# te lo giuro



## intel4

Devo tradurre in inglese _*te lo giuro!*_ in questo contesto: 

Madre: Elena come al solito non hai studiato!
Elena: No, mamma, ho studiato! _*Te lo giuro!* _

In inglese si utilizza la traduzione letterale "_*I swear it to you!*_" o devo necessariamente optare solo per "_*I swear it!*_" senza il pronome indiretto _*to you*_?


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## theartichoke

intel4 said:


> In inglese si utilizza la traduzione letterale "_*I swear it to you!*_" o devo necessariamente optare solo per "_*I swear it!*_" senza il pronome indiretto _*to you*_?



Neither, actually: Elena would just say _I swear!_


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## intel4

theartichoke said:


> Neither, actually: Elena would just say _I swear!_


Theartichoke, Thank you very much!


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## TheCrociato91

Or possibly (in this context): _I swear I did!_


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## You little ripper!

_I swear to you! _(without the ‘it’) is also quite common.


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## theartichoke

You little ripper! said:


> _I swear to you! _(without the ‘it’) is also quite common.



That sounds a bit odd to me unless something comes after it: _I swear to you that I've done my homework! _But it could be different in Australia, or it could be just me.


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## You little ripper!

theartichoke said:


> That sounds a bit odd to me unless something comes after it: _I swear to you that I've done my homework! _But it could be different in Australia, or it could be just me.


The swearing needs to relate to something, but it doesn’t necessarily have to come after it.

_I’ve done my homework. I swear to you!_


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## theartichoke

You little ripper! said:


> The swearing needs to relate to something, but it doesn’t necessarily have to come after it.
> 
> _I’ve done my homework. I swear to you!_



That's exactly what sounds odd to me, for whatever reason.


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## You little ripper!

theartichoke said:


> That's exactly what sounds odd to me, for whatever reason.


Would it sound odd to you if the ‘you’ was replaced by ‘God’ in that sentence?


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## theartichoke

You little ripper! said:


> Would it sound odd to you if the ‘you’ was replaced by ‘God’ in that sentence?



No, "I've done my homework, I swear to God" sounds perfectly fine--but then I'd argue that "I swear to God" is just filling out what's implied in "I swear."


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## You little ripper!

It’s reasonably common here, but probably not as common as “I swear to God!”. There are quite a few Google hits for it. These are a few examples:

The Second Night, a lord of the rings fanfic | FanFiction

The young hobbit curled into a ball under the weight of guilt and grief. "I did not mean it, I swear to you! Please, please forgive me. I meant no harm when I dropped the rock, truly. I'm so sorry ...

Kevin Hart and Josh Gad are a pair of ringers

Kevin Hart (Laughing): You did do that. You don’t remember?
Josh Gad: I did?
KH: I swear to you.

"I Saw Simon When I Flatlined"

I was desperate to see Simon," she said. "I saw him when I flatlined actually. I did. He is God, I swear to you!"

Perhaps it’s just not used in Canadian English.


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## theartichoke

You little ripper! said:


> Perhaps it’s just not used in Canadian English.



It might well be--as I said at the start, it could be just me. And I don't find it strikingly wrong, just rather less idiomatic than a simple "I swear!" (Edit: my partner, even more linguistically Canadian than I am, agrees with me, so I guess it's not just me.)


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## lentulax

In this context, I'd just say 'Honestly!'   'You haven't done your homework.'  'I have! Honestly!'


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## Tellure

Anche "I promise!"?


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## Paulfromitaly

Tellure said:


> Anche "I promise!"?


Since it's referring to a past action, I wouldn't say "I promise".


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## You little ripper!

Paulfromitaly said:


> Since it's referring to a past action, I wouldn't say "I promise".


It doesn't make sense but a lot of people do use that expression in this situation. Go figure!


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## Paulfromitaly

You little ripper! said:


> It doesn't make sense but a lot of people do use that expression in this situation. Go figure!


I know, and it's hilarious because then you hear the Italian version translated as "te lo prometto" which doesn't make any sense most of the time!


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## Tellure

You little ripper! said:


> It doesn't make sense but a lot of people do use that expression in this situation. Go figure!


  Infatti, l'ho sentito spesso e chiedevo se fosse accettabile come traduzione, sebbene io sia d'accordo con Paul.


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## tsoapm

Paulfromitaly said:


> Since it's referring to a past action, I wouldn't say "I promise".





You little ripper! said:


> It doesn't make sense but a lot of people do use that expression in this situation.


I must have missed something; it seems fine to me. It's a promise now about the truth of an event in the past.


