# jak ulotne jest życie



## Maya2805

Szukam slowa po anglielsku zeby wyrazic zdanie:Takie sytuacje sprawiaja ze mysle jak *ulotne* jest zycie.Situations like these make me think of how (ulotne) life is.


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## dn88

How about "evanescent"?


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## Jana337

Ephemeral?


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## Thomas1

fugacious, transient

_Ephemeral_ occurred to me too. 


Tom


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## dn88

Jana337 said:


> Ephemeral?



I think your suggestion is better than mine .


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## Maya2805

Thanks guys. How about fleeting?


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## dn88

Maya2805 said:


> Thanks guys. How about fleeting?



Yeah, that's probably the best word to convey the idea.


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## Maya2805

Thanks guys!!


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## elroy

Yes, _fleeting_ is the most common word used in such contexts.  _Transient _is also fairly common.

_Evanescent_ and _ephemeral_ are really bookish synonyms, and there's no need to use them when the others will do.

This is to say nothing of _fugacious_.


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## Thomas1

elroy said:


> [...]
> This is to say nothing of _fugacious_.


Thanks for your comment, Elroy.

Could you please elaborate? Judging from what I saw I thought the word could be used as a synonym of _fleeting, ephemeral_ in the sense of passing away quickly; is it not used this way? [Yep, I am aware of its usage related to blossoms, flowers, etc.]

Tom


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## elroy

Thomas1 said:


> Judging from what I saw I thought the word could be used as a synonym of _fleeting, ephemeral_ in the sense of passing away quickly; is it not used this way?


 It _is_; it's just...a rather hifalutin and bombastic manner to communicate a notion that can be effectively transmitted without being so pretentiously and turgidly articulated.


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## Thomas1

elroy said:


> It _is_; it's just...a rather hifalutin and bombastic manner to communicate a notion that can be effectively transmitted without being so pretentiously and turgidly articulated.


Thank you. 

 The Polish part also sounds a little bit pompous, maybe not so pretentious, but it conveys some element of what you've described. I'd expect to hear something like that in a TV soap opera, a theatre play or read in a novel or an essay; a letter to an intimate friend could also contain a wording of this type, which is quite elevated. I don't think many Poles would use it in a casual conversation, it comes across somewhat turgidly.


Tom


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## ryba

Thomas1 said:


> Thank you.
> 
> The Polish part also sounds a little bit pompous, maybe not so pretentious, but it conveys some element of what you've described. I'd expect to hear something like that in a TV soap opera, a theatre play or read in a novel or an essay; a letter to an intimate friend could also contain a wording of this type, which is quite elevated. I don't think many Poles would use it in a casual conversation, it comes across somewhat turgidly.
> 
> 
> Tom



Hi, all!

I know I'm getting off the main idea of the topic but I've got to agree with you, Tom. If the sentence were situated in an informal context (a chat with a friend, etc) I probably would just say:
_
Takie sytuacje przypominają mi o tym, jakie życie jest ulotne...

_Cheers


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## dn88

It has just occurred to me that "fragile" could be a reasonable choice here. In addition, it isn't very formal or sophisticated, but best conveys the whole idea, I guess (I know it's "slightly"  different in meaning, anyway, it fits in well with the rest of the sentence):

_Situations like these make me think of how *fragile* life is._

Cheers


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## candy-man

Hola:
I guess these ideas are all correct but the most appropriate adjective here would be definitely 'ephemeral'.'Fragile' is a good substitution for 'brittle' and evanescent,hmm... it's good but I it reminds me too much of the splendind band!! Señalo que sólo puedo sugerirles a ustedes la idea 
PS *When it comes to the adj. 'fleeting' i've just come across a piece of information that says it's applied in most cases before nouns.* I'm not a native of English or anything but...take it into consideration,please.
F.ex. It just took me *a fleeting rate* to piece it together.


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## elroy

Google results for "life is fleeting": 25,000
Google results for "life is ephemeral": 11,200

Google results for "how fleeting life is": 3,830
Google results for "how ephemeral life is": 459

Not that I needed the Google results to confirm my gut feeling.


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