# go back upstairs



## Tabletop1

Hi,
I'm trying to translate a line from a project I've created in which a character in a basement says to the camera, in reference to children who are no longer in the room with him...

"Well, they must have gone back upstairs".

The translation I have right now is:

"Bueno, habrán vuelto al piso de arriba."

I think this is right, but I'd love a double-check on this.

Thank you,
Paul


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## Drake15

Tu traducción me parece bien. Normalmente estoy más acostumbrado a escuchar "arriba" solo, sin el "piso de".

"Bueno, habrán vuelto arriba".


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## aztlaniano

Está bien, suponiendo que hay sólo un piso más arriba. Diría "han subido".


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## Tabletop1

Drake15 said:


> Tu traducción me parece bien. Normalmente estoy más acostumbrado a escuchar "arriba" solo, sin el "piso de".
> 
> "Bueno, habrán vuelto arriba".


Yes, this is the question I've been pondering.  Perhaps I should just say "Bueno, habrán vuelto arriba."  Thank you.


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## Tabletop1

aztlaniano said:


> Está bien, suponiendo que hay sólo un piso más arriba. Diría "han subido".


Actually, the character saying the line is in the basement, but the house has at three floors above the basement.  What would be a better translation for this situation?  And thank you!


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## testoduro

Se habrán subido arriba.(The redundancy is not at all unusual)


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## nanel

testoduro said:


> Se habrán subido arriba.(The redundancy is not at all unusual)


 True, it's not, but it's incorrect  I'm always teasing my friends when they say that they "suben arriba" or "bajan abajo", asking "¿En serio? ¿No has subido para abajo/bajado para arriba?

"Habrán subido" or "habrán ido arriba" would be what I'd say.


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## roxcyn

"Pues, deberían haber regresado/subido (al piso de arriba)" es mi intento.

PD: Bienvenido al foro, amigo.


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## Tabletop1

testoduro said:


> Se habrán subido arriba.(The redundancy is not at all unusual)


Thank you!


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## Tabletop1

nanel said:


> True, it's not, but it's incorrect  I'm always teasing my friends when they say that they "suben arriba" or "bajan abajo", asking "¿En serio? ¿No has subido para abajo/bajado para arriba?
> 
> "Habrán subido" or "habrán ido arriba" would be what I'd say.


Okay, thanks.  I appreciate the help.


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## Alice_2.0

roxcyn said:


> "Pues, deberían haber regresado/subido (al piso de arriba)" es mi intento.



I'm afraid that would be incorrect here; if you use that tense, you'd be saying "They *should* have gone back upstairs", and that's not the original sentence's meaning.



aztlaniano said:


> Está bien, suponiendo que hay sólo un piso más arriba. Diría "han subido".



I wouldn't say "han subido" either, because the character is making assumptions, but he/she is not actually sure whether the children have gone back upstairs or not.

I'd use some of the other suggestions, "habrán ido arriba", "habrán subido", "habrán vuelto arriba" or even "se habrán subido para arriba" (which yes, is redundant and formally incorrect, but quite common, at least around the south of Spain ).

Cheers!


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## Mimae

Alice_2.0 said:


> I'm afraid that would be incorrect here; if you use that tense, you'd be saying "They *should* have gone back upstairs", and that's not the original sentence's meaning.


Alice,
Would "deberían *de* haber regresado..." work? Adding the "de" makes the statement a supposition rather than a suggestion, correct?


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## Drake15

Mimae said:


> Would "deberían *de* haber regresado..." work? Adding the "de" makes the statement a supposition rather than a suggestion, correct?



In my opinion, _deberían_ has always the meaning of should. To express that "must have..." we use "debe/n".
"Deben (de) haber regresado".


