# I'll be back



## yuechu

Hello/大家好，

I am trying to translate the phrase "I'll be back" into Chinese. For example, let's say I'm going to the store and will be back in an hour, I might say to someone:

"I'll be back, I'm just going to go out to the store to get something"

I found in the dictionary:
“我很快就回来". I think this is good if you are going to be "right back" or back very soon, right?

What would one say though if this is not the case? ("我回来" by itself wouldn't work, would it?)
“我 ___  , 去沃尔玛买点东西"

Thanks/谢谢！


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## BODYholic

baosheng said:


> What would one say though if this is not the case? ("我回来" by itself wouldn't work, would it?)



我要去沃尔玛买点东西,但是没那么快回来。


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## yuechu

Thanks for your reply, BODYholic!
I just read over my post and I think that I didn't express myself very clearly. What I mean is:

Is there a way in Chinese to differentiate "I'll be right back" (which is very soon) and "I'll be back"?


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## xiaolijie

I think it's common to say "I'll be right back", "I'll be back in  an hour", etc... but it seems not common to say "I'll be back" without any indication of when. However, as you wish, the following is what I imagine you could say:
我要去沃尔玛买点东西,很快/马上就回来。(and I'll be right back) *> <* 我要去沃尔玛买点东西,一会儿回来。(and I'll be back)


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## viajero_canjeado

If you want to get literal, you can say 我會回來的，but this sounds like an attempt to clear up someone's uncertainty about whether or not you'd ever come back. Seems a bit weighty for simply going to the store 

Colloquially, I'd probably say something like 我要去超市買東西，等一下就回來囉！


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## yuechu

@xiaolijie
Maybe you're right... there often is a time expression here! I suppose I wanted an alternative to "我马上回来" since with this expression, it sounds like the "coming back" will be very soon, right?  (an alternative where the "coming back" will be a longer time period than say a couple of minutes)

I think 一会儿 sounds good for this situation!

Or if one did want to specify the time of absence, would one say, for example: "我一个小时后回来"? 

Thanks also to viajero for your relpy!


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## mayingdts

baosheng said:


> I think 一会儿 sounds good for this situation!


一会儿 is very colse to 马上 or 很快。 But you can use some adverbs to express the meaning of 'not very soon' . You can say 我要去超市買東西，过一会儿才(会)回來。


baosheng said:


> if one did want to specify the time of absence, would one say, for example: "我一个小时后回来"?


bien sûr! c'est l'expression que je te(on se tutoie, d'accord?) propose car elle est vraiment claire et précise.


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## SuperXW

baosheng said:


> Hello/大家好，
> 
> I am trying to translate the phrase "I'll be back" into Chinese. For example, let's say I'm going to the store and will be back in an hour, I might say to someone:
> 
> "I'll be back, I'm just going to go out to the store to get something"
> 
> I found in the dictionary:
> “我很快就回来". I think this is good if you are going to be "right back" or back very soon, right?
> 
> What would one say though if this is not the case? ("我回来" by itself wouldn't work, would it?)
> “我 ___  , 去沃尔玛买点东西"
> 
> Thanks/谢谢！


我会回来的。 I'll be back. (The famous terminator's quote...)
我一会儿回来。 You'll be back in a while, usually within several hours, so you won't miss the meal.
If it takes longer, better give a time. e.g. 我下午回来/我晚上回来。 etc.


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## xiaolijie

Just as I commented above, all the suggestions for "I'll be back" in Chinese so far seem to carry a time expression. The one that doesn't, "我会回来的", is more like a threat or a promise than just a simple statement. Here again it shows that translation is not always straightforward .


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## yuechu

Ah.. I've realized that I've been translating this wrong (or thinking in the wrong logic) since I am directly translating from French (which does not need a time expression, since "soon" is automatically assumed even if not stated). Thanks for clearing this up, xiaolijie!

and thank you everyone for your replies!


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## zhg

可能是因为在中文里不存在时态这一说法。所谓的动词的时态必须是通过副词体现的。去掉了对应的副词就不能表达出时态。
我认为你想要的这句I'll be back的翻译应该是“我将要回来”，但是这是不符合中文习惯的。
在这句句子中“将/将要”应该要去掉并要加上表示时间长短或者快慢程度的副词比如“一会儿，马上，很快，几分钟”等等才能表达出完整的意思。


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## Youngfun

viajero_canjeado said:


> 我要去超市買東西，等一下就回來囉！


I agree. 等一下 should be fine in most cases, as it can mean both short time and long time.
不过，那个囉很台湾喔！


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## viajero_canjeado

Youngfun said:


> 不过，那个囉很台湾喔！



沒錯唷！


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