# I don't know whether to laugh or cry



## ilocas2

Hello, is this sentence idiomatic in your language? If it's idiomatic, how do you say it? Thanks

I don't know whether to laugh or to cry.

Czech:

Nevím, jestli se mám smát nebo brečet. (I don't know whether I should laugh or cry)


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## apmoy70

In Greek:

*«Δεν ξέρω αν πρέπει να κλάψω ή να γελάσω»*
[ðen 'ksero an 'prepi na 'klapso i na ʝe'laso]
lit. _"I don't know whether to cry or laugh"_.
 I haven't heard it used often (and I think it's an anglicism) but google gives 23800 results, so...


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## DearPrudence

In *French*, this is totally idiomatic:
*"Je ne sais pas si je dois rire ou pleurer."* (literally: _I don't know if I must laugh or cry_)
*"Je ne sais pas s'il faut rire ou pleurer."* (literally: _I don't know if one must laugh or cry_)


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## ahmedcowon

In Arabic:
لا أدري هل أضحك أم أبكي /lâ adri hal aḍħaku am abki/

In Egyptian Arabic:
مش عارف أضحك ولا أعيط /mesh ‘aref aḍħak walla a‘ayyaṭ/

Both are idiomatic and literally means: I don't know whether to laugh or to cry


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## franknagy

In Hungarian
=========
Nem tudom, hogy sírjak-e vagy nevessek.

sír = cry
nevet = laugh


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## ThomasK

Dutch: 
ik weet niet of ik moet lachen of wenen 

lachen = to laugh
wenen = to weep, to cry


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## Rallino

In Turkish, we rather rhetorically ask: _*Güler misin ağlar mısın?*_
_lit._ Would you laugh or would you cry?


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## arielipi

Hebrew:
אני לא יודע אם לצחוק או לבכות
ani lo yode'a im litzkhok o livkot
i dont know if to laugh or to cry

אם זה לא היה עצוב היינו צוחקים
im ze lo haya atzuv hayinu tzokhakim
if it wasnt sad we were (=would have been) laughing


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## sakvaka

*Finnish*: 
_En tiedä, itkeäkö vai nauraako._  I don't know whether to cry or whether to laugh.
_En tiedä, pitäisikö minun itkeä vai nauraa. _I don't know if I should cry or laugh.


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## Outsider

Portuguese:

_Não sei se choro ou (se) rio.
Não sei se chore ou (se) ria.

_Somewhat exceptionally, both the indicative (above) and the subjunctive (below) can be used in this sentence, with the same meaning.


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## learnerr

In Russian, phrases like "я не знала, смеяться мне или плакать" ("I did not know whether to laugh or to cry", somehow this one is sounding better to me in the feminine version, maybe because of how syllables are organised, maybe because the suggestions being proposed in the sentence are emotional) are well possible. Also: "Было бы смешно, если бы не было так грустно" ("it would be a cause to laugh, if it was not so sad") — this sentence is a common expression.


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## arielipi

ahmedcowon said:


> In Arabic:
> لا أدري هل أضحك أم أبكي /lâ adri hal aḍħaku am abki/
> 
> In Egyptian Arabic:
> مش عارف أضحك ولا أعيط /mesh ‘aref aḍħak walla a‘ayyaṭ/


Hebrew (i guess) borrowed adhak; the root is ד-ח-ק and it means "to have a [recurring] joke" mostly on something/someone, as in to make fun of..


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## ahmedcowon

arielipi said:


> Hebrew:
> אני לא יודע אם לצחוק או לבכות
> ani lo yode'a im litzkhok o livkot
> i dont know if to laugh or to cry
> 
> אם זה לא היה עצוב היינו צוחקים
> im ze lo haya atzuv hayinu tzokhakim
> if it wasnt sad we were (=would have been) laughing





arielipi said:


> Hebrew (i guess) borrowed adhak; the root is ד-ח-ק and it means "to have a [recurring] joke" mostly on something/someone, as in to make fun of..



