Tom mógł słyszeć, że jego imię zostało powiedziane. (Sentence Note & Question)

Sentence Discussions Polish
#1
  • powiedzieć ‑wiem ‑wiesz ‑wiedzą -wiedz pf, impf mówić ‑wię ‑wisz say, speak, talk
  • powiedziane = part partic = said, spoken, mentioned
  • zostało powiedziane = has been said, having been said, being mentioned
#2

Can anyone help with this …

  • The Eng CM translation is ‘Tom could hear his name being called’
  • Can ‘zostało powiedziane’ be translated/interpreted in this way, i.e. suggest ‘a calling’ of someone’s name, as opposed to just their name being said/mentioned? Thanks!
#3

“Tom mógł słyszeć, że jego imię zostało powiedziane.” is a poor translation of the English sentence. In other words, you would never hear a Pole say something like that.

My suggestion for the Polish translation would be something like “Tom usłyszał, że ktoś zawołał jego imię” (if someone was calling him from a distance) or “Tom usłyszał, że ktoś wspomniał jego imię” (if someone just mentioned his name in a conversation).

The English sentence seems to refer to the former, i.e. someone is trying to get Tom’s attention – is that correct?

1 Like
#4

Yes, that’s
exactly right. I’ll report it next time, thanks.