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## Tabletop1

Alice_2.0 said:


> I'm afraid that would be incorrect here; if you use that tense, you'd be saying "They *should* have gone back upstairs", and that's not the original sentence's meaning.
> 
> 
> 
> I wouldn't say "han subido" either, because the character is making assumptions, but he/she is not actually sure whether the children have gone back upstairs or not.
> 
> I'd use some of the other suggestions, "habrán ido arriba", "habrán subido", "habrán vuelto arriba" or even "se habrán subido para arriba" (which yes, is redundant and formally incorrect, but quite common, at least around the south of Spain ).
> 
> Cheers!


Thank you. Are you saying, however, that my original translation of "¿Hola?  Bueno, habrán vuelto al piso de arriba" does NOT work?  I just want to make sure.


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## roxcyn

Gracias Alice.  Mi intento nuevo es:
"Pues, deb*en de* haber regresado/subido (al piso de arriba)".


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## Alice_2.0

Tabletop1 said:


> Thank you. Are you saying, however, that my original translation of "¿Hola?  Bueno, habrán vuelto al piso de arriba" does NOT work?  I just want to make sure.



You're very welcome. And not at all, your suggestion is very good too; sorry that I forgot to mention it. 



roxcyn said:


> Gracias Alice.  Mi intento nuevo es:
> "Pues, deb*en de* haber regresado/subido (al piso de arriba)".



Well, actually it was *Drake15* who answered your question, but you're welcome! LOL
(I agree with him, by the way). 

And your new attempt is good, though I wouldn't put a comma after "Pues". And I'd change "regresado" for "vuelto", it's kind of more common in everyday language (if that's what the OP is looking for).


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## roxcyn

Si usa "regresado" el forero original, ¿no tiene sentido?  Gracias Alice.


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## Alice_2.0

roxcyn said:


> Si usa "regresado" el forero original, ¿no tiene sentido?  Gracias Alice.



De nada *roxcyn*. 

Sí, por supuesto que tiene sentido, sólo dije que "vuelto" es un término más usado en el lenguaje diario. Pero "regresado" es totalmente correcto también. 

¡Saludos!


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## Sense

Another suggestion:

"Bueno, deben de haber subido arriba."


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## Tabletop1

Okay, everyone.  Which one of these is the best choice, then?  And it is important to note that the character speaking the lines is VERY formal.




¿Hola?  Bueno, habrán vuelto al piso de arriba.

¿Hola?  Bueno, habrán vuelto arriba.

¿Hola?  Bueno, habrán subido.

¿Hola?  Bueno, habrán ido arriba.

Deben (de) haber regresado.

Bueno, deben de haber subido arriba.


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## Alice_2.0

I'd choose either the second or the last one.


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## Tabletop1

Alice_2.0 said:


> I'd choose either the second or the last one.


Cool, thanks!  Let me ask you something.  What IS the translation of  "habrán vuelto arriba" versus "deben de haber subido arriba"?


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## Alice_2.0

You're welcome!

Well, they're pretty much the same... maybe the first one expresses more clearly that the children were on the basement in the first place and then went back upstairs (to the floor right up the basement), while the second one leaves a tiny open possibility that there might be a second or third floor where the children went back to.

Also, perhaps "deben de..." sounds a little bit more formal than "habrán...", though there's a very slight nuance.


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## Tabletop1

Alice_2.0 said:


> You're welcome!
> 
> Well, they're pretty much the same... maybe the first one expresses more clearly that the children were on the basement in the first place and then went back upstairs (to the floor right up the basement), while the second one leaves a tiny open possibility that there might be a second or third floor where the children went back to.
> 
> Also, perhaps "deben de..." sounds a little bit more formal than "habrán...", though there's a very slight nuance.


Thank you!  You are so helpful.  Let me ask another question, then... Why is "¿Hola? Bueno, habrán vuelto arriba" a better choice than "¿Hola? Bueno, habrán vuelto al piso de arriba"?


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## Alice_2.0

You're welcome again, I'm glad it helped you. 

I'd say the first one is a better option as long as it's clear that there is only one more floor aside from the basement, because then you don't need to specify which floor they've gone back to ("al piso de arriba"), which might sound a little bit redundant (though it'd be still totally correct).


