For a moment/for once/once I thought we could have lost the match.

[thehammer]

I can't decide if I should use "for a moment" or "for once" or "once" in the sentence?

1- It was a very tough match. For a moment/for once/once I thought we could have lost the match.

2- I know he doesn't want to talk to me but I want to talk to him once/for once.

 

[emsr2d2]

I can't decide if I should use "for a moment" or "for once" or "once" in the sentence?

1- It was a very tough match. For a moment/For once/Once, I thought we could have lost the match.
2- I know he doesn't want to talk to me but I want to talk to him once/for once.

In sentence 1, none of them work. Presumably you won the match. In that case, you could say something like "At one point, I thought we were going to lose".

In sentence 2, the two choices have very different meanings.

... once = You want to talk to him one time.
... for once = In the past, you have tried to talk to him but failed (you might have had to talk to someone else). This is a mark of exasperation or annoyance about something you've been trying to do, perhaps for quite some time, but have been foiled. It can also be used about something someone else does or doesn't do.

 

[SoothingDave]

Or "for a while there I thought we were going to lose."

 

[Barque]

"Once" and "for once" mean different things. Have you tried looking up the meanings?

 

[jutfrank]

Again, this is a confusing question.

Are you trying to ask us how to use these phrases properly? Or are you asking us how to express a certain thought (or two in this particular thread) that you have in your mind in Hindi into English?

I'm trying hard to understand where your questions come from, the hammer.

 

[Barque]

Based on instinct, I think the OP means:

1. At one point I thought we were going to lose.

2. I know he doesn't want to talk to me but I want to talk to him just once (before we go our separate ways).

 

[thehammer]

Again, this is a confusing question.

Are you trying to ask us how to use these phrases properly? Or are you asking us how to express a certain thought (or two in this particular thread) that you have in your mind in Hindi into English?

I'm trying hard to understand where your questions come from, the hammer.

Thank you. I have got my answer from Barque. I meant to say what Barque wrote. Thank you all.

 

[jutfrank]

@Barque, your instinct is probably right but I have a feeling that's not what the OP really wants. My feeling is that they want to get a clear idea of how to use these lexical items individually.

Do you suspect it's just a simple translation question, then? There are two thoughts in Hindi and the OP wants to say them in English?

 

[jutfrank]

I have got my answer from Barque. I meant to say what Barque wrote.

Okay, so do you mean that you had two thoughts in Hindi, and that you just wanted to know how to say these thoughts in English?

 

[thehammer]

Okay, so do you mean that you had two thoughts in Hindi, and that you just wanted to know how to say these thoughts in English?

Exactly. When I answer to someone in Hindi, I face almost no problems but when I try to write or say something in English that I first think in Hindi, many times problems arise.

 

[Barque]

Do you suspect it's just a simple translation question, then? There are two thoughts in Hindi and the OP wants to say them in English?

Yes.

 

[Barque]

Exactly. When I answer to someone in english, I face almost no problems but when I try to write or say what I think in Hindi, many times problems arise.

The other way round, you mean.

 

[thehammer]

The other way round, you mean.

Corrected now.

 

[jutfrank]

Exactly. When I answer to someone in Hindi, I face almost no problems but when I try to write or say something in English that I first think in Hindi, many times problems arise.

Okay, so why did you write two sentences in your post #1? Was it because for the Hindi sentences that you had in mind, you were thinking of the same Hindi word in each sentence?

 

[Barque]

I'm not the OP but I believe he might have thought the same English phrase would apply to both.

In Hindi, they'd be very different.

 

[Tarheel]

I can't decide if I should use "for a moment" or "for once" or "once" in the sentence?

That is not a question. How should you rephrase it to make it one?

 

[thehammer]

Okay, so why did you write two sentences in your post #1? Was it because for the Hindi sentences that you had in mind, you were thinking of the same Hindi word in each sentence?

At the time of writing the first sentence, I thought of a word in Hindi and when I was to write it in English two-three english words meaning almost the same came to mind. To know the meaning of the words I searched on the internet and I found another similar sentence.