How can I add an emotional undertone in English? (feddit.de)

submitted 9 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) by Kornblumenratte@feddit.de to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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Context: I'm missing a cutting board. So I wrote in our telegram family group: "Wo ist eigentlich unser zweites großes Schneidebrett hin?" (literally: "Where is actually our second big cuttingboard thither?").

By using the modal particle "eigentlich" I insinuate that something is oddly off and express an emotional state of curiousity and/or mild discontent.

By adding "hin", I notify that I ask because it is not where it is supposed to be and not because I don't know where it should be.

Now I ask myself, how would I express this additional information in English?

Edit: Thank you all for your answers! I learned a lot. Just our cutting board is still gone, and probably enjoying it's freedom somewhere ... I suppose.

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[-] tiredofsametab@kbin.social 1 points 9 months ago

Is this one of two big cutting boards that are basically the same size or the one just below the largest in size (i.e. second biggest/largest). I was reading it as the latter, but i haven't studied German in 20+ years now so I may be wrong

[-] Kornblumenratte@feddit.de 1 points 9 months ago

One of two big cutting boards that are the same size. The second largest would be "das zweitgrößte".

[-] tiredofsametab@kbin.social 1 points 9 months ago

Ah right. It's been a long time. Thank you!

this post was submitted on 10 Feb 2024

86 points (94.8% liked)

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