# Do it again



## Dymn

How do you express that you repeat an action in your language?

For example, translate into your language the sentence: 'I'll do it again'.

Catalan: _Ho tornaré a fer
_Spanish: _Lo volveré a hacer

_In both language we use an auxiliary verb indicating repetition (_tornar _and _volver_) and the verb in the infinitive, in this case 'to do'.

We can also add adverbial constructions after the verb meaning 'again'. Thus, we get rid of the auxiliary verb:

Catalan: _un altre cop, una altra vegada_ (both 'another time'), _de nou_ ('of new')
Spanish: _otra vez_ ('another time'), _de nuevo_ ('of new')

Catalan: _Ho faré un altre cop
_Spanish: _Lo haré otra vez_


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## apmoy70

in Greek:


*«Θα το ξανακάνω»* [θa to ksanaˈkano] --> lit. _I'll it again-do_


-Future particle *«θα»* [θa], historically a contraction of *«θέλω να»* [ˈθelo na] --> _want to_.
-Neuter definite article *«το»* [to] --> _the_ (PIE *to-/*teh₂-, _this, that_ cf Skt. ते    (te), _they_).
-Byz. and MoGr prefix and adverb *«ξανά/ξανα-»* [ksaˈna] < aphetic form of Classical prefix *«ἐξανα-» ĕksana-*, denoting repetition < compound; prefix, adverb and preposition *«ἐξ» ĕks* --> _out_ (PIE *h₁eǵʰ-s-, _out_ cf Lat. ex) + prefix and preposition *«ἀνὰ» ānà* --> _up along_ (PIE *h₂en-, _up, on high_ cf Proto-Germanic *ana > Ger. an, Eng. on, Dt. aan, Isl. á, Swe. å, på, D./Nor. Bokmål på, Nor. Nynorsk å).
-MoGr verb *«κάνω»* ['kano] --> _to do/make, fare, act, produce, execute_ < Classical v. *«κάμνω» kámnō* --> _to do/make, toil, labour, build, wrought, act, perform, execute_ (PIE *ḱemh₂-, _to exert oneself, get tired_ cf M.Ir. cuma, _grief, trouble_).


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## igusarov

Diamant7 said:


> How do you express that you repeat an action in your language?
> For example, translate into your language the sentence: 'I'll do it  again'.


In Russian we don't use any special auxiliary verb. We  have a choice of adverbs and set phrases which indicate repetition:

"ещё раз" = "once more", literal word-for-word translation: "more one time".
"снова", "по-новой", "вновь" = literal: "from-new", "by-new", "a-new"
"снова и снова" = "over and over"
"опять" = "again". This word is based on the same root as "the heel (rear part of foot)", "to move backward".

Examples:
"I'll do it *again*" = "Я сделаю это *ещё* (*раз*)". This one sounds weird because the generic predicate "do" is not common.
"I'm going to ride this merry-go-round *once again*" = "Я прокачусь на карусели *ещё раз*".
"Oh, so you're at it *again*?" = "Ах, так ты *опять* за своё?"
"She smiled *again*" = "Она *снова* улыбнулась".


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## ger4

In German:
- _Ich werde es wieder tun_ - same construction as in English: 'I will do it again'
- _Ich werde es noch einmal tun_ - lit.: 'I will do it (still) one time' - 'I will do it one more time'


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## bearded

In Italian:  _lo rifarò.
_Lo = it
prefix ri- = again
farò: I will do (future tense from verb _fare)._


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## mataripis

Tagalog: Mauulit to. In command form: Gawin muli or Isa pa.


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## Dymn

bearded man said:


> In Italian:  _lo rifarò.
> _Lo = it
> prefix ri- = again
> farò: I will do (future tense from verb _fare)._



The only way to express repetition in Italian is by adding _ri-_? In Catalan and Spanish _re- _is sometimes attached to verbs like 'read' and 'think' but normally we use the auxiliary verb or an equivalent expression for 'again'.


