# χάνομαι μα μου αρέσει



## chefurbo

What does "χάνομαι μα μου αρέσει" mean? I can't seem to find a translation for it. Here is the context:

Νιώθω ότι έχω πέσει
χάνομαι μα μου αρέσει
Νιώθω όταν σ' αγκαλιάζω
λίγο-λίγο πως βουλιάζω

Ευχαριστώ πολύ!


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## Kevman

chefurbo said:


> What does "χάνομαι μα μου αρέσει" mean?


"I am lost but I like it"

Χάνομαι is the passive/middle form of the verb χάνω, "to lose."
Μου αρέσει literally means "it pleases me," but it is usually simply translated as "I like it."


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## Tetina

Τί λέτε για το "I lose my self"? Δεν ξέρω αν είναι δόκιμο στα αγγλικά.
Νομίζω οτι εδω έχει το νόημα του "χάνω τον εαυτό μου".


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## peri+kleos

How about "I'm losing myself but I like it"...


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## anthodocheio

peri+kleos said:


> How about "I'm losing myself but I like it"...


I prefer this one


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## Kevman

Hmm, I actually prefer the passive/neutral interpretation ("I am lost") over the middle/reflexive ("I lose myself").  Given the juxtaposition with έχω πέσει and βουλιάζω, I feel that 'being lost' is not so much 'something that I do to myself,' but rather 'something that happens to me', or 'a situation that I'm in.'

That sounds a bit more idiomatic to me in English, but it's only my opinion, and I can also see how a valid case might be made for the reflexive. 


Now I'm wondering, though: This sort of metaphorical use of χάνομαι is pretty common, and I always interpret it as a passive.  It's interesting to see how much you all seem to agree on the middle voice (δηλαδή: μέση διάθεση).  Do we have a Greek/English difference here something like the British/American issues that always crop up in English Only?  Maybe if I tried thinking of it more in the middle voice I could begin to _think _more like a Greek!


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## Vagabond

I agree with Kev - "I'm lost" sounds better to my ears as well; more or less for the same reasons too - "I'm losing myself" sounds reversible to me, while I feel that "χάνομαι" has a fatalistic strike to it (can't do anything about it, it just happens) that I feel "I'm lost" conveys more accurately. (That was one long period )



> Now I'm wondering, though: This sort of metaphorical use of χάνομαι is pretty common, and I always interpret it as a passive. It's interesting to see how much you all seem to agree on the middle voice (δηλαδή: μέση διάθεση). Do we have a Greek/English difference here something like the British/American issues that always crop up in English Only? Maybe if I tried thinking of it more in the middle voice I could begin to _think _more like a Greek!


I think it's more an issue of staying faithful to the form vs staying faithful to the meaning, here. Of course, practically nothing is set in stone when it comes to Greek, so I'm not surprised that quite often, us native Greeks can't even agree on register type of issues. Thinking in Greek, passive, middle, mediopassive - it all feels like splitting hairs; but, it really shouldn't.


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## ireney

Well, it depends on the context of χάνομαι really. 

In this case I'd go with active voice since I too think that it's out of this person's hands. 

With, for instance something like " Όταν διαβάζω βιβλία, μου αρέσει να χάνομαι μέσα στην ιστορία τους", I'd go with "losing myself" since it is something I do willingly and consciously.

It's a matter of control I think and whether you have any or not.

Kev you _are_ getting there middle _mood_  or not


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## wonderment

I don’t think it’s about ‘being lost’. I think it’s about falling, sinking in love and losing yourself in that abyss. And it’s a situation of your own doing even if it doesn’t feel like it (note that there are no passive verbs in the lyrics). 

‘To lose yourself in something’ means to be completely absorbed in it. And it’s a pretty common English idiom: e.g. lose yourself in the music, lose yourself in the moment, lose yourself in thought. 

But you could also say ‘I’m lost in thought’ or ‘I’m lost in love’, and it would mean much the same thing. However, I think ‘I lose myself’ captures the mood (grammatical and otherwise) better, though ‘I’m lost’ sounds more idiomatic. Whatever the case, the speaker of those lines is a ‘goner’--lost, past recovery, ruined and doomed...but in a good way, I hope.


