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  3. Idioms / Maxims / Sayings

Déu n'hi do!

English translation: They spent ages .... They spent a heck of a long time ...

13:09 Apr 11, 2011
Catalan to English translations [PRO]
Idioms / Maxims / Sayings
Catalan term or phrase: Déu n'hi do!
CONTEXT: "Déu n'hi do amb l'estona que es va estar parlant dels seus projectes futurs. Al final no se sabia si la conferència era sobre el descobriment o sobre ell mateix!"
FlyHi
France
Local time: 18:35
English translation:They spent ages .... They spent a heck of a long time ...
Explanation:
Déu n'hi do would normally be something like "Good grief" but the context here requires it to be changed.
Selected response from:

Veronica Lambert Hall
Spain
Local time: 18:35
Grading comment
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
5 +3They spent ages .... They spent a heck of a long time ...
Veronica Lambert Hall
5What a lot of time they spent...
Ross Andrew Parker
5Wow // Amazing // Incredible // Crazy...
Josh Goldsmith
4May God give it ("blimey")
Caroline Clarke


  

Answers


3 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
What a lot of time they spent...


Explanation:
It's just an all-purpose exclamation. You can use anything that gives the sentence as a whole and exclamatory character and doesn't sound too ridiculous.

Ross Andrew Parker
Local time: 18:35
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 20
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13 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
Wow // Amazing // Incredible // Crazy...


Explanation:
A few other options.

You could phrase the sentence like this:

Amazing...they spent so long talking about their future projects that in the end...

Josh Goldsmith
Switzerland
Local time: 18:35
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in SpanishSpanish
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27 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +3
Déu n\'hi do!
They spent ages .... They spent a heck of a long time ...


Explanation:
Déu n'hi do would normally be something like "Good grief" but the context here requires it to be changed.

Veronica Lambert Hall
Spain
Local time: 18:35
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Sheila Hardie
3 hrs
agree  Alistair Ian Spearing Ortiz: Yes. Personally I'd go for the former option.
5 hrs
agree  Berni Armstrong: I'd say: "It was incredible how long he spent...."
5 hrs
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
Déu n\'hi do!
May God give it ("blimey")


Explanation:
It's in old-fashioned language which is why it doesn't seem to make sense. Think "blimey". That comes from "may the Lord blind me", translated as "cor", "goodness", "how surprising", etc., but a non-native English speaker trying to translate it would perhaps struggle.

Anyway, Deu n'hi do more or less translates as "blimey", or other general expression of surprise.

Caroline Clarke
Local time: 17:35
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
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