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## rusita preciosa

igusarov said:


> In Russian we don't use any special auxiliary verb. We have a choice of adverbs and set phrases which indicate repetition



In addition, sometimes we use the prefix пере- /pere-/. It is similar to the English prefix re-:
переделать - redo
переписать -rewrite

The prefix, has also other meanings depending on the context, such as "overdoing", "outdoing", "doing all of it" and others.


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## bearded

Diamant7 said:


> The only way to express repetition in Italian is by adding _ri-_? In Catalan and Spanish _re- _is sometimes attached to verbs like 'read' and 'think' but normally we use the auxiliary verb or an equivalent expression for 'again'.


No, it is not the only way, but the most common one and the one that immediately came to my mind.  We could use also other formulations, for example: _Lo farò di nuovo _(I'll do it anew/again), or _tornerò a farlo _(lit. I'll go back to doing it) or _lo farò un'altra volta _(I'll do it one more time/otra vez)... I think it may depend on context or style.


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## Sempervirens

Hai ragione, bearded man! Se dovessimo fare a gara a chi ha più espressioni non si saprebbe dove andare a rifinire.

Aggiungerei alla tua lista anche l'avverbio _nuovamente_. Dipende anche dal contesto, come hai suggerito tu. 
Anche la locuzione _ex novo_ può essere valida, giusto per dare anche quel sapore di latino, di origini letterarie, se il contesto lo richiede.

S.V


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## 123xyz

Macedonian:

Ќе го направам тоа пак/повторно*.
Literal translation: will it do-I that again

*One may also say "уште еднаш", meaning "one more time" or "одново", meaning "anew" (which is more specific than "again", obviously, and thus fits only certain contexts).

As for the verb, "направи" is our general "to do", but in other contexts, something else might sound better, e.g. "изврши" (to perform) or "стори" (another less common verb meaning "to do, commit"). Meanwhile, the "it" is a bit problematic, as it may be translated as either "that" or "this" (we don't have a specific word for "it", as we use one word to mean both "that" and "it"), depending on the context. Thus, the "тоа" may become "ова".

Finally, another alternative would be:

Ќе го повторам тоа.

However, which is more or less "I will redo/repeat it", as opposed "I will do it again", with the repetition incorporated in the verb. However, this phrasing sort of implies giving something a second shot or redoing something that went wrong the first time, rather than just neutrally continuing doing it.


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## ThomasK

Holger2014 said:


> In German:
> - _Ich werde es wieder tun_ - same construction as in English: 'I will do it again'
> - _Ich werde es noch einmal tun_ - lit.: 'I will do it (still) one time' - 'I will do it one more time'


Lots of parallels with Dutch: 
- *weer *(again, often irritation)
- *opnieuw *(de nouveau, anew)
- *nogmaals*, nog een keer  (one more [nog een] keer [time), yet another time, literally, ...) 
*nog eens* (= once again)


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## Sempervirens

Nel caso che "Un'altra volta", " Di nuovo", "rifarò", ecc., facesse riferimento ad un singolo evento di una serie numerosa di medesime azioni susseguentisi, nella mia lingua nativa potrei benissimo dire " Per l'ennesima volta". 

Sarei curioso di sapere se " Lo rifaccio/rifarò per *l'ennesima *volta"   trova corrispondenti nella lingua olandese, inglese o altre.

S.V


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## bearded

@ SV
Mi viene subito in mente l'espressione in lingua tedesca (che è la mia 2a lingua)
_zum x-ten Male
_letteralmente ''per l'ixesima volta''.


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## Sempervirens

Grazie, bearded man! Ora ne so più di prima.

S.V


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## ThomasK

ThomasK said:


> Lots of parallels with Dutch:
> - *weer *(again, often irritation)
> - *opnieuw *(de nouveau, anew)
> - *nogmaals*, nog een keer  (one more [nog een] keer [time), yet another time, literally, ...)
> *nog eens* (= once again)


Just wish to add something non-standard: in Flanders people use *'terug' *(*back*) as meaning 'again' whereas it refers to place, strictly speaking. Do you have the 'back' as a synonym of 'again' in some other language?