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## anthodocheio

What about "I'm getting lost"?


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## wonderment

anthodocheio said:


> What about "I'm getting lost"?



Pretty much the same as 'I'm lost'. (But if you want to split hair tense-wise, progressive present vs. simple present). Could mean you missed your way (e.g. You're driving aimlessly around the city and you have no clue where you're going.), or you're confused/don't understand ( e.g. Someone is talking to you. She speaks way too fast and you can't follow what she's saying.)

However, if you tell someone to 'get lost', it means you want him to go away or stop being a nuisance (or both).  Slang for 'Go to hell'.


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## Kevman

Well, semantically rather than grammatically speaking, I also tend to think of *χάνομαι*, when used in this way, as not literally "lost," but more in a sense of "All is lost [_for me_]."
Or to express it in more colloquial English: "*I'm screwed*"  warning:_Γ**ήθηκα!_  ).  But maybe these are only the random musings of a non-native speaker....

And don't get me started again on the whole voice/mood/διάθεση thing, Rena mou.  I thought I'd settled that!   And here I've come such a long way from the first time I opened up Triandafyllidis and saw φωνή, διάθεση _and_ έγκλιση and was all, "Wait a minute... there's an _extra_ one here!?!"


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## Tetina

Kevman said:


> Well, semantically rather than grammatically speaking, I also tend to think of *χάνομαι*, when used in this way, as not literally "lost," but more in a sense of "All is lost [_for me_]."
> Or to express it in more colloquial English: "*I'm screwed*"  warning:_Γ**ήθηκα!_  ). But maybe these are only the random musings of a non-native speaker....
> 
> And don't get me started again on the whole voice/mood/διάθεση thing, Rena mou. I thought I'd settled that!  And here I've come such a long way from the first time I opened up Triandafyllidis and saw φωνή, διάθεση _and_ έγκλιση and was all, "Wait a minute... there's an _extra_ one here!?!"


 
I agree with Kevman on the semantic aspect and that's why I proposed "I lose myself", for "χάνομαι" brings to mind more like "I'm lost, I don't know this city" or "I'm screwed" or "I'm going to faint" but not "I lose myself in love". The exact translation doesn't always give the right meaning and that's the beauty confused of greek.


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## anthodocheio

What I meant to say was that he is not lost, yet... He is in the process... 
I need an "-ing"... I can't go for "I'm lost"...


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## Kevman

Λοιπόοοοον,



ireney said:


> Well, it depends on the context of χάνομαι really.


I just did something kind of crazy: I looked up the rest of the lyrics!  (It's _Κινούμενη άμμος_ της Άννας Βίσση.)  The overall "quicksand" theme sort of paints a whole new glaze of meaning on words like _βουλιάζω_ and _ν΄ απαγκιστρωθώ_ and (yes) _χάνομαι_, δεν νομίζετε;

So I'm changing my answer.

In the context of this song I think I might translate χάνομαι as "I'm sinking." It's not precisely literal, but I think it may be close to the intended idea here. And I'm going with the progressive '-ing' form since when you're in quicksand you're basically in a continual process of sinking and struggling until that very last moment when you're snuffed out. (So, good call, wonderment, in the beginning of post#9, although I'm still not buying the "lose myself in love" argument--none of the things that she's experiencing are remotely pleasant ...and _yet_ της αρέσει....)

Now, in the vast majority of contexts where I come across χάνομαι (well, how _vast_ can it be really? I've only been reading Greek for like a year-and-a-half!) the "I'm screwed/I'm lost" interpretation works just fine, but in this particular case the broader context gives us more information to work with.


Υ.Γ.


Tetina said:


> "χάνω τον εαυτό μου"


You know, Tetina, I just now finally got what you meant here.  Not "lose _*myself*_" but "lose my _*self*_." That is indeed an interesting and illustrative interpretation, it just never occured to me to draw that out of χάνομαι (δηλαδή, of all the things the -μαι (παθητική _φωνή_ ) can signify, I didn't realize that could be one of them).


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