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## Tabletop1

Alice_2.0 said:


> You're welcome again, I'm glad it helped you.
> 
> I'd say the first one is a better option as long as it's clear that there is only one more floor aside from the basement, because then you don't need to specify which floor they've gone back to ("al piso de arriba"), which might sound a little bit redundant (though it'd be still totally correct).


Well, the house they are in definitely has three floors ABOVE the basement.  It's not important which floor they went to, just that they when upstairs and are no longer in the basement.  Given this, what is the best option?


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## Alice_2.0

I want to make it clear that both options leave the open possibility that there might be more than one floor above the basement; it's just that the second one is a little more specific, and therefore it would sound somehow redundant in case there were only one more floor, as I said before.

Now, knowing that there are three more floors above the basement, and that it's not important which floor they went to, I'd definitely choose the first one ("habrán..."), because again, the second one sounds a little more specific, and you said the important thing is just that they went upstairs and are no longer in the basement; so I think the first one fits better for that purpose.


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## Sense

I agree.
"Well, they must have gone back upstairs".
Bueno, habrán vuelto arriba.
Bueno, deben de haber vuelto arriba.


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## Tabletop1

Alice_2.0 said:


> I want to make it clear that both options leave the open possibility that there might be more than one floor above the basement; it's just that the second one is a little more specific, and therefore it would sound somehow redundant in case there were only one more floor, as I said before.
> 
> Now, knowing that there are three more floors above the basement, and that it's not important which floor they went to, I'd definitely choose the first one ("habrán..."), because again, the second one sounds a little more specific, and you said the important thing is just that they went upstairs and are no longer in the basement; so I think the first one fits better for that purpose.


Excellent!  You're awesome!  

_FYI, you wrote:_
"Well, they're pretty much the same... maybe the first one expresses more clearly that the children were on the basement in the first place and then went back upstairs (to the floor right up the basement), while the second one leaves a tiny open possibility that there might be a second or third floor where the children went back to."

_If you will allow me to be so bold as to make a few corrections to your English, which is excellent (I'm not sure if these kinds of corrections are desired in these forums or by you), so please tell me if it is not..._

"Well, they're pretty much the same... maybe the first one expresses more clearly that the children were *on the basement ("in the basement" is better)* in the first place and then went back upstairs (to the floor right *up the basement*)* ("above the basement" is better)*, while the second one leaves a tiny open possibility that there might be a second or third floor where the children went back to."

I hope I haven't stepped over a line, but I thought this would be a nice way to reciprocate.


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## Tabletop1

Sense said:


> I agree.
> "Well, they must have gone back upstairs".
> Bueno, habrán vuelto arriba.
> Bueno, deben de haber vuelto arriba.


Thanks!


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## Alice_2.0

Tabletop1 said:


> Excellent!  You're awesome!



Haha, thank you! 



Tabletop1 said:


> _FYI, you wrote:_
> "Well, they're pretty much the same... maybe the first one expresses more clearly that the children were on the basement in the first place and then went back upstairs (to the floor right up the basement), while the second one leaves a tiny open possibility that there might be a second or third floor where the children went back to."
> 
> _If you will allow me to be so bold as to make a few corrections to your English, which is excellent (I'm not sure if these kinds of corrections are desired in these forums or by you), so please tell me if it is not..._
> 
> "Well, they're pretty much the same... maybe the first one expresses more clearly that the children were *on the basement ("in the basement" is better)* in the first place and then went back upstairs (to the floor right *up the basement*)* ("above the basement" is better)*, while the second one leaves a tiny open possibility that there might be a second or third floor where the children went back to."
> 
> I hope I haven't stepped over a line, but I thought this would be a nice way to reciprocate.



No worries! Yes, these kinds of corrections are generally desired in these forums, at least from what I've seen since I became a member. And speaking for myself, when I open a new thread I usually ask people to correct me whenever necessary, as I'm still learning (I guess you never stop learning actually...).
So thanks a lot for those corrections, and sorry that I didn't reply before, I haven't logged in for a few days.


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