# I wish you were here with me tonight



## luca1981

can anyone translate this into Italian for me:

"I wish you were here with me tonight"

Grazie,
Luca


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## Silvia B

Hi Luca1981, here is the translation:
"Avrei voluto che tu fossi stata/o qui con me stanotte"

Ciao!


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## Scrumpals

Per caso, significherebbe la stessa cosa a dire:
"vorrei che tu fossi qui stasera"?
senno', potresti spiegarmi la differenza?
Grazie!
steven


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## Silvia B

Scrumpals said:
			
		

> Per caso, significherebbe la stessa cosa a dire:
> "vorrei che tu fossi qui stasera"?
> senno', potresti spiegarmi la differenza?
> Grazie!
> steven



No, non è uguale. 

"Vorrei che tu fossi qui stasera" si riferisce ad un futuro
mentre
"Vorrei che fossi stata con me stanotte" si riferisce alla notte appena passata

Il tempo verbale è diverso.

Ciao!!


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## Scrumpals

Ok, grazie, ora capisco meglio. Ma, che cosa diresti se durante la notte, mentre ti stai sdriato sul letto, chiamassi la tua amante e le dici "I wish you were here tonight." E' il presente, non il futuro ne' il passato.

steven


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## Silvia B

Useresti il presente, come prima, e quindi "vorrei che tu fossi qui stanotte"
Si usa il presente sia che tu stia parlando del presente nel senso di "ora" sia che tu ti stia riferendo al futuro prossimo. 
Prova a vedere questi esempi:
Vorrei che tu fossi qui con me domani sera
Vorrei che tu fossi qui con me stasera
Vorrei che tu fossi qui con me ora

 Ciao


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## lsp

I find it difficult to determine from the English if we're talking about the night we just finished or the night about to happen. My instinct was that it refers to the imminent night (otherwise it would have said, "I wish you'd been here with me tonight."


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## mzsweeett

lsp said:
			
		

> I find it difficult to determine from the English if we're talking about the night we just finished or the night about to happen. My instinct was that it refers to the imminent night (otherwise it would have said, "I wish you'd been here with me tonight."


Yes I agree there... It is quite impossible to make this sentence in the present as it is not happen*ing*.... but rather *going to* happen (or not ).  

Personally, I like Silvia's explanations and examples.  Take your pick and see what happens..... 

Sweet T.


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## Manuel_M

_I wish you were here with me tonight._

In my view this relates to either a night in the present or in the future tense, not in the past. Therefore, my translation would be *Vorrei che tu fossi qui con me stasera.*


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## Alfry

magari tu fossi qui con me stanotte,
come vorrei che tu fossi qui con me stanotte


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## gva

As I read all the proposed translations, they all seem correct but sond stilted and unnatural.  Instead, the English sentence is a very natural one that anyone would say on the phone to his/her loved one.  In the spirit of coming up with a translation that renders the same feeling, how about:

ti vorrei qui con me stasera, mi manchi tanto!


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## Silvia B

gva said:
			
		

> As I read all the proposed translations, they all seem correct but sond stilted and unnatural.  Instead, the English sentence is a very natural one that anyone would say on the phone to his/her loved one.  In the spirit of coming up with a translation that renders the same feeling, how about:
> 
> ti vorrei qui con me stasera, mi manchi tanto!



  
Unnatural?? Sure? It is not a complicated phrase, I use it and nobody thinks I am unnatural.


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## Alfry

Alfry said:
			
		

> come vorrei che tu fossi qui con me stanotte


 
and I would use this all the time. that's perfectly natural to me.


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## mzsweeett

Sylvia and Alfry have given great translations.... but the one thing we are lacking here is some context....
Is this a poem, a letter, a phone call... what is the setting of this romantic request?? I have a suggestion but would rather wait to see what is underlying......
To my non-native ears these translations sound very nice.... no doubt mine may make the Italian ears cringe....lol
Please let us know so that you get what you are looking for.... I probably should have stated that in my earlier post.

Sweet T.