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## rur1920

bearded man said:


> We could use also other formulations, for example: _Lo farò di nuovo _(I'll do it anew/again), or _tornerò a farlo _(lit. I'll go back to doing it) or _lo farò un'altra volta _(I'll do it one more time/otra vez)...


In Russian it sometimes works to say «повторить da capo» (to repeat [an action] from the beginning)… ;-) Apparently, this word has a musical origin.


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## bearded

Actually, the origin of the expression ''da capo'' seems to be typographical, as one of the meanings of the word 'capo' is the ''beginning of a written line'' (that can also be a music line). The meaning 'to repeat from the start' comes probably from teachers, who say to a pupil that cannot read well:  ''Read again 'from the beginning of the line''' (rileggi da capo).


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## rur1920

igusarov said:


> In Russian we don't use any special auxiliary verb.


Why, the verb сделаю can actually be used, along with one of these 'again' words to form a structure very much like the one in the question: А я заново сделаю.
But I think that inadvertently you touched something that feels to be a difference of Russian compared to the frequent European languages, especially English: such words as "it", "do" in these contexts are perceived as less 'auxiliary', that is less regular, but with greater amount of independent meaning. So, simple translating of "I'll do it again" does not feel natural, the result is different than the original. What kind of independent meaning may a verb of the "do" family have? I don't know; maybe some kind of personal affiliation with the action or special consideration for it: делать что-либо <= to be active about this activity.


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## Sempervirens

In Flanders people use 'terug' (back) as meaning 'again' whereas it refers to place, strictly speaking. Do you have the ' back' as synonym of 'again' in some other language?

_"Nelle Fiandre si usa 'terug' (dietro) nel senso 'di nuovo', mentre si riferisce al luogo, in senso stretto. Avete 'back' come sinonimo di 'nuovo' in qualche altra lingua?"

_Ciao! Sul momento, se ho ben capito, mi viene in mente il verbo _ripercorrere_. In verità non sono sicuro se intendevi dire _"procedere a ritroso". _

Scusa ma non è sempre facile intuire alla perfezione senza un contesto specifico. Potresti fare una frase nella tua lingua nativa? Ed eventualmente affiancarla alla frase in inglese?   Grazie mille! 

http://www.wordreference.com/enit/back

S.V


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## bearded

@ ThomasK
No, as far as I know, in Italian we don't use 'back/terug' (indietro) with the meaning of 'again' (di nuovo). The verb _ripercorrere, _as suggested by SV, means to go the same way once again, but the prefix ri- means 'again' (I think), not 'back'.  If you go the same way backwards, then you have to add something: _ripercorrere all'indietro/a ritroso. 
_In Germanic languages the situation appears different: e.g. in German (which is close to Dutch in many cases), sometimes 'zurueck(terug)' is used for 'again'.  ''Ich komme nicht mehr zurueck'' can mean both 'I'll never come back'' and ''I'll never come again''.  
(In Italian we have the ambiguous verb _tornare_ that we can use in the same way (but no adverb like 'back'):  _(io) tornerò _can mean both 'I'll come back' and 'I'll come again', depending on context).


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## ThomasK

One example could be : "Hij doet het terug!", meaning 'He does it again', strictly speaking ungrammatical but unfortunately quite common nowadays, and the battle might still be going on, but the war is lost, I think. We did have "weer", which could mean both 'again' and 'back' ("Hij komt weer", 'He comes again/ back')...

But of course there is some logic in it: someone who comes back, is at the same place [back] again...


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## SuperXW

In Chinese:
I'll do it again. = 我会再做一次。"I will again do once."
In Chinese, 再"again" is an adverb, which should be put in front of the verb, according to Chinese grammar.

However, if the sentence is in "past tense", 又 should be used instead of 再 to mean "again".
I did it again. = 我又做了一次。


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## ThomasK

So, if I understand well, the variation is based on syntax, or at least the tense. Do you see a rationale for this variation? 

I do think they are generally considered as different in most languages, aren't they?


