nothing to search?

[TheShadow]

Hi,

Can you say:

"I have nothing to search in my moms town besides visiting her"

Thanks

 

[emsr2d2]

Hi,

Can you say:

"I have nothing to search in my mom's town besides visiting her"?

Thanks.

That is not a natural sentence. What would you be searching for? Are you sure you understand the definition of "to search"?

 

[Chicken Sandwich]

That is not a natural sentence. What would you be searching for? Are you sure you understand the definition of "to search"?

NOT A TEACHER

The problem is that TheShadow is "overtranslating", a trap many speakers of Dutch fall into.

What he/she is trying to say, is something along the lines of, 'The only reason I was in this town was because I had to visit my mother. Other than that, I had no business being there.'

"I have nothing to search in my mom's town besides visiting her" is a literal translation of "Ik had niets te zoeken in mijn moeder's stad behalve haar te bezoeken.'

 

[emsr2d2]

That makes sense, Chicken Sandwich. On that basis, only one thing needs to be changed though from the original, to be fair.

"I have nothing to do in my mother's town, besides visiting her."

It's not the most natural sentence ever, but it makes sense.

 

[Chicken Sandwich]

That makes sense, Chicken Sandwich. On that basis, only one thing needs to be changed though from the original, to be fair.

You're absolutely right , that was actually the sentence that I initially wanted to post, but then I changed my mind because I didn't sound particulary good to me. Also, the idiomatic expression that TheShadow (presumably) had in mind is a bit more emphatic than "I have nothing to do in..." but I must admit that my rewritten version is rather wordy and perhaps not entirely natural either.

 

[emsr2d2]

And of course there is a difference between "I have nothing to do there" (personal) and "There is nothing to do there" (general).