La traduzione, come metodo di esercizio nell’apprendimento di una lingua, farà sicuramente parte della vecchia scuola, però, inserita in un contesto più vario di apprendimento, soprattutto con feedback in tempo reale, può sempre essere un utile esercizio di allenamento.
Consiglio una partecipazione attiva e visibile postando la tua versione tra i commenti in fondo a questa pagina. In questo modo riceverai un mio commento o suggerimento in tempo più o meno reale. Ma per chi non se la sente, si può semplicemente annotare la propria versione e controllarla attraverso i miei commenti lasciati per gli altri.
Ecco la nuova frase:
C’era stato un solo vero amore nella vita movimentata di Tom e sapeva di non poter più contare su di lei.
Buon divertimento!
Puoi esercitarti quanto vuoi
Ingliando 
Hey Prof, I think there’s an interesting grammar point here about what the narrator really want to tell us about Tom. My interpretation of that ” … sapeva di non poter… is for acknowledgement (sapeva di..) and regretting ( non poter più…). So, I worked it out that ” shouldn’t ” could be the best choice here ( regrets). So, what about ” There had been only one true love in Tom’s eventful life and he admitted/acknowledged that he shouldn’t count on her anymore”. Maybe … and he had to admit that….could work even better.
“Shouldn’t have + past participle” is good for regrets, Toni. When it’s in the present it works more as ‘advice’. If the original were, “…sapevo che non doveva più contare su di lei” then “should work work very well, but not here.
So ” There had been only one true love in Tom’s eventful life and he admitted/acknowledged that he couldn’t count on her anymore”
Not sure about your interpretation about the Italian version Prof, but thanks for the English feedback.
It would be interesting to know what other interpretation you’ve come up with. 😳
And while we’re on the subject, why ‘admitted/acknowledged’ and not just a simple ‘knew’?
If you really feel the need for an alternative instead of ‘knew’, I would use ‘realised’ or ‘was aware’.
Prof, since it wasn’t clear the real meaning of that sentence in Italian to me, I also looked up the use of ” sa/sapeva di…” This is a modal use (verbo servile) and it means “admit something with himself that something else is true and so on ( riconoscere che), the other modal use is “sapere+infinito (sa scrivere,leggere ) this is the use where “can and could comes in ( abilities), Take this sentence ” So di aver sbagliato,perciò ti chiedo scusa ” Can I use “to know” here with the same meaning of regretting? I didn’t know about this and I locked it up and apparently I can’t.
Sorry,…. meaning of acknowledgement ( sapeva di…)
I think you’re creating problems for yourself, Toni. This use of ‘sapere’ in Italian is exactly the same as our use of ‘to know’ in English. It’s just like saying, “So di aver fatto alcuni errori”, “I know I’ve made a few mistakes.” I really don’t see where the confusion is. Why do you want to say it in a different way?
There had been only one truth love in the Tom’s eventful life, and he knows he could no more rely (count ) on her
Good, Luca, and comprehensible, but with a few things to sort out:
1) truth (noun) ❎ true (adjective) ✅;
2) Genitivo sassone: no article with proper names;
3) knows (present) ❎ knew (past) ✅;
4) no more ❎ no longer ✅ (or ‘anymore’ at the end with a negative verb).
Thanks for the correction prof. so
There had been only one truth love in Tom’s eventful life, and he knew he could no longer rely (count ) on her
That’s it, Luca, except that you’ve used ‘truth’ again instead of ‘true’. 😉
a typo 🙂
😉👍
There had been only one true love in Tom’s eventful life and he knew he could no more count on her.
Hi Nadia. All your verb tenses are good. Well done. The only thing I would change here is ‘no more’. If you want it in that position, then you should use ‘no longer’. The alternative is to use ‘anymore’ at the end of the sentence (with a negative verb of course).
thank you, your teachings are very helpful
😀👍
Good evening prof
* There had been just one true love in Tom’s reckless life and he knew he can’t count on her anymore.
