I don't know whether to laugh or to cry, maybe both
Dec 16, 2013 #1
apmoy70 Senior Member Greek In Greek:
«Δεν ξέρω αν πρέπει να κλάψω ή να γελάσω» [ðen 'ksero an 'prepi na 'klapso i na ʝe'laso] lit. "I don't know whether to cry or laugh". I haven't heard it used often (and I think it's an anglicism) but google gives 23800 results, so... Dec 16, 2013 #2
DearPrudence Dépêche Mod IdF French (lower Normandy) In French, this is totally idiomatic: "Je ne sais pas si je dois rire ou pleurer." (literally: I don't know if I must laugh or cry) "Je ne sais pas s'il faut rire ou pleurer." (literally: I don't know if one must laugh or cry) Dec 16, 2013 #3 ahmedcowon Senior Member Mansoura - Egypt Arabic In Arabic: لا أدري هل أضحك أم أبكي /lâ adri hal aḍħaku am abki/
In Egyptian Arabic: مش عارف أضحك ولا أعيط /mesh ‘aref aḍħak walla a‘ayyaṭ/
Both are idiomatic and literally means: I don't know whether to laugh or to cry Dec 16, 2013 #4
franknagy Senior Member Budapest, Hungría húngara
Nem tudom, hogy sírjak-e vagy nevessek.
sír = cry nevet = laugh Dec 16, 2013 #5 ThomasK Senior Member (near) Kortrijk, Belgium Belgium, Dutch Dutch: ik weet niet of ik moet lachen of wenen
lachen = to laugh wenen = to weep, to cry Dec 17, 2013 #6 Rallino Moderatoúrkos Ankara Turkish In Turkish, we rather rhetorically ask: Güler misin ağlar mısın? lit. Would you laugh or would you cry? Dec 25, 2013 #7 arielipi Senior Member Israel Hebrew Hebrew: אני לא יודע אם לצחוק או לבכות ani lo yode'a im litzkhok o livkot i dont know if to laugh or to cry
אם זה לא היה עצוב היינו צוחקים im ze lo haya atzuv hayinu tzokhakim if it wasnt sad we were (=would have been) laughing Dec 25, 2013 #8
sakvaka Moderoitsija Helsinki, Finland Finnish Finnish: En tiedä, itkeäkö vai nauraako. I don't know whether to cry or whether to laugh. En tiedä, pitäisikö minun itkeä vai nauraa. I don't know if I should cry or laugh. Last edited: Dec 31, 2013 Dec 25, 2013 #9 Outsider Senior Member Portuguese (Portugal) Portuguese:
Não sei se choro ou (se) rio. Não sei se chore ou (se) ria.
Somewhat exceptionally, both the indicative (above) and the subjunctive (below) can be used in this sentence, with the same meaning. Jan 3, 2014 #10 learnerr Senior Member Russian In Russian, phrases like "я не знала, смеяться мне или плакать" ("I did not know whether to laugh or to cry", somehow this one is sounding better to me in the feminine version, maybe because of how syllables are organised, maybe because the suggestions being proposed in the sentence are emotional) are well possible. Also: "Было бы смешно, если бы не было так грустно" ("it would be a cause to laugh, if it was not so sad") — this sentence is a common expression. Jan 7, 2014 #11 arielipi Senior Member Israel Hebrew ahmedcowon said: ↑ In Arabic: لا أدري هل أضحك أم أبكي /lâ adri hal aḍħaku am abki/
In Egyptian Arabic: مش عارف أضحك ولا أعيط /mesh ‘aref aḍħak walla a‘ayyaṭ/ Hebrew (i guess) borrowed adhak; the root is ד-ח-ק and it means "to have a [recurring] joke" mostly on something/someone, as in to make fun of.. Jan 7, 2014 #12 ahmedcowon Senior Member Mansoura - Egypt Arabic arielipi said: ↑ Hebrew: אני לא יודע אם לצחוק או לבכות ani lo yode'a im litzkhok o livkot i dont know if to laugh or to cry
אם זה לא היה עצוב היינו צוחקים im ze lo haya atzuv hayinu tzokhakim if it wasnt sad we were (=would have been) laughing arielipi said: ↑ Hebrew (i guess) borrowed adhak; the root is ד-ח-ק and it means "to have a [recurring] joke" mostly on something/someone, as in to make fun of.. It's also interesting that the words for "laugh" (aḍħak\litzkhok) and "cry" (abki\livkot) share the same roots in both Arabic and Hebrew Jan 8, 2014 #13
SuperXW Senior Member Beijing/Hong Kong Mandarin Chinese is the shortest: 哭笑不得 A four-character idiom, literally "cry laugh no can". Example: 他真是让我哭笑不得. "He really made me 'cry laugh no can' - didn't know whether I should cry or laugh." Jan 10, 2014 #14 Euganeo New Member Italian In Italian we have the same expression: Non so se ridere o piangere!
