# What were you in your past life?



## sakvaka

Have you ever heard of reincarnation, being born as another person or animal after death? Some people believe they have memories of their "past lives" somewhere in the backs of their minds.

How would you ask a person about their reminiscenses? Thanks in advance!

*Finnish*: _Mikä/kuka olit edellisessä elämässäsi?_
("previous life", sometimes also "entisessä elämässäsi", past life)
*English*: _What/who were you in your past life?_
*Dutch*: _Wat/wie was je in je vorig leven?_


----------



## rusita preciosa

Russian: 
Кем ты был(a) в прошлой жизни? (informal, mas. (fem.)) /kem ty byl(a) v proshloy jizni/
Кем Вы были в прошлой жизни? (formal) /kem vy byli v proshliy jizni/

Who were you in the previous life? (without "your"; "what" rather than "who" would sound strange)


----------



## ilocas2

Czech

Čim jsi byl(a) v minulym životě? - informal (m/f)
Čím jste byl(a) v minulém životě? - formal (m/f)

čím - "what"
minulý život - "past life"


----------



## jazyk

But don't they believe in many past lives? Or are you talking about the one immediately before this one? For the former:

Portuguese:
Quem você foi numa das suas vidas passadas?
Quem foste numa das tuas vidas passadas?

For the latter:
Quem você foi na sua vida passada?
Quem foste na tua vida passada?


----------



## phosphore

Serbian

Šta si bio (m., informal) / si bila (f., informal) / ste bili (formal) u prošlom životu?


----------



## ThomasK

*Dutch* : wat deed je in een vorig (previous) leven ?


----------



## Orlin

Bulgarian:
Какъв (m.)/каква (f.)/какво си бил (m., informal)/си била (f., informal)/сте били (formal) в предишния си живот?/Kakav/kakva/kakvo si bil/si bila/ste bili v predishniya si zhivot?


----------



## Rallino

*Turkish: *

*Önceki hayatın**da nasıl biriydin**?*_ (Informal)_
*Önceki hayatınızda nasıl biriydiniz? *_(Formal)_


----------



## Frank78

German:

Was/Wer warst Du in deinem vorigen Leben? (informal)
Was/Wer waren Sie in ihrem vorigen Leben? (formal)


----------



## ilocas2

We can say also "v předešlém životě" or "v předchozím životě" but "v minulém životě" is more common. "V prošlém životě" doesn't exist.


----------



## almufadado

Portuguese : "Quem é que foste tu na tua ultima reencarnação ?" (informal)
Portuguese : "Quem é que foi você na sua ultima reencarnação ?" (formal)


PS: "Past life" assumes "reincarnation", and to believe in one have to believe in all.


----------



## jana.bo99

Good question.

Croatian: Šta si bio/bila u prošlom životu? (male/female)

Slovenian: Kaj si bil/bila v prejšnjem življenju? (male/female)


p.s. I know!


----------



## Orlin

Ovo su neformalne verzije. Formalne:
Croatian: Šta ste bili u prošlom životu?
Slovenian: Kaj ste bili v prejšnjem življenju? (Nisam potpuno siguran o slovenskom.)


----------



## Favara

*Catalan:*
Què vas ser a la teua vida passada?


----------



## jana.bo99

jana.bo99 said:


> Good question.
> Croatian: Šta si bio/bila u prošlom životu? (male/female)
> Slovenian: Kaj si bil/bila v prejšnjem življenju? (male/female)
> p.s. I know!



To make it clearer here:
It is the question for somebody who is close to us: friends, relatives, young people (until 20 years of age), as also for somebody from the family.


Orlin said:


> Ovo su neformalne verzije. Formalne:
> Croatian: Šta ste bili u prošlom životu?
> Slovenian: Kaj ste bili v prejšnjem življenju? (Nisam potpuno siguran o slovenskom.)


You are right as well:
The question is right if we ask older people; people we respect; more people; our manager; our teacher; somebody we meet the first time.

B.

p.s. Your Slovenian is right.


----------



## Orlin

Mislim da se ovo pitanje može postaviti u stvari samo u neformalnom razgovoru jer ne može da se neki s kojim nisi u bliskim odnosima pita o takvim stvarima (osim možda u šali - inače ćeš najverovatnije izgledati lud) i zato, iako su i formalne i neformalne verzije date, u praksi se koriste samo neformalne.


----------



## jana.bo99

Hvala Orlin.
Thank you, Orlin.
Of course we ask such a question only somebody we know well: friends, family members ect.

It would be very strange if I would ask somebody on the street:
What were you in your past life? (Šta ste bili u prošlom životu?)

