English help! "The book got lost on them"
Hi
I think I don't know something in English as well! I came a across a translation like The book got lost on them what does this sentence mean? Can anyone help me?
10 Answers
I'm not familiar with that lesson, but it could also be a matter of relevance.
A book of Chinese poetry would be lost on me, since I can't read Chinese.
A book of advanced Spanish would be lost on me, since my Spanish is not advanced.
A book on politics would be lost on me, because I'm not interested in politics.
A romantic novel would be lost on me, since I'm a man.
You get the idea. If they can't understand or appreciate, or just aren't interested, then "its lost on them".
You could also say "wasted" on them. Its just an expression. We use it in England, don't know about anywhere else.
so the topic is confusing here because some of you say it s a lost in mind but margaretbl says it s a physical lost which one is correct?
People are looking at your question in two different ways. Some are looking at your English sentence, The book got lost on them. and telling you what that sentence would normally mean in English...the book didn't have a meaning for them as the topic didn't appeal to them, it went over their head, etc.
Others are looking at the fact that you said that this sentence was a translation. They are seeing the sentence as a literal translation of a Spanish sentence that is worded somewhat awkwardly in English.
Se les perdió el libro.
They lost (physically) the book. (This is the figurative meaning of the Spanish sentence in English)
Literally, however, this Spanish sentence would translate into English as:
The book was lost to them.
So half of the people answering you are discussing the meaning of the English sentence by itself while the other half are discussing the literal translation of the Spanish sentence by telling you what it figuratively means in English.
If you look at the English sentence as it is written it means the book (mentally) had no appeal or meaning for you.
If you look at it as a literal translation of a Spanish sentence, then it actually means: They lost (physically) the book.
The book was lost on them, means they didn't understand it.
The book got lost on them = no entendieron le tema o las palabras del libro.
The people who read the book did not understand what they read.
Se les perdío el libro
Hi As, just to add to the others - this is 'physically' losing the book.
Hola,
"Se les perdió el libro" = They lost the book.
Hope this makes sense and helps you.
Now I understand the problem.
In the lesson, Paralee states " the book got lost on them".
I think she's explaining the translation as an alternative to "they lost the book".
In English, "the book got lost on them" is grammatically wrong, but is the literal translation. Its a difference in the grammar of the two languages.
I don't have the knowledge to explain the Spanish grammar, sorry.
The book is physically lost. It made an interesting discussion though.
so the topic is confusing here because some of you say it s a lost in mind but margaretbl says it s a physical lost which one is correct?
The book got lost on them.
Just in case the "got" is confusing anyone.
The "got" can be replaced with "became" - meaning that it took a while before they didn't understand the book - or they became / got fed up with it.
No i mean it was mentioned in the lesson Impersonal Se and the sentence is Se les perdío el libro so i think the meaning here a little different, right?