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## curon

At the start of the thread someone mentioned 
"*Avrei voluto* che tu fossi qui stasera"

Is this 
"I would have liked for you to have been here tonight"
?

If so then this expresses more of a dissappointment and...to me at least, suggests that some time in the past there was a real possibility or promise that the person would indeed have been there that night. Che ne pensate?


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## Jana337

curon said:
			
		

> At the start of the thread someone mentioned
> "*Avrei voluto* che tu fossi qui stasera"
> 
> Is this
> "I would have liked for you to have been here tonight"
> ?
> 
> If so then this expresses more of a dissappointment and...to me at least, suggests that some time in the past there was a real possibility or promise that the person would indeed have been there that night. Che ne pensate?


Sono d'accordissimo.  Non sono madrelingua. 

Jana


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## rom_itn

Ciao a tutti,
Come posso tradurre "*wish you were here*" all'italiano? Devo utilizzare il congiuntivo?

Ci provo: _Vorrei che fossi qui :-|_

Rom


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## Idioteque

rom_itn said:
			
		

> Ciao a tutti,
> Come posso tradurre "*wish you were here*" all'italiano? Devo utilizzare il congiuntivo?
> 
> Ci provo: _Vorrei che fossi qui :-|_
> 
> Rom



Perfetto!   

Ciao, Laura

P.S: Tradurre *in* italiano


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## rom_itn

Idioteque said:
			
		

> Perfetto!
> 
> Ciao, Laura
> 
> P.S: Tradurre *in* italiano


 
Grazie Laura!  Thanks for the correction..


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## La Bionda

rom_itn said:
			
		

> Ciao a tutti,
> Come posso tradurre "*wish you were here*" all'italiano? Devo utilizzare il congiuntivo?
> 
> Ci provo: _Vorrei che fossi qui :-|_
> 
> Rom


 
Ciao 

To connect that to a recent post: to say 'I wish you were here to warm me' would that  be

' Vorrei che fossi qui e mi scaldassi?'


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## uinni

La Bionda said:
			
		

> Ciao
> 
> To connect that to a recent post: to say 'I wish you were here to warm me' would that be
> 
> ' Vorrei che fossi qui e mi scaldassi?'


 

If you want to be faithful to the sentence in English you say:

"Vorrei che fossi qui a/per scaldarmi"

But the sentence you wrote is ok.

Uinni


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## La Bionda

Thanks Uinni!


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## audrey711

Hello People, 

Could someone help me translate "I wish you were here with me" and 
"I like spending time with you"?

Thank you.

Audrey


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## TimeHP

_Vorrei che fossi qui con me._
_Mi piace stare con te._ 

Ciao


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## audrey711

Grazie!!!

Audrey


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## beetle

Hello,

I want to say " Wish I was there" in Italian (in a casual way), and am wondering if there is an equivalent that makes sense...

'Wish I was there...' (as in, i wish i was there with you and not here where i am!)


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## disegno

beetle said:
			
		

> Hello,
> 
> I want to say " Wish I was there" in Italian (in a casual way), and am wondering if there is an equivalent that makes sense...
> 
> 'Wish I was there...' (as in, i wish i was there with you and not here where i am!)



Magari che ci fosse con te e non qui da solo/a.


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## brian

disegno said:
			
		

> Magari che ci fosse con te e non qui da solo/a.


 I'm not sure if _da solo_ should be there.  It's not in the English, though it very well could be true in such a situation.

Also, should _foss*e* _be _foss*i*_?  And if you should decide to cut off the _con te..._ part, you might like to add an _io_:

_Magari che ci fossi io! _or _Magari che io ci fossi!_

Otherwise, it could mean "I wish you were here!"


Brian


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## moki

Secondo me è meglio dire:
Magari ci fossi io (con te)


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## brian

moki said:
			
		

> Secondo me è meglio dire:
> Magari ci fossi io (con te)


Bentornata, moki!  È un po' che tu non sia qui, vero?

Hai ragione--"che" non è necessario.


