# I have been looking for this book for three hours / I looked for this book for three hours



## L3P

Hi,guys!

Please,help me to translate into Chinese the two sentences:

I`ve been looking for this book for three hours
Yesterday I looked for this book for three hours

Thanks.


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## kidme

我已经找这本书找了三小时了。
我昨天这本书找了三小时。


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## L3P

Thanks a lot, kidme[...]


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## SuperXW

[...]I think kidme missed one 找 in sentence 2, he meant 我昨天*找*这本书找了三个小时, right?


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## L3P

SuperXW said:


> [...]I think kidme missed one 找 in sentence 2, he meant 我昨天*找*这本书找了三个小时, right?



My textbook says there`re three ways to convey the meaning needed:

 1.我昨天*找*这本书*找了*三个小时
 2.我昨天*找了*三个小时这本书
 3.我昨天这本书*找了*三个小时


Is that so?


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## Skatinginbc

L3P said:


> 2.我昨天*找了*三个小时这本书


这本书我昨天*找了*三小时 would be more natural to my ears.  
这本书他昨晚看了一整夜  vs. 他昨晚看了一整夜这本书


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## retrogradedwithwind

我昨天找了三个小时这本

I think this is a wrong sentence too. But maybe people say this kind of sentence by mistake.

我昨天找了三个小时的书 is right but mean a little different ..


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## L3P

retrogradedwithwind said:


> 我昨天找了三个小时这本
> 
> I think this is a wrong sentence too. But maybe people say this kind of sentence by mistake.
> 
> 我昨天找了三个小时的书 is right but mean a little different ..



Looks like 我昨天找了三个小时的书 is different from 这本书我昨天找了三个小时 only by the modifier 这本.Right?
If any,what _is_ the difference in the meaning between the two sentences?


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## retrogradedwithwind

L3P said:


> Looks like 我昨天找了三个小时的书 is different from 这本书我昨天找了三个小时 only by the modifier 这本.Right?
> If any,what _is_ the difference in the meaning between the two sentences?




something like 
我走了五分钟的路
I took a five minutes' walk. 

我走了五分钟的这段路
I took a five minutes' this walk.

The first sentence is right but the second wrong.


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## Skatinginbc

L3P said:


> I've been looking for this book for three hours; Yesterday I looked for this book for three hours


*I've been looking* for this book for three hours, and I still can't find it. *我已经找*这本书找了三小时，但还是没找到。
I've been looking for *this book* for three hours, and I still can't find it. *这本书*我已经找了三小时，但还是没找到。
I've been looking for this book _*for three hours*_, and I still can't find it. 我找这本书*已经找了三小时*，但还是没找到。
_*Yesterday *_I looked for this book for three hours, and I didn't find it. *昨天*我找这本书找了三小时，但是没找到。
I looked for *this book* for three hours yesterday, and I didn't find it. *这本书*我昨天找了三小时，但是没找到。


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## BODYholic

L3P said:


> Looks like 我昨天找了三个小时的书 is different from 这本书我昨天找了三个小时 only by the modifier 这本.Right?
> If any,what _is_ the difference in the meaning between the two sentences?



No, the difference is not what you cited.

Both the above sentences have different focus/emphasis.

#1 我昨天找了三个小时的书
- This statement emphasizes on the time you spent to search.
- Technically, *this is a clause*. It's not a complete sentence. I mean so what's the big deal of wasted 3 hours on a book, why are you telling me?
- Hence, in day to day conversation, a complete sentence would be 我昨天找了三个小时的书，结果连饭都忘记吃。
- In Singapore, if you say this, our most natural response is "关我x事！？"

#2 这本书我昨天找了三个小时
- The subject (这本书) is the focus in this sentence. It is an important book and I'm willing to spend long hours looking for it.
- The sentence is complete and has no loose-end. Because we were informed that the speaker spent 3 hours searching for the book and it's eventually found (indicator: 这本). In short, there is closure.

Hope this helps.


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## brofeelgood

我找了三个小时的书 - I spent three hours looking for books. It's not explicit from the sentence that the search was limited to just one book.
我喝了一整晚的酒 - I spent the whole night drinking wine.
我看了三个小时的电视 - I watched TV for three hours.

In the above sentences, the emphasis lies in the three hours spent.

这本书我找了三个小时 - I spent three hours looking for *THIS* book.
这杯酒...
这个电视节目...

Here, the stress is on a particular book, a particular glass of wine and a particular TV programme.


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## alexmaowei

*I have been looking for this book for three hours   这本书，我已经找了整整三个小时了！*

*I looked for this book for three hours    这本书我找了三个小时。*


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