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## You little ripper!

tsoapm said:


> I must have missed something; it seems fine to me. It's a promise now about the truth of an event in the past.


Promises are assurances made about something in the future - that something will be done or that will happen. How can you do that about the truth of something in the past?


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## Paulfromitaly

tsoapm said:


> It's a promise now about the truth of an event in the past.


I don't get what you mean.
The student is swearing that he did his homework.
How can that be a promise?

Mum, I* promise* I'll do my homework later. (ti *prometto* che..)
Mum, I* swear* I did my homework yesterday. (ti *giuro* che..)


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## tsoapm

Well I just looked at Lexico, and was slightly surprised to see it backing both of you up, for the most part. Then I saw:

*I promise*
informal 

Most of the examples provided refer to the future, as you both suggest, but a few seem not to:

_‘oh, I'm not joking, I promise’
‘This is not an appeal to your green listeners, Amy, I promise you.’
‘I'm not one of those apathetic stay-at-home voters that the Labour Party is so worried about, I promise you.’_


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## Paulfromitaly

tsoapm said:


> ‘oh, I'm not joking, I promise’
> ‘This is not an appeal to your green listeners, Amy, I promise you.’
> ‘I'm not one of those apathetic stay-at-home voters that the Labour Party is so worried about, I promise you.’


But wouldn't you say "I swear" in these examples?
I'd definitely say "ti giuro" and not "ti prometto" in Italian.


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## tsoapm

I'm not in the habit of saying either, that I know of, but I wouldn't blink at either, hearing it. As for the Italian, I'll leave that to you!


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## You little ripper!

tsoapm said:


> Well I just looked at Lexico, and was slightly surprised to see it backing both of you up, for the most part. Then I saw:
> 
> *I promise*
> informal
> 
> Most of the examples provided refer to the future, as you both suggest, but a few seem not to:
> 
> _‘oh, I'm not joking, I promise’
> ‘This is not an appeal to your green listeners, Amy, I promise you.’
> ‘I'm not one of those apathetic stay-at-home voters that the Labour Party is so worried about, I promise you.’_


We're not saying it's not used, tsoapm; I've heard people use it in this context. I just don't think it makes sense (we say a lot of rubbish in English!).


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## tsoapm

Ok, I see where you're coming from. I hope I'm not going off-topic, but I feel a slight urge to demur. It depends what you mean by make sense: dictionaries just record how language is used, and the rules are agreed but essentially arbitrary. No idiomatic expressions make sense, at one level, and by English standards Italian never makes no sense whenever it uses a double negative.


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## Paulfromitaly

tsoapm said:


> It depends what you mean by make sense:


To me, it doesn't make sense to "promise", that is, to tell someone that *you will *certainly do something, when this something has already been done.


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## tsoapm

All I can say is that I believe 'promise' has a wider sense in English than the one you're working with.


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## Paulfromitaly

tsoapm said:


> All I can say is that I believe 'promise' has a wider sense in English than the one you're working with.


promise - WordReference.com Dictionary of English

Can you tell me which meaning of promise you're talking about?
It's possible that, in my mind, I focus more on the meaning of "promettere" which is never synonymous with to swear.


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## tsoapm

I'm not sure, but there are some there I think that don't expressly mention the future, even if most do.


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## Mary49

Perhaps this one?
Promise: Traduzione in italiano - Dizionario Inglese - Corriere.it
*"4* (to assure) assicurare, garantire".
And these?:
to promise: traduzione in italiano - Dizionari
"he hasn’t seen it, I promise non l’ha visto, te l’assicuro; she’s not what you think, I promise you that   lei non è quello che credi, questo te lo assicuro".
I promise you | meaning of I promise you in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English | LDOCE




I PROMISE (YOU) (phrase) definition and synonyms | Macmillan Dictionary


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## You little ripper!

The fact that it's in the dictionary doesn't make it more logical. Dictionaries don't create usage. Usage (even illogical usage) creates the definitions found in dictionaries.


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## tsoapm

Sure, but I can't help but feel like this is an argument going round in circles.


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## Pietruzzo

tsoapm said:


> Sure, but I can't help but feel like this is an argument going round in circles.


Not for me. That usage of "I promise" is clearly too controversial for a non-native speaker.


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## rrose17

Just to add my 2 cents. While not making all that much sense, perhaps, I'd say it is definitely used as YLR has indicated. It's especially used in contexts where you have to swear that you haven't done anything wrong.
_You've been smoking again, haven't you?
No I haven't, I promise._
It does sound a little like a kid speaking, but adults use it as well.


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