# Alarm clock failed to wake me up



## Gochna

大家好！
请你们看一看，下面的句子对不对？

闹钟醒不到我，终于我起床以后看手表已经十点半!

Alarm clock failed to wake me up (didn't wake me up) and I finally when I looked at my watch after getting up, it was already 10h30.

What do you think?
Thanks!


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## twinklestar

> 闹钟醒不到我，终于我起床以后看手表已经十点半!



Hi, it is not very smooth for a native speaker. I touch it up a bit.

闹钟叫不醒我，当我起床一看手表都已经十点半了。


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## Gochna

Thank you so much! Your version is incomparably better than mine!


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## moonflowersong

twinklestar said:


> 闹钟叫不醒我，当我起床一看手表都已经十点半了。


 
And if you need it translated into Chinese, I propose:

The alarm clock didn't manage to wake me up and when I finally woke up, my watch showed that it was already 10:30am.


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## 2PieRad

> 闹钟叫不醒我，当我起床一看手表都已经十点半了。


This is better translated as "the alarm clock couldn't wake me up." Wouldn't 闹钟没叫醒我 for "it didn't wake me up" be better? In Chinese, it sounds better to me if you also separated these into 2 sentences.
当我终于起床后,一看手表都已经十点半了. (Finally, after getting up...)


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## moonflowersong

Erebos12345 said:


> This is better translated as "the alarm clock couldn't wake me up." Wouldn't 闹钟没叫醒我 for "it didn't wake me up" be better? In Chinese, it sounds better to me if you also separated these into 2 sentences.
> 当我终于起床后,一看手表都已经十点半了. (Finally, after getting up...)


 
Well, yes, that would make more sense. Another option would be: 闹钟没把我叫醒。


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## AVim

Erebos12345 said:


> 当我终于起床后,...



Sounds weird.


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## 2PieRad

Would you take the 当 out? We still want to say "_after_ I _finally_ got up," right? 当我起床 conveys more of "when I got up" instead. "我终于起床后，当我看手表。。。?" Maybe I'm trying to translate this too literally, word by word.


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## kenny4528

Erebos12345 said:


> Would you take the 当 out? We still want to say "_after_ I _finally_ got up," right? 当我起床 conveys more of "when I got up" instead. "我终于起床后，当我看手表。。。?" Maybe I'm trying to translate this too literally, word by word.


 
Hi, Erebos

you should take the 終於 out. It is not the way we would use.



> 當我起床後...
> 我起床後，當我...


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## 2PieRad

So there's no way to put _finally_ into this sentence?


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## kenny4528

Erebos12345 said:


> So there's no way to put _finally_ into this sentence?


 
I cannot think of a way that 終於 is included in this example right now. Maybe other can.


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## snowyau

kenny4528 said:


> I cannot think of a way that 終於 is included in this example right now. Maybe other can.



kenny is right, 终于 does mean "finally" or "in the end", but in your english sentence you don't mean to express this as "final".

Rather, the use of "finally" in your sentence is used to express logical sequence. Ie, before and after. (I woke up before, I looked at my watch after)

终于 has more of a cause and effect meaning to it, ie, "in doing/not doing xxx, in the end/finally yyy happens."

The other weirdness in translating, (and others can correct me), is I don't think it's that correct to apportion blame to the alarm clock, unless the alarm clock failed to ring. The correct way to think about that statement is "I FAILED TO WAKE UP, IN SPITE OF THE ALARM CLOCK RINGING". That is unless, as I said, that the alarm clock failed.

It's a bit of a nuance thing, and maybe expresses differences between a western and a chinese mindset... and I'm not being disparaging, but the western mindset tends to apportion "blame" while the chinese mindset tends to encompass it. 闹钟叫不醒我 is about as neutral as it gets I think.


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## 2PieRad

I still think 闹钟叫不醒我 sounds as if the alarm clock did ring but _couldn't_ wake you up. In this case, it's your fault that you didn't wake up. It doesn't sound neutral at all as it doesn't represent the possibility that the alarm clock didn't ring at all, and thus you didn't wake up. 闹钟没叫醒我/没把我叫醒 simply states that the alarm clock failed to wake me up. Whether that's because the alarm didn't even go off, or because I'm a heavy sleeper is still ambiguous. It does sound as if you're still blaming the alarm clock, but I think it's the most neutral option.


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## snowyau

sorry I should have clarified - I meant: 闹钟叫不醒我 (or your 2 options are just as good) is "neutral" in the sense that when I couldn't wake up, it's always my fault and never the alarm clocks fault (unless failure is the reason).

so 闹钟叫不醒我 or 闹钟没叫醒我/没把我叫醒 is more neutral in the sense it's trying to deflect the blame from yourself. Hope that makes sense, it's more of a meaning thing than a grammar thing.


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## LeonTheZealous

闹钟没有把我叫醒（我没有听到闹钟响），最终当我醒来时发现已经十点半了。


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