But also: Rido per non piangere! (I laugh not to cry) Jan 14, 2014 #15 OneStroke Senior Member Hong Kong, China Chinese - Cantonese (HK) SuperXW said: ↑ Chinese is the shortest: 哭笑不得 A four-character idiom, literally "cry laugh no can". Example: 他真是让我哭笑不得. "He really made me 'cry laugh no can' - didn't know whether I should cry or laugh." The more formal equivalent would be 啼笑皆非 tíxiào-jiēfēi Another chengyu, character-by-character: cry laugh both not Jan 28, 2014 #16
Encolpius Senior Member Prague Hungarian very very interesting thread, because in Hungarian only the order cry-laugh is possible, laugh-cry is non-idiomatic I wonder if the Czech: Nevím, jestli mám brečet nebo se smát (a Hungarian would use that one) sounds terrible, too. Oct 8, 2014 #17 bibax Senior Member Czech There is no difference. Both variants (laugh-cry, cry-laugh) are common in Czech. Oct 8, 2014 #18
franknagy Senior Member Budapest, Hungría húngara Encolpius said: ↑ very very interesting thread, because in Hungarian only the order cry-laugh is possible, laugh-cry is non-idiomatic I wonder if the Czech: Nevím, jestli mám brečet nebo se smát (a Hungarian would use that one) sounds terrible, too. Indeed in this case the order of verbs is fixed in Hungarian. I don't no why. "Mert a nyúl szőrös és nem borotválkozik." = "Because the rabbit is hairy and he does not shave." I know this coarse denial of explanation in Hungarian. It worths a separate thread. Oct 9, 2014 #19
Radioh Senior Member Australia Vietnamese In my language, people use both orders, but I somehow prefer the laugh-cry order. 'Tôi không biết nên cười(laugh) hay khóc(cry)' - I don't know if I should laugh or cry. R. Oct 9, 2014 #20 Holger2014 Senior Member German German:
Ich weiß nicht, ob ich lachen oder weinen soll = Ich weiß nicht, ob ich weinen oder lachen soll [literally: I know not if I laugh or cry ought_to = I know not if I cry or laugh ought_to]
Often people replace 'ich=I" by 'man=one' in order to make it sound less personal, more general. Oct 9, 2014 #21 animelover Senior Member Eastern Germany Deutsch Japanese: ﾜﾗ ナ ワ 咲うべきか哭くべきか判からなくなってきた。 Warau beki ka, naku beki ka, wakaranakunattekita.
It kind of sounds like a bookish translation, though. Last edited: Oct 10, 2014 Oct 9, 2014 #22
Diamant7 Senior Member Català In Catalan a literal translation would be: No sé si riure o plorar.
But I think this following one is more common: Ric per no plorar (I laugh not to cry) Oct 9, 2014 #23
Radioh Senior Member Australia Vietnamese Diamant7 said: ↑ In Catalan a literal translation would be: No sé si riure o plorar.
But I think this following one is more common: Ric per no plorar (I laugh not to cry) Are you saying that 'No sé si riure o plorar' and 'Ric per no plorar' can (roughly) have the same meaning in Catalan ? Oct 10, 2014 #24 OneStroke Senior Member Hong Kong, China Chinese - Cantonese (HK) Encolpius said: ↑ very very interesting thread, because in Hungarian only the order cry-laugh is possible, laugh-cry is non-idiomatic I wonder if the Czech: Nevím, jestli mám brečet nebo se smát (a Hungarian would use that one) sounds terrible, too. The same goes for Chinese. Reversing the order is not unidiomatic, though; it's just plain wrong. Oct 12, 2014 #25 Nastoshka New Member Italy Italian I'm not a swedish native speaker, but I'm sure this idiom exists also in Swedish:
Jag vet inte om jag ska skratta eller gråta
and as in German, some people use it with the impersonal pronoun ''man''
The order is not important: skratta eller gråta / gråta eller skratta
Jag vet inte om man ska skratta eller gråta Oct 13, 2014 #26
810senior Senior Member Japanese As for Japanese there's an idiom such as 泣いても笑っても(whether you cry or laugh) meaning whether you like or not or when push comes to shove. Sep 6, 2015 #27 Previous ThreadNext Thread(You must log in or sign up to reply here.)
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