He/she would think, I am a bit crazy, because not many people believe in PAST LIFE!

WL, B.


----------



## Rallino

My Slavic background is very limited, so correct me if I'm wrong, but if you're talking with more than one friend, you'll eventually use the plural form which happens to be the formal form, right?


----------



## Orlin

As far as I know, all Slavic languages except Polish use 2nd person pl. (the same as Turkish, right?) when formally addressing to just one person, and the same form is used when addressing to any group of 2+ people regardless of what people*.
* P. S.: Slovenian has fully retained the dual grammatical number (extinct in other Slavic languages) so in this language the dual will be used for addressing to 2 people and the plural for larger groups.


----------



## jana.bo99

Rallino said:


> My Slavic background is very limited, so correct me if I'm wrong, but if you're talking with more than one friend, you'll eventually use the plural form which happens to be the formal form, right?


It is right, in the case more than one friend: we use the plural (formal form).

If there is older person (just one) and we don't know her/him, we use also plural. 
There is more and more use that young people call everybody (young and old person) the same, like: TI! (German: DU)


----------



## Rallino

jana.bo99 said:


> There is more and more use that young people call everybody (young and old person) the same, like: TI! (German: DU)


That's interesting!


			
				Orlin said:
			
		

> As far as I know, all Slavic languages except Polish use 2nd person pl. _ (the same as Turkish, right?)_ when formally addressing to just one  person, and the same form is used when addressing to any group of 2+  people regardless of what people*.


_That's right_ 

Thanks for the info! Slavic languages really interest me. They're really complicated (for me), but that's what makes them so fascinating I guess.


----------



## Prima Facie

Español: ¿Quién/qué fuiste en tu vida anterior?

(By the way, I was a dog)


----------



## apmoy70

In Greek:
«Τι ήσουν/ήσασταν στην προηγούμενη ζωή σου/σας;»
ti 'isun [2nd person sing. or inf.]/'isastan [2nd person pl. or formal] stin proi'ɣumeni zo'i su  [sing. or inf.]/sas [pl. or formal]?
lit. "what were thou/you in the previous life of thine/yours?"

[ɣ] is a voiced velar fricative


----------



## jana.bo99

Prima Facie said:


> Español: ¿Quién/qué fuiste en tu vida anterior?
> 
> (By the way, I was a dog)



Sorry to come in here: I was doing Regression for the Past Life and therapist told me that human soul is again human (in the next life). I was woman, three times. 
You can't be dog in no way! Who told you that?


----------



## Prima Facie

Well, my Swami told so. As far as I know some religions accepts that human souls were animal souls in past lifes. Anyway, was just a joke, sorry but I do not believe in these kind of things...


----------



## OneStroke

Cantonese: 你前世係邊個 - You previous life is who


----------



## mataripis

Tagalog =Ano ba kayo dati? (formal)    and   = Ano ka ba dati?(informal)


----------



## Anja.Ann

Hi 

In Italian, literally: "Cosa/Chi eri nella tua vita precedente?" ("cosa": _what_; "chi": _who_).


----------



## francisgranada

Hungarian:

Mi/ki voltál az előző életedben?

mi - _what
_ki - _who_


(Ciao, Anna!)


----------



## Anja.Ann

Ciao, Francis  

Ki voltál az előző életedben?


----------



## francisgranada

Nem emlékszem, talán elefánt . És te?


----------



## Anja.Ann

Bila sem konj (???)


----------



## Encolpius

Hm...I'd use the sentence without the definite article "Mi voltál előző életedben?"


----------



## 涼宮

In Japanese:

あなたの過去世は何ですか _anata no kakoyo wa nan desu ka_ (formal).

Lit: Your past world/generation what?


----------



## 810senior

In Japanese:
あなたの前世は何ですかanata no zense wa nandesuka

前世zense means the former generation(era). (zen=former, before; se=world, generation, era)


----------



## Messquito

你上輩子是什麼人？ What were you in your past life?
上＝up/on/above/previous
輩子＝lifetime
輩＝非(sound+meaning)＋車(meaning)=非(=排arrange,put in order, organized(doesn't the strokes in 非 looks organized?))+車(car)
=a group of vehicles marching forward in order (not in use today)
-->seniority/status (in the family or organization) 輩份；先輩
-->generation 人才輩出；上一輩的人；老一輩的人
-->one lifetime 一輩子


----------



## Zenity

Favara said:


> *Catalan:*
> Què vas ser a la *teua *vida passada?



What form of catalan is this? Valencian, Balearic? In Catalonia, Barcelona at leats, we say:
Què vas ser a la *TEVA *vida passada?
I know some forms of catalan use teua (yours) in balearic islands...


----------