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## TOM_81

It should be:
'Magari fossi lì con te e non qui dove mi trovo'


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## Isapaola

O, più semplicemente _Vorrei essere lì _(con te non è scontato).  _Magari_ è più usato  se riguarda cose, non persone. _I wish you were here _Vorrei che tu fossi qui, magari fosse vero! _I wish it were true!_
Almeno, così si usa generalmente, secondo la mia esperienza che non vuole essere assoluta.


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## beetle

VORREI is more like I WOULD LIKE, not I WISH isn't it?

Isn't DESIDERO - I WISH??? or am i totaly wrong hehe


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## nicmizar

Bettle, you are right, in Italian the first translation of "I wish" is "Io spero/Io auspico". But in this particular context ("I wish I was there") the first translation sounds funny and uncorrect: "Io auspico di essere lì".
So we use the second translation of "I wish" -> "Io vorrei", and thus "Io vorrei essere lì"

Everything would be so easy if any word could have a perfect correspondence between an idiom and another. The difficulties in translating from a language to another are in this lack of perfect correspondence!


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## MAVERIK

beetle said:
			
		

> Isn't DESIDERO - I WISH??? or am i totaly wrong hehe


 
Actually "wish" is "desidero" but with the meaning of "I would like/ vorrei".


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## brian

How about _bramare_?  I just found it in WR because I looked up "long to," as in "I long to be there with you."


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## nicmizar

"bramare" is really stronger in Italian than "desiderare", it gives the idea of a stronger desire, I wouldn't use it in this case...


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## Isapaola

I think there is a bit of confusion, which is normal when there is no direct correspondence between two languages (which is the charm of them, anyway).
_Vorrei_ is translated   I_ would like_ when something is easy to obtain, is just a desire that can be easily fulfilled.
Some of you have correctly tranlated _wish _with magari, because I wish means a desire for something that is often impossible to obtain, or quite difficult to.
I wish it was not so hot in summer.
I wish I were a man (and I am a woman)
That's the reason of _I wish you were here_ when you know it is not possible to have the person you long for there with you.
I hope it helps.


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## beetle

Ah its frustrating when what you want to say in English just doesn't translate well in Italian :-(

I guess i'll have to go with "_Vorrei essere lì" _


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## brian

So, Isapaola, you vote for the _magari_ construction then?  I always think of it as "If only...(but not)," which I think applies here.

_If only I were there with you! (...but I'm not)_

Sometimes just for fun I translate it with "Would that"--_Would that I were there with you_--because really old Latin grammar books translate the optative subjunctive with "Would that...," which I think corresponds well to "magari."


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## moodywop

brian8733 said:
			
		

> _Magari che ci fossi io! _


 
_Magari _is used on its own, without _che._

The topic of the appropriate translation of "I wish" has come up again and again in several threads. I'm going to be my usual stubborn self and reiterate that I don't consider the weak, wishy-washy "vorrei" as equivalent to "I wish". In my opinion only "magari" and "se solo" are appropriate translations. If anyone who I was involved with romantically were to say they "vorrebbero" see me they would be given their marching orders Now, if it were "vorrei tanto" then I wouldn't mind.


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## brian

You're right, Carlo..._magari_ has been quite a hot topic at WR.  I've mostly shied away from it because I know it's not without its complexities.   Nevertheless, I agree that if _vorrei_ has any semblance to the weakness of saying "I'd like to be there," then _magari_ is the way to go.

Also, if you notice, I mentioned right above you "If only..."  I associate this with _magari_, but in all honesty the "If only...!" construction is pretty uncommon in conversational English.  I use it when it talks about the past and refers to someone else--_If only he had done such and such, then..._--but rarely in the first-person optative sense: _If only I were there with you_.  Perhaps I might say _If only I could be there_, but still.  Anyway, this was all leading up to a question : Is the _Se solo_ construction popular in conversational Italian?  How does it stand against _magari_?  Out of the two, which would you prefer in this example?


Brian


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## moodywop

Brian

There was disagreement on this issue, too. Another forero said that "se solo" is not very common in conversation. Well, I think it's pretty obvious I'm not exactly Mr Formality and I can sound like a truckdriver at times, if provoked And yet I use "se solo" all the time. To me "se solo" is stronger than "magari". But then my emotional range is abnormally wide.


