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- "Let's think hard!"
"Let's think hard!"
Translation:Pensiamoci bene!
24 Comments
I thought that some adverbs have a short form which is the same with the adjective. Like velocemente - veloce (veloce can be translated as an adverb "rapidly" and as an adjective "rapid"); or solamente - solo ( solo can be translated as "only" and as "alone"). Isn't the same thing with duramente - duro? At least my dictionary (ABBYY lingvo) says it is.
The obvious translation of the Italian is "We think well of us/it" (although that might be "Ci pensiamo bene" or "Pensiamo bene di noi stessi.") Don't know why the attached pronoun makes that much difference. It apparently does.
I have seen an adverbial use of "duro" in "tenere duro," so I would have expected "Pensiamo duro!" Or perhaps "Pensiamo vigorosamente!" Why "bene," with its conflicting usages?
I am not comfortable with the "imperative" translated as "LET him/us/them/etc." Logically, it ought to be "He/we/they/etc. MUST" something. Maybe because in English there is only a second person imperative, or maybe because it's a purely idiomatic mood in Italian that isn't truly imperative. (Neither are the English "Let us pray," "Let's go," "Let's do it." Those are actually requests, not commands.)
I would appreciate any enlightenment to help me wend my way out of this tangle.
Thanks for reminding me that it's Italian we're talking about. The "imperative" forms are a relic of the Latin hortative and iussic moods, etc., as well as the imperative. By late Latin, some of that work was taken over by the subjunctive, as it seems to be in modern Italian. But the formal markers remain in the language. They do not in English, except in a few idiomatic usages, and those various moods are now mainly conceptual, although there have been a few recent efforts to categorize them in detail. Almost a branch of logic. Our modal and compound verbs now do most of the work. Thanks again for the comment.
The problem is in the translation offered. The phrase 'think hard' is actually improper, though accepted, English. It's improper due to the definitions of 'hard' because thought has no solidity and has no physical obstructions. The phrase is used in the same contexts as both 'think well' and 'think carefully' which is why you get 'bene' here.