qualcuno che credeva d’essere già morto

English translation: Someone, believing himself already dead, woke up

18:58 Mar 5, 2015

Italian to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature / Novel

Italian term or phrase: qualcuno che credeva d’essere già morto

Qualcuno che credeva di essere già morto si svegliò.

My attempt is: "Somebody who thought he was already dead woke up", but I am not happy with it.
Any help would be much appreciated!

Emil Mahmut KudoZ activity Questions: 139 (3 open) (17 without valid answers) (9 closed without grading) Answers: 17 Italy
Local time: 20:12

English translation:Someone, believing himself already dead, woke up

Explanation:
Just another option.

Selected response from:

Audra deFalco (X)
United States
Local time: 14:12

Grading comment

4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

5 +2

Someone, believing himself already dead, woke up

Audra deFalco (X)

4 +1

somebody who thought themselves dead woke up

Lisa Jane

After believing themselves to be dead, somebody woke up.

Diana Di Battista

some/someone, who believed to have died already, woke up

Rosanna Palermo

4 -1

some body that he thought dead, woke up

DrTarek Youssef

Someone, believing they were already dead, woke up.

Jane Nizi

Discussion entries: 11

Audra deFalco (X)

United States

23:08 Mar 6, 2015

Why thank ya!

Emil Mahmut

Italy

ASKER

06:51 Mar 6, 2015

I really like Audra's translation and I think I'll stick to it. Many thanks, everyone!

Emil Mahmut

Italy

ASKER

06:44 Mar 6, 2015

Rachel, I deliberately chose not to provide more context because I am not authorized to disclose it. I have tried to make it as ''reasonable'' as possible, given the circumstances. I stand rebuked...

Rachel Fell

United Kingdom

01:59 Mar 6, 2015

Maybe if there were a reasonable amount of context the right answer might be clear.

Emil Mahmut

Italy

ASKER

21:16 Mar 5, 2015

No Phil, I am positive the subject is one and the same with this kind of verb rection (government) and the context does not allow this hypothesis either. (Should be: "Qualcuno che lui credeva morto si svegliò", introducing therefore a different subject)

Lisa Jane

Italy

Phil

21:16 Mar 5, 2015

to my knowledge, that would read as qualcuno che credeva che credeva FOSSE già morto si svegliò so I very much doubt it

philgoddard

United States

20:26 Mar 5, 2015

Couldn't it also mean "someone he thought was dead woke up"?

Emil Mahmut

Italy

ASKER

19:16 Mar 5, 2015

No particular reason for avoiding the pronoun, it's just a gut feeling. I guess the author wants the reader to gradually discover the opening scene and the gender of the character. The context is a battlefield after the battle and this guy slowly coming back to life. Thank you both, Phil and Diana, for your kind confirmations!

Diana Di Battista

United States

19:09 Mar 5, 2015

I agree with Phil, it seems fine the way you wrote it, that is, unless it is not necessarily referring to a male and you expressly want to avoid the gendered pronoun. If you can give more context around that sentence, maybe we can help you think of a way to rephrase it.

Emil Mahmut

Italy

ASKER

19:04 Mar 5, 2015

I would rather rephrase it and say smth. along the lines of: Somebody thinking ... so as to avoid the "he", but I just can't make up my mind on how to introduce the rest of the phrase. :) Hope I don't sound paranoid and all!

philgoddard

United States

19:02 Mar 5, 2015

Why aren't you happy with it?
You haven't given any context, but it looks fine to me.

Answers

29 mins confidence:

After believing themselves to be dead, somebody woke up.

Explanation:
What about this way of phrasing it?

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 30 mins (2015-03-05 19:29:28 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Actually, after reading that, I can't vouch for the iron-clad grammatical correctness of it! Hm...

Diana Di Battista
United States
Local time: 11:12
Native speaker of: English

1 hr confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

somebody who thought themselves dead woke up

Explanation:
If you don't want the gender mentioned you could rephrase as follows:

one of them, believing to be dead already, woke up

or

believing to be dead already, one of them/someone woke up

or

believing to have died already...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2015-03-05 20:08:17 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

oops! forgot the commas

Lisa Jane
Italy
Local time: 20:12
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English,

Italian
PRO pts in category: 136

1 hr confidence:

peer agreement (net): -1

some body that he thought dead, woke up

Explanation:
Pensava che questo persona sia morto ma si è svegliato di nuovo e non credeva vedendo la scena!

DrTarek Youssef
Egypt
Local time: 20:12
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

Arabic

3 hrs confidence:

Someone, believing they were already dead, woke up.

Explanation:
Another suggestion for you!
Or, if you're happy with the 'he', '...believing he was already dead...'.

Jane Nizi
United Kingdom
Local time: 19:12
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English

3 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

Someone, believing himself already dead, woke up

Explanation:
Just another option.

Audra deFalco (X)
United States
Local time: 14:12
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 8

Notes to answerer

Asker: Thanks, Audra!

20 hrs confidence:

some/someone, who believed to have died already, woke up

Explanation:
I would use some or someone depending on the rest of the context, more specifically "some" if it refers to several people or someone if it's just one person.

Rosanna Palermo
Local time: 14:12
Native speaker of:

Italian,

English
PRO pts in category: 32

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qualcuno che credeva d’essere già morto

English translation: Someone, believing himself already dead, woke up

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qualcuno che credeva d’essere già morto

English translation: Someone, believing himself already dead, woke up

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