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How would you handle *tense* in the following case:

English translation: He said....cannot afford...

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Hindi term or phrase:How would you handle *tense* in the following case:
English translation:He said....cannot afford...
Entered by: Rajan Chopra

08:45 Sep 6, 2003
Hindi to English translations [PRO]
Hindi term or phrase: How would you handle *tense* in the following case:
Unhonne kaha ki madhyam varg ke log hawai jahaaz se yatra karne kaa kharch vehan naheen kar sakte aur rail hi unhen apne bichhuDe parijanon se milane ka kaargar zariya ho saktee hai.

I'll be thankful if you could tell me how would you deal with the tense in the above case.

If we translate it in the following manner: He told that the people of the middle class can not afford the expense of travelling by aeroplane, it would be a violation of the tense because the principal clause is in past tense. On the other hand, if it is translated in the following way:He told that the people of the middle class could not afford the expense of travelling by aeroplance. Here it perhaps meets the grammatical requirements but feels somewhat awkward.

Could you please tell how do you manage such type of expressions which you encounter during the course of translation.

Thanks in anticipation
Rajan Chopra
India
Local time: 18:23
He said....cannot afford...
Explanation:
It is better to use he said instead of he told
Tell sb. but say st.
I think He said ... that... cannot ... is right.
In case of "could not" it would not be clear whether it ment past or future.
The rule is not applied to modal verbs.
Selected response from:

Jirina Nevosadova
Czech Republic
Local time: 14:53
Grading comment
Thank you! You have dispelled my doubts!!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
5 +1He stated that the middle class cannot afford to travel by air, therefore traveling by train would
Harinder Dhillon
5Tense
Hirendra Chatterjee
4He said....cannot afford...
Jirina Nevosadova


  

Answers


1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
He said....cannot afford...


Explanation:
It is better to use he said instead of he told
Tell sb. but say st.
I think He said ... that... cannot ... is right.
In case of "could not" it would not be clear whether it ment past or future.
The rule is not applied to modal verbs.

Jirina Nevosadova
Czech Republic
Local time: 14:53
Native speaker of: Native in CzechCzech
PRO pts in pair: 4
Grading comment
Thank you! You have dispelled my doubts!!
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
Tense


Explanation:
He said that middle class people find air travel too costly, and that trains are the only medium that can bring them and their separated relatives together.

Hirendra Chatterjee
Local time: 18:23
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in BengaliBengali
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7 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +1
He stated that the middle class cannot afford to travel by air, therefore traveling by train would


Explanation:
be a practically feasible for them to get together with their loved ones.
I used loved ones instead of separated ones.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 20 hrs 55 mins (2003-09-07 05:41:10 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------

Please take out - \"a\" before practically feasible.

Harinder Dhillon
Local time: 07:53
Native speaker of: Native in HindiHindi, Native in PunjabiPunjabi
PRO pts in pair: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  jamshed: the above translation is much better & the usage of "loved ones",is more appropriate
8 hrs
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