# EN: J'ai vu la chose être avalée par les torrents



## Hirugo

Good Evening everyone!

Can you tell me  if "I saw the most important thing to me being engulfed by the torrents without any possibility of acting." is grammatically correct please? 

Thank you in advance!


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## Tazzler

Hmm, if you put a colon before "being" that will make the sentence less clumsy. However, the meaning is still a bit unclear. What's the sentence in French?


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## Hirugo

J'ai vu la chose la plus importante pour moi être avalée par les torrents sans que je n'aie pu faire quoi que ce soit.

Thanks


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## Tazzler

In this case I still think it is a matter of correct punctuation: separate the two parts of the sentence. Also, on a side note, shouldn't "ai" be "aie"?


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## Hirugo

Ah yes! Sorry, it's late xD

Thank you very much!

So if I let like this:
I saw the most important thing to me: being engulfed by the torrents without any possibility of acting.

Would you understand that it was me who hasn't been able to act and not the other person?


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## Luke_13

Hi Hirugo,
I find the "without any possibility of acting" a bit clumsy...and it is not clear who you are referring to.
It might change the meaning somewhat but you could say "as i watched helplessly" which implies implies that you were not able to do anything.


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## LV4-26

Hirugo said:


> Ah yes! Sorry, it's late xD
> 
> Thank you very much!
> 
> So if I let like this:
> *I saw the most important thing to me: being engulfed by the torrents without any possibility of acting.
> *
> Would you understand that it was me who hasn't been able to act and not the other person?


What you intend to mean isn't totally clear yet.
Did you add the colon just to follow Tazzler's advice?.

The way I understand what you wrote, it means that being engulfed by the torrents without any possibility of acting is the most important thing to you.
Is that what you really mean? I'd be surprised.

Or do you mean....
_I watched the object dearest to my heart being engulfed by the torrents and was unable to do anything about it_
...instead?

That is not a suggested translation. I'm just asking what you mean exactly.

EDIT: 





> Did you add the colon just to follow Tazzler's advice?.


Apologies to Tazzler. I realize that may sound rude without at least a connecting sentence. But I wrote that pretty hurriedly.
What I mean, Tazzler, is that I suspect your suggestion to be based on your misunderstanding the intended meaning, whcih wasn't clear in the first place.


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## Hirugo

Hi! 
Ah, I haven't noticed that my sentence wasn't totally clear.
Actually, I wanted to say "_I watched the object dearest to my heart being engulfed by the torrents and was unable to do anything about it" _or something like this. 

How could I say it please?


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## LV4-26

Hirugo said:


> Hi!
> Ah, I haven't noticed that my sentence wasn't totally clear.
> Actually, I wanted to say "_I watched the object dearest to my heart being engulfed by the torrents and was unable to do anything about it" _or something like this.
> 
> How could I say it please?


Right then.
Now that the meaning is clear, I'll let the natives answer. 
We especially need their help regarding the translation of _la chose la plus importante pour moi_ and _sans que j'aie pu faire quoi que ce soit._


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## jann

We tend to avoid referring to a person as a "thing" in English.  
A few natural, simple versions of this idea:

I watched helplessly as the person dearest to my heart was engulfed by the torrents.
Powerless, I saw the torrents engulf the person I cared about more than anything in the world.
I could only stand by, helpless, as I watched the most important person in my life be/being swept away/under by the raging (flood)waters.
etc.


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## Hirugo

I take the option 3  Thank you very much!


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## homeywork

What about:

The next thing I knew, the the waves engulfed my loved ones, like a monster with the most  vicious jaws. All I could do was stand and watched. My dearest perished forevermore.


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## jann

homeywork said:


> What about:
> 
> The next thing I knew, the the waves engulfed my loved ones, like a monster with the most  vicious jaws. All I could do was stand and watched. My dearest perished forevermore.


Yes, well, if we're taking dramatic license we can invent all sorts of sentences.    But the original French version doesn't talk about multiple loved ones.  It talks about a single person ("her") who mattered most...


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## LV4-26

By the way, I sincerely thought the word _thing_ was referring to an actual *object.*, like an old beloved teddy bear or something.


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## Maître Capello

jann said:


> We tend to avoid referring to a person as a "thing" in English.


As in French… 


LV4-26 said:


> By the way, I sincerely thought the word _thing_ was referring to an actual *object.*, like an old beloved teddy bear or something.


Same here.


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## jann

Maître Capello  said:
			
		

> LV4-26 said:
> 
> 
> 
> By the way, I sincerely thought the word _thing_ was referring to an actual *object.*, like an old beloved teddy bear or something.
> 
> 
> 
> Same here.
Click to expand...

I believe the original thread title was "EN: I saw her being engulfed by the torrents?" -- you can still see this title in individual post titles for the first couple of answers.  The full sentence from post #1 was a little more detailed ("I saw the most important thing to me being engulfed by the torrents without any possibility of acting"), and was repeated in French a couple of posts later when someone asked for clarification ("J'ai vu la chose la plus importante pour moi être avalée par les torrents sans que je n'aie pu faire quoi que ce soit.")

I just assumed that "la chose la plus importante pour moi" was "her," instead of some object.

Hirugo, can you please confirm?  What (or who) is _"la chose la plus importante pour moi"_?


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