Thank you
Have a nice night
Well done, Nadia.
A couple of things to think about:
1) I’m not sure about ‘reckless’ in this context, perhaps ‘eventful’ would be more appropriate;
2) can’t ❎ couldn’t ✅
C’era stato un solo vero amore nella vita movimentata di Tom e sapeva di non poter più contare su di lei.
Good evening prof,
There had only been one real love in Tom ‘ eventful life and he knew he couldn’t rely on her anymore.
Nice one, Roby.
I think perhaps I would use ‘true’ rather than ‘real’. 😉
😁
Giusto prof! Sapevo l espressione ma niente da fare, non mi è venuta in mente.
Maybe you’re still waiting for it? 😉
😂😁😂…
Have a nice Saturday evening prof…
😘
C’era stato un solo vero amore nella vita movimentata di Tom e sapeva di non poter più contare su di lei.
There had been only one true love in Tom’s eventful life and he knew he couldn’t count on her anymore / he could no longer count on her.
Well done, Paolo. Both versions are equally valid. 🙂
C’era stato un solo vero amore nella vita movimentata di Tom e sapeva di non poter più contare su di lei.
There had been only one true love in Tom’s lively life and He knew He couldn’t count on her anymore
Very good, Anita. The only thing I would change is ‘lively’ which is not the best choice of adjective in this context. A good alternative here would be ‘eventful’. 🙂
Got it, Teacher.
Thank you so much
😀👍
C’era stato un solo vero amore nella vita movimentata di Tom e sapeva di non poter più contare su di lei
There was just one true love in Tom’s eventful life and he knew he can’t count on her enymore
It had been just one true love in Tom’s eventful life and he knew he coudn’t count on her anymorea
Hi Manu,
You need to look at your verb tenses again. The only good one is ‘knew’. 😉
C’era stato un solo vero amore nella vita movimentata di Tom e sapeva di non poter più contare su di lei.
There had been only one true love for Tom’s lively life and he knew he couldn’t have counted on her anymore!
A good effort, Claudio. There are a few things to think about:
1) for ❎ in ✅;
2) ‘lively’ is perhaps not the most suitable adjective in this context;
3) ‘couldn’t have’ is too much in the past.
There had been only one true love IN Tom’s EVENTFUL life and he knew he couldn’t count on her anymore!
That’s it, Claudio. Well done! 🙂
There had been one true love in Tom’s reckless life and he knew he couldn’t count on her any longer.
Very good, Daniel.
Just a couple of very small points:
1) you missed out ‘solo’;
2) I’m not so sure about your choice of adjective with ‘reckless’.
C’era stato un solo vero amore nella vita movimentata di Tom e sapeva di non poter più contare su di lei.
There had been only one true love in the frenetic/busy life of Tom and he knew he he couldn’t rely on her anymore.
Oh, what a sad story! 😭
Hi Dani,
Yes, it is rather sad, but he falls in love with another girl in the next chapter! 😂
Did you consider a ‘Saxon genitive’ by any chance?
There had been only one true love in Tom’s busy life and he knew he he couldn’t rely on her anymore.
Great news! I am relieved.😀
Thanks 😘
😉👍
there has been only a true love in Tom’s turbulent life and he knew that cannot count anymore on her
Hi there!
Your version is not bad and is reasonably comprehensible, but there are a number of small points you need to think about:
1) your first verb needs to be more in the past;
2) a true love ❎ one true love ✅ (here the number is important and the article is not sufficient);
3) cannot ❎ couldn’t ✅ (the subject pronoun is missing too);
4) “anymore” should go at the end.
🙂
thanks
😀👍
There was only one true love in Tom’s eventful life and he knew he couldn’t rely on her anymore.
Hi Rachele,
You need to think again about the tense of the first verb. The rest is all fine. 🙂
There had been
Much better! Well done. 🙂