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- "Na čistou postel jsem mohla …
"Na čistou postel jsem mohla zapomenout!"
Translation:I could forget about a clean bed!
15 Comments
"As I walked into the lobby of the hotel, I saw it was dirty and had insects scurrying on the walls. I could forget about a clean bed!"
It's a weird sentence without context though.
2009
It is always more difficult to figure out how to translate a sentence when the English is difficult to understand even when translated properly.
- 905
Based on the czech sentence, for me it's: Looking at the shabby entrance of the **hotel, you already knew what to expect from the interior: neither a clean hotel room nor a clean bathroom nor even a clean bed.
Makes sense. So in English, it might be, "You can forget about a clean bed!"
The English translation would be better if 'having' were inserted: 'You can forget about having a clean bed'. 'Getting' also works instead of 'having'. Put one of those in and the sentence makes instant sense in English.
"On a clean bed I could forget"? Or would postel be declined differently then?
That sentence does not make sense in English -- unless you intend to say that, while you are lying on a clean bed, you are able to forget something unpleasant that you'd rather not remember. One of the Czech natives on the team can perhaps tell you if your suggested sentence could reasonably be understood from the Czech original.
Can "I could" be translated as "Mohl bych"? Is there a difference between "mohl jsem" and "mohl bych"? And whats the best way to translate "I could have forgotten"? Thanks!!
mohl jsem is the past tense indicative mood
mohl bych is the (present) conditional mood
The English tense is not conditional, it is just past tense so use the past tense.
Sort of, yes. However, you should not translate prepositions like this. You always have to translate the whole combination of a verb + the associated preposition together at the same time.