It's also interesting that the words for "laugh" (aḍħak\litzkhok) and "cry" (abki\livkot) share the same roots in both Arabic and Hebrew


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## SuperXW

Chinese is the shortest: 哭笑不得
A four-character idiom, literally "cry laugh no can".
Example: 他真是让我哭笑不得. "He really made me 'cry laugh no can' - didn't know whether I should cry or laugh."


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## Euganeo

In Italian we have the same expression: Non so se ridere o piangere!

But also: Rido per non piangere! (I laugh not to cry)


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## OneStroke

SuperXW said:


> Chinese is the shortest: 哭笑不得
> A four-character idiom, literally "cry laugh no can".
> Example: 他真是让我哭笑不得. "He really made me 'cry laugh no can' - didn't know whether I should cry or laugh."



The more formal equivalent would be 啼笑皆非 tíxiào-jiēfēi
Another chengyu, character-by-character: cry laugh both not


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## Encolpius

very very interesting thread, because in Hungarian only the order *cry-laugh* is possible, laugh-cry is non-idiomatic
I wonder if the Czech: Nevím, jestli mám brečet nebo se smát (a Hungarian would use that one) sounds terrible, too.


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## bibax

There is no difference. Both variants (laugh-cry, cry-laugh) are common in Czech.


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## franknagy

Encolpius said:


> very very interesting thread, because in Hungarian only the order *cry-laugh* is possible, laugh-cry is non-idiomatic
> I wonder if the Czech: Nevím, jestli mám brečet nebo se smát (a Hungarian would use that one) sounds terrible, too.


Indeed in this case the order of verbs is fixed in Hungarian. I don't no why. 
"Mert a nyúl szőrös és nem borotválkozik." = "Because the rabbit is hairy and he does not shave."
I know this coarse denial of explanation in Hungarian.
It worths a separate thread.


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## Radioh

In my language, people use both orders, but I somehow prefer the laugh-cry order.
'Tôi không biết nên cười(laugh) hay khóc(cry)' - I don't know if I should laugh or cry.
R.


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## ger4

German:

Ich weiß nicht, ob ich lachen oder weinen soll = Ich weiß nicht, ob ich weinen oder lachen soll
[literally: I know not if I laugh or cry ought_to = I know not if I cry or laugh ought_to]

Often people replace 'ich=I" by 'man=one' in order to make it sound less personal, more general.


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## animelover

Japanese:
ﾜﾗ　　　　ナ　　　　ワ
咲うべきか哭くべきか判からなくなってきた。
Warau beki ka, naku beki ka, wakaranakunattekita.

It kind of sounds like a bookish translation, though.


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## Dymn

In Catalan a literal translation would be: _No sé si riure o plorar.

_But I think this following one is more common:_ Ric per no plorar _(I laugh not to cry)


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## Radioh

Diamant7 said:


> In Catalan a literal translation would be: _No sé si riure o plorar.
> 
> _But I think this following one is more common:_ Ric per no plorar _(I laugh not to cry)



Are you saying that 'No sé si riure o plorar' and 'Ric per no plorar' can (roughly) have the same meaning in Catalan ?


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## OneStroke

Encolpius said:


> very very interesting thread, because in Hungarian only the order *cry-laugh* is possible, laugh-cry is non-idiomatic
> I wonder if the Czech: Nevím, jestli mám brečet nebo se smát (a Hungarian would use that one) sounds terrible, too.


The same goes for Chinese. Reversing the order is not unidiomatic, though; it's just plain wrong.


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## Nastoshka

I'm not a swedish native speaker, but I'm sure this idiom exists also in Swedish:

_Jag vet inte om jag ska skratta eller gråta_

and as in German, some people use it with the impersonal pronoun ''man''

The order is not important: skratta eller gråta / gråta eller skratta

_Jag vet inte om man ska skratta eller gråta_


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## 810senior

As for Japanese there's an idiom such as 泣いても笑っても(whether you cry or laugh) meaning _whether you like or not_ or _when push comes to shove_.


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