child."
With the second English sentence, I would expect a preceding sentence referring to the last time the speakers saw each other.
""inzwischen" can be a statement for how things are now. How things are now is of course the result of what happened during the preceding period"
Exactly.
My translation would be: "In der Zwischenzeit haben wir ein Kind bekommen." The problem with the translation is twofold. On the one hand the "meanwhile" on the other hand the "have a baby".
I tried "Und in der Zwischenzeit haben wir ein baby bekommen" - which it also did NOT accept!
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Warum kann ich nicht "Und in der zwischenzeit haben wir ein Baby gehabt" sagen? I know my translation may sound weird, but I just want to know.