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## moki

In this example I prefer magari...just because that's what I've heard. Anyway vorrei to me does not belong in this context because like moodywop said it is just too weak...if my boyfriend were to say "vorrei che ci fossi con me" I must say that i would think of it as a bit strange...but maybe thats just me


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## zuccone61

Moki, il tuo primo suggerimento prende un'altra accezione, temo indesiderata. Infatti se dici "Vorrei esserci io lì" s'intende "invece di qualcun altro"! Secondo me è meglio un semplicissimo
"Vorrei essere lì" oppure "Vorrei essere lì con te" o anche, rinforzando un po' "Vorrei tanto essere lì con te in questo momento"
M


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## f4bo

beetle said:
			
		

> Hello,
> 
> I want to say " Wish I was there" in Italian (in a casual way), and am wondering if there is an equivalent that makes sense...
> 
> 'Wish I was there...' (as in, i wish i was there with you and not here where i am!)



Hoping that this could be of some help:
AFAIK, the legendary Pink Floyd's song "I wish you where here" have been always transated in "Vorrei (che) tu fossi qui".


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## Asso

hi 
I would say "se io fossi li con te"

ok?

ciao
Asso


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## f4bo

Asso said:
			
		

> hi
> I would say "se io fossi li con te"
> 
> ok?
> 
> ciao
> Asso


"se io fossi li con te" alone means nothing. The "se" imply an action: how does it follows?
If you want to make a brief and effective sentence, "Vorrei che tu fossi qui" is the best I could tink of (and it works very well with gals too!  )


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## moodywop

Hi Asso and welcome (it's nice to see so many new people joining the forum!)

_Se io fossi _means _if I were, _not _I wish I were._

Several suggestions have been made so far. I think the original sentence was _I wish I were there with you_. What we've come up with so far:

_1. Vorrei essere lì con te_

_2. Vorrei tanto essere lì con te!_

_3. Magari fossi/potessi essere lì con te!_

_4. Se solo fossi/potessi essere lì con te!_

I didn't use an exclamation mark in 1. for the very same reason why I think it's not a good translation - it's too weak compared to _I wish_


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## GavinW

zuccone61 said:
			
		

> Moki, il tuo primo suggerimento prende un'altra accezione, temo indesiderata. Infatti se dici "Vorrei esserci io lì" s'intende "invece di qualcun altro"! Secondo me è meglio un semplicissimo
> "Vorrei essere lì" oppure "Vorrei essere lì con te" o anche, rinforzando un po' "Vorrei tanto essere lì con te in questo momento"
> M


 
OK, but didn't the inquirer say "in a casual way"? In that case maybe we don't need to expand the emotions too much (but maybe I'm just being too British...): "Vorrei essere lì/là anch'io (in questo momento)" might just do it (or "Magari ci fossi là anch'io!" in a more rueful way, perhaps), especially if the guy isn't about to hop on a plane and join the other person, but just wants to agree that the weather does indeed sound pretty nice, or something...

Otherwise, yearnings and cravings seem to be stretching it a bit, in context (last two words to be read almost as if capitalized).

Edit: whoops, last few posts have superseded mine rather...


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## Isapaola

I fully agree with Moodywop.
As Brian suggested it is the translation into English of the latin _utinam._


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## moodywop

Isapaola said:
			
		

> I fully agree with Moodywop.
> As Brian suggested it is the translation into English of the latin _utinam._


 
You know, I was wondering whether intonation might make a difference, but whereas 2., 3. and 4. can be made more or less intense through intonation, _vorrei essere _is so *limp* that even a massive dose of intonational viagra wouldn't help. Now, if Macy Gray or Aretha Franklyn were to sing it...yes, that would make a difference

EDIT: I've just read Gavin's post. Actually I did miss that "in a casual way" (couldn't the poster have meant "informal" by "casual", though?). Anyway, I was just arguing that in most cases "I wish" is stronger than "I would like/vorrei".


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