# trobo a faltar que



## louhevly

Hello everybody and Happy Sunday!

My question concerns whether the following sentence means what I think it means.  I want to say in Catalan "I miss him helping me with my homework".  That is, he used to help me with my homework, but now he is gone and I miss his help.

My first thought is that it should be "Trobo a faltar que m'ajudi amb els deures" (o "Enyoro que m'ajudi amb els deures"?), but this also seems to mean that what is lacking now is that he help me with my homework.  That is, we are still together, he has never helped me with my homework up till now, and this is what I find lacking in our relationship.  Whereas I want to say that I remember the good old days when he helped me with my homework and I miss them.

Thanks in advance!


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## TraductoraPobleSec

Let me try this with some context I'm making up...

*El Joan ja no viu a Barcelona i* *trobo a faltar quan m'ajudava a fer els deures*.

That is, since he does not live here any longer, as a consequence I miss those times when he used to give me a hand with my homework. For some reason *"quan m'ajudava"* is what comes out more naturally to me. What do you think? Still, Lou, see what other native Catalans have to say!

Have a good Sunday you too there in Manresa!


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## ernest_

Estic d'acord amb la traductora del PS.


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## louhevly

ernest_ said:


> Estic d'acord amb la traductora del PS.



So am I.  Thanks very much TPS, this "quan" structure simply didn't occur to me.


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## TraductoraPobleSec

You're more than welcome, Lou. I had to invent a context, though, to see it more clearly. And now let me ask something to you and the other English speaking people in this forum: I wonder whether the same sentece that I wrote in Catalan could be rendered in English as follows:

A. John doesn't live in Barcelona anymore and I miss *when he would help* *me* with my homework.

B. John doesn't live in Barcelona anymore and I miss *when he used to help me* with my homework.

C. John doesn't live in Barcelona anymore and I miss *those occasions when he would help me / used to help me* with my homework.


My point is to find out whether a subordinate with *when* would work instead of using the gerund.

Thanks a million in advance!


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## ajohan

Hola
Crec que A i B no funcionen sense "the times", "the days", "those occasions", etc.
But I might be wrong, it's just native intuition.


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## TraductoraPobleSec

Many thanks, Ajohan. Esperarem a veure què ens diuen els altres, tot i que confio prou en tu: you're a native Engish speaker!


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## louhevly

TraductoraPobleSec said:


> You're more than welcome, Lou. I had to invent a context, though, to see it more clearly. And now let me ask something to you and the other English speaking people in this forum:



... let me ask you and the other English speaking people in this forum something...

I don't think you can ever properly use "ask to you", even when you have to stick the direct object (in this case, "something") a long way from the verb.



TraductoraPobleSec said:


> I wonder whether the same sentece that I wrote in Catalan could be rendered in English as follows:
> 
> A. John doesn't live in Barcelona anymore and I miss *when he would help* *me* with my homework.
> 
> B. John doesn't live in Barcelona anymore and I miss *when he used to help me* with my homework.
> 
> C. John doesn't live in Barcelona anymore and I miss *those occasions when he would help me / used to help me* with my homework.
> 
> 
> My point is to find out whether a subordinate with *when* would work instead of using the gerund.



I agree with Ajohan; you need an adverb in A and B.  You can say "I miss when he used to help me..."


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## TraductoraPobleSec

louhevly said:


> I don't think you can ever properly use "ask to you", even when you have to stick the direct object (in this case, "something") a long way from the verb.


 
Shame on me! That's a bad one: I should whisk myself back to the Emerald City!


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