Otis H.
Don't know VS Just don't know In English we distinguish between "don't know" and "just don't know", with the latter usually meaning "it's simply that we don't know". For example: "We don't know who's on the list." "We know who's on the list. We just don't know what order they're in." However, when I look up "just don't know" in a context translator, I'm given "Je ne sais pas..." Would "Je ne sais pas simplement..." or "C'est juste que je ne sais pas..." work for the distinction?
Aug 3, 2015 11:27 PM
Answers · 6
2
Otis, When “just” is used for emphasis, as in your example, this can be expressed in French in various ways, depending on the context: - you can omit it: “I was just wondering if you knew…” => “je me demandais si vous saviez…” - you can use “juste”: “I'm just phoning to remind you that…” => “je te téléphone juste pour te rappeler que…” - you can use “n’avoir qu’à”: “you should just send it back” => “vous n'avez qu'à le renvoyer” - you can use “simplement”: “I just can't imagine what's happened to him” => “je n'arrive tout simplement pas à comprendre [or] j'ai du mal à imaginer ce qui a (bien) pu lui arriver”. Here is a real example: http://www.babelio.com/auteur/Jean-Philippe-Blondel/8300/citations/117057 Source: Robert & Collins
August 4, 2015
No in french we don't do a diffrerence ! You just say "je ne sais pas" When you say "c'est juste que je ne sais pas" it sounds like if someone blame you to don't know the answer !!!! I hope it helps you
August 4, 2015
La plupart du (expressions voulant dire "la majorité de") temps il suffira simplement de traduire "just" par "juste" ou "seulement" et ça sera, il me semble (je ne suis que débutant en anglais), compris de la même manière la grande majorité du ("la plupart du" ;) ) temps !
December 12, 2015
(Précision : "plupart" expression dû à la compression de "plus" et "part" pour "la plus grande part de" ... )
December 12, 2015
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