--- title: Told you a hundred times: how other languages exaggerate and play down — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Told you a hundred times: how other languages exaggerate and play down», a lesson of the language course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Every language exaggerates and plays things down, but each one picks its own pictures. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/53-told-you-a-hundred-times-how-other-languages-exaggerate-and-play-down/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Language](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/) / Told you a hundred times: how other la… # Told you a hundred times: how other languages exaggerate and play down Lesson 53 of the language course of Mova's primary school: 15 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/language/53-told-you-a-hundred-times-how-other-languages-exaggerate-and-play-down/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/53-told-you-a-hundred-times-how-other-languages-exaggerate-and-play-down/0/) — Every language exaggerates and plays things down, but each one picks its own pictures. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/53-told-you-a-hundred-times-how-other-languages-exaggerate-and-play-down/1/) — An English mum has told you «a million times», a Spanish mum «a thousand times» (mil veces), a Ukrainian mum «a hundred times» (сто разів, sto raziv). - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/53-told-you-a-hundred-times-how-other-languages-exaggerate-and-play-down/2/) — Different numbers, the same meaning: «lots, and I'm cross». - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/53-told-you-a-hundred-times-how-other-languages-exaggerate-and-play-down/3/) — Picture Mei's family in Beijing: her aunt flops on the sofa and says «lèi sǐ le», «tired to death»; her cousin smells dumplings, «è sǐ le», «hungry to death»; her sister giggles at a cartoon, «xiào sǐ wǒ le», «laughing me to death». - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/53-told-you-a-hundred-times-how-other-languages-exaggerate-and-play-down/4/) — Nobody is dying: in Mandarin, «sǐ le» (dead) just means «very». - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/53-told-you-a-hundred-times-how-other-languages-exaggerate-and-play-down/5/) — Other languages use animals and things: a French girl has «a wolf's hunger», a French morning is «duck cold», and an Italian nonna loves you «a sackful». - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/53-told-you-a-hundred-times-how-other-languages-exaggerate-and-play-down/6/) — Playing down travels too: a Ukrainian grandma says «Непогано!» (nepohano, «not bad») about a very good mark, and a Japanese neighbour calls her lovely present «just a boring little thing» to be polite. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/53-told-you-a-hundred-times-how-other-languages-exaggerate-and-play-down/7/) — So when you hear a strange picture in another language, don't translate it word for word: ask what feeling it carries. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/53-told-you-a-hundred-times-how-other-languages-exaggerate-and-play-down/9/) — «¡Te lo he dicho mil veces!» is Spanish for «I've told you a thousand times!»; English uses a million, Spanish a thousand, Ukrainian a hundred, and all mean «lots». - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/53-told-you-a-hundred-times-how-other-languages-exaggerate-and-play-down/10/) — In Mandarin Chinese, «sǐ le» (dead) after a word makes it stronger: «lèi sǐ le» means very tired and «è sǐ le» means very hungry, like English «dead tired» or «starving». - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/53-told-you-a-hundred-times-how-other-languages-exaggerate-and-play-down/11/) — «xiào sǐ wǒ le» («laughing me to death») means «it's really funny», just like English «I'm dead 💀»; many languages use «death» to mean «very much». - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/53-told-you-a-hundred-times-how-other-languages-exaggerate-and-play-down/12/) — «Чекаю цілу вічність» (Chekayu tsilu vichnist) is Ukrainian for «I've been waiting a whole eternity», the same as English «forever». - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/53-told-you-a-hundred-times-how-other-languages-exaggerate-and-play-down/13/) — «Непогано!» (Nepohano) means «not bad» in Ukrainian and, like British «not bad», it often means «good»; litotes exists in Ukrainian too. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/53-told-you-a-hundred-times-how-other-languages-exaggerate-and-play-down/14/) — «J'ai une faim de loup!» («I've got a wolf's hunger») is French for «I'm very hungry», where English says «I could eat a horse». - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/53-told-you-a-hundred-times-how-other-languages-exaggerate-and-play-down/17/) — In Italian, «Ti voglio un sacco di bene» means «I love you very much»; «un sacco» (a sack) means «loads», like English «a ton». - ← previous: [Sarcasm, hyperbole and understatement side by side](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/52