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.
Ricorda l’importanza di immaginare un contesto reale nel quale la frase in questione avrebbe senso, prima di procedere con la traduzione.
Per chi è già ben avviato al livello intermediate (B1/B2)
Ecco la nuova frase:
Volevamo fare una sorpresa ai nostri genitori andando a trovarli questo fine settimana, ma purtroppo i prezzi dei biglietti erano già aumentati troppo e non potevamo proprio permettercelo.
Buon divertimento!
We wanted to surprise our parents by visiting them this coming weekend, but unfortunately the ticket prices had already increased a lot and we couldn’t afford it at all.
Very good, Dany. Two small changes I would recommend:
increased a lot → gone up too much
we couldn’t afford it at all → we really couldn’t afford it
🙂
Volevamo fare una sorpresa ai nostri genitori andando a trovarli questo fine settimana, ma purtroppo i prezzi dei biglietti erano già aumentati troppo e non potevamo proprio permettercelo.
We wanted to give our parents a surprise by visiting them this weekend, but unfortunately the the price of the tickets had already increased too much and we just couldn’t afford it.
Very good, Paolo. It’s all Donald’s fault!
Good morning,
“We wanted to Surprise our parents by visiting them This weekend but unfortunately ticket prices had already increased too much and we couldn’t afford It”.
Ho dimenticato REALLY
WE REALLY COULD NOT
Saved by the bell! 😉
Your version is spot on today, Roby. Well done! 🙂
Ohhhh Just as well!!!! Thanks
I have been making mistakes lately….
Good days and not so good days. 🙂
We wanted to do a surprise to our parents going to visti them, but unfortunately the ticket prices had already increased too much and we couldn’t just afford it.
Thanks!
Hi folks!
I’m afraid you can’t “do a surprise to somebody” in English, but you can “surprise somebody”. So, what you need here is, “We wanted to surprise our parents…” Also “going” needs “by” → “by going to visit them”.
Lastly, be careful with the position of “just”: it should come before “could”.
🙂
We wanted to surprise our parents by going to visit them this weekend but unfortunately the ticket prices had alteady risen too much and we could not just afford it
You’ve finally managed to find a bit of free time! 😉
Great version, Fede. The only thing that is out of place is “just” towards the end. It should come before “could”.
Otherwise it’s all very well expressed. 🙂
We wanted to surprise our parents by paying a visit to them this weekend, but unfortunately the tickets prices had already risen too much and we couldn’t afford it
A very good effort, Lenora. There are just a couple of small points that need adjusting. With the “pay a visit” formula, when the indirect object is a pronoun as it is here (them), it’s generally better to use the alternative construction without the preposition “to”. In this case, “…by paying them a visit…”
https://ingliando.net/2014/02/27/come-usare-il-verbo-give-e-altri-in-inglese-con-due-complementi-to-give-something-to-somebody/
The other point is that you are using “ticket” as an adjective and adjectives are invariable in English so there shouldn’t be a plural ‘s’: “ticket prices”.
http://ingliando.net/2011/12/08/uso-di-nomi-come-aggettivi-in-inglese/
🙂
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Volevamo fare una sorpresa ai nostri genitori andando a trovarli questo fine settimana, ma purtroppo i prezzi dei biglietti erano già aumentati troppo e non potevamo proprio permettercelo.
We wanted to spring a surprise on our parents by going to visit them this weekend, but unfortunately ticket prices had already risen too much and we just couldn’t afford it.
Wow, Claudio the surprise springer!
Well done! 🙂
We wanted to surprise our parents by going to see them next weekend, but unfortunately the ticket prices had already risen too much and we really couldn’t afford them.
That’s as good as they get, Alexia. Well done. 🙂
Ciao!
We were going to do a suprise to our parents by coming over them this week end, but unfortunately the tickets prices had already risen too much and we couldn’t afford it at all.
Hi Davide.
What you need in the first part is the verb “to surprise”: We wanted to (were going to) surprise our parents…
You got the use of “by” which is important but you can’t say “coming over them”. In this case, your best option is, “coming/going to see them”.
The second part is all good, although personally I would choose “really” rather than “at all” – “…and we really couldn’t afford it.”
🙂