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## SuperXW

The word "again" itself has to be switched (either 再 or 又) to fit different syntax. I think this is uncommon in most languages.
The difference between 再 and 又 is a hard topic. There are many threads discussing this.
In general, if the thing has not happened yet, 再 is used. If it's already the fact, 又 is used. But there are more complicated cases.
One practical reasons could be that Chinese doesn't have tense variations for verbs. With two forms of "again" the timeline could be clearer.


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## ThomasK

Interesting. The most interesting thing is that the connection is clear, but in this case there are different words/ideograms that must be used different contexts to express the same. So they seem like synonyms. There is no language so far that just uses one word for the two (_back/again_)...

@BM: doesn't the ri- have both meanings? We distinguish between *her*- (re, temporal) and *terug*-. But we do have 'terugzien', to see/meet again, I now realize, which is not 'normal'... So some ambiguity is unavoidable, I think...


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## SuperXW

ThomasK said:


> Interesting. The most interesting thing is that the connection is clear, but in this case there are different words/ideograms that must be used different contexts to express the same. So they seem like synonyms.


Yes. I think in English, we may also use "one more time/once more" to replace "again".
By the way, in Chinese, besides "again", 又 also has meanings of "additionally" or "also".


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## ThomasK

I agree, but 'one more time' and 'once more' still refer to time, don't they? 

'Again' and 'additionally': interesting again. I cannot see a link with some European language, but maybe some people will consider them semantically related...


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## bearded

In Italian the word _ancora _(stress on the o) can mean both once more and additionally.
Verrò ancora da te = I'll come to you once again
Dammi ancora del pane = give me more bread (lit. give me additionally bread).
(the same word has a number of other meanings, like yet (non ancora = not yet), still (sei ancora qui? = are you still here?)...
The origin of the adverb is ''anche ora'' = also now.


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## ger4

ThomasK said:


> Just wish to add something non-standard: in Flanders people use *'terug' *(*back*) as meaning 'again' whereas it refers to place, strictly speaking. Do you have the 'back' as a synonym of 'again' in some other language?


In Latvian, the words for 'again' and 'back' are not identical but seem to be related to each other:
- *atkal* - again
- *atpakaļ *- back  
I'm not sure about their etymology except for the fact that the prefix *at-* in this context expresses something like 'back' (as in *atdot *= 'to give back', *atiet = *'to come back', *atjokot *< _at- + jokot _('to joke') = 'to return a joke', *atlēkt* = 'to jump back', *atmaksāt* = 'to pay back').

'I'll do it again' = *(Es) to darīšu atkal*
- *es* - I (can be dropped if unstressed) 
- *to* - that (accusative)
- *darīšu* - I will do (future tense, 1st person singular) 
- *atkal* - again


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## SuperXW

ThomasK said:


> 'Again' and 'additionally': interesting again. I cannot see a link with some European language, but maybe some people will consider them semantically related...


Yes. I should not discuss it without a context. 又 have many developed usages and can get quite complicated to explain.
If you are still interested, compare the following examples.
I think these usages were all developed from the idea of "do A, and then do B which is comparable (either relative or opposite) to A".

我*又*去了一次。  "I went there again."
怎么*又*是你？ "Why it's you again?"
他*又*说…… “He again says...” (=He says some additional words. "He then says...") 
去完银行，我*又*去了商店。  "Finishing going to bank, I then went to the shop." (We do have another specific word for "then", but 又 often has a similar function.)
他们打了人*又*抢钱。  "They beat people and then robed money."
他们*又*打人*又*抢钱。  "They not only beat people but also robed money."
你不是决定了吗？怎么*又*改主意了？ "Haven't you decided already? Then why you change your mind?"
他说完你*又*说。 "He finished speaking, you again speak." (Means that your speech was not necessary.) 
我*又*没说要走。 "I never said I would leave." (又+negative word: simply emphasizes the negative tone.)


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## Encolpius

*Hungarian*: We have got a verbal prefix: újra-  [from új - new]

For instance: újraéleszt [resuscitate], újraépít [rebuild], újrakezd [begin again], újraválaszt [re-elect] and so on.
But it is not as active as re- in Romance languages or English. I think.


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