# How much time does one have to wait until it's repaired?



## Extra Virgin Olive Oil

I was at a library and when I was about to borrow books, I was told that all the loaning machines didn't work ("ei käytössä" to quote them). I was wondering how long I can wait until I can borrow the books again. How can I express this?

"Kuinka kauan minä odotan ennen kaikki toimivat?" (?)


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## Grumpy Old Man

If I understood you correctly, *all* the machines were out of order, right? You can say: _Milloin voin taas lainata kirjoja? / Milloin koneet toimivat taas? / Milloin koneet ovat taas kunnossa?_


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## Ben Jamin

I would like to know how to translate literally  the original sentence in English: How much time does one have to wait until it's repaired?
My try is: 
Kuinka kauan minun täytyy odottaa, kunnes se on korjattu?


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## Grumpy Old Man

The Finnish sentence you suggest is grammatically and idiomatically better than the English one! In English, I would say: _How long do I have to wait until/till it's repaired?_

GOM


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## MaijaPoppanen

Ben Jamin said:


> I would like to know how to translate literally the original sentence in English: How much time does one have to wait until it's repaired?
> My try is:
> Kuinka kauan minun täytyy odottaa, kunnes se on korjattu?



Well, the original sentence is in passive, so the correct literal translation is "Kuinka kauan pitää/täytyy odottaa ennen kuin se on korjattu". But your sentence is also perfect Finnish


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## Grumpy Old Man

_Does one have_ is *structurally* in the active voice. For the passive, _to be + _past participle is needed. This use of_ one _is mainly confined to British English and is often just a roundabout way to say "I":_ *One* shouldn't do such things = *I* shouldn't do such things. _This usage of_ one _was one of the pet likes of Humphrey Appleby in the great comedy series "Yes, Minister" and "Yes, Prime Minister". He went to great lengths to avoid the pronoun "I".


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