How do you say this in english??
Hola! I'm trying to translate a fragment of a text but I'm stuck at this sentence:
"Su mirada descansaba tristemente sobre todo y nada a la vez."
I think it'd be: Her gaze rested sadly above everything and nothing at the same time. Is this correct?
9 Answers
My opinion
Her gaze rested sadly upon everything and nothing at once.
I think that the translation of the sentence depend on the document subject, as known "Su" can be translated for many words so it can be (His,Her,Its,their or Your). So, this pharse as shown can be translated to:
- His gaze rested sadly on everything and nothing at the same time. ( at the time )
- Her gaze rested sadly on everything and nothing at the same time.
- Their gaze rested sadly on everything and nothing at the same time.
- Its gaze rested sadly on everything and nothing at the same time.
Also mirada can be translated to (Look), so the translation is become the same above but with replacing Gaze with look. so the sentence translation become
-( His,her,their,its) look rested sadly on everything and nothing at the same time. thanks for reading, i wish that will be enought
Her gaze rested sadly upon all and naught at once / at one time?
I tried...
May I summarise.
We have no way of knowing from the snippet we're given what is the gender of the person performing this action. Let's just go with what the questioner says as he/she has read more of the book.
"Mirada" clearly translates to "gaze" here. "Gaze" is simply the best-fitting English word.
"Sobre" does not translate as "above" here; it is not appropriate so let's use "on".
Sorry Rac but I don't like "at once". It doesn't sound like English to my (English) ear so I go with "at the same time" although it too is a tad clumsy. I wish I could think of a good third option.
As Geofc says, I like....
"Her gaze rested sadly upon everything and nothing at the same time."
Still, I wish I could think of a smoother way to say "a la vez" here.
According to the translator it reads: His gaze sadly rested above all and nothing at the same time.
I'm extremely new so I'm not sure how you might change it to read as "Her"? I assume with the -a ending instead -o it should refer to "her"?
Her gaze lay sadly upon everything and yet, at the same time, upon nothing.
If you went with looked instead of gazed, 'a la vez' could be translated as 'in the same moment) ... (she) looked at everything and nothing all in the same moment. But it doesn't really work with gazed, which I do think is the best option.
Try 2.
Or why not try reconstructing the whole sentence? For example"
"Her sad gaze rested at once upon everything and nothing."
Not sure it has the same pizazz but I tried.
