for an old guy,..

I read a phrase:"for an old guy, you're not bad-looking".
Now, can I say?:for the fact that you hadn't enough money your house look nice.

BTW how would you search that in dictionary?

thanks in advance, Jiri

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JiriLindovsky

I read a phrase:"for an old guy, you're not bad-looking".
Now, can I say?:for the fact that you hadn't enough money your house look nice.

BTW how would you search that in dictionary?

thanks in advance, Jiri

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You can't search whole phrases in a dictionary, so I wouldn't.

For a poor guy, you have a nice house!

This construction usually starts with "For a ..." and is followed by an adjective and then a person, then a fact which is surprising once you know the contents of the first half of the sentence.

For a short girl, she can jump really high.
For an obese guy, he can run very fast.
For a one-armed man, he's very good at boxing.

In spite of the lack of money, your house looks nice.

Don't know how to look for it. We were just taught to use this word-combination in this sense at the university.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AndrewTheElephant

For the lack of money, your house look nice.

Don't know how to look for it. We were just taught to use this word-combination in this sense at the university.

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This sounds a little unnatural to me. I wouldn't start with "For the lack of..." If I wanted to use a similar construction, I would say:

Considering your lack of money, your house looks nice.
Given that you don't have much money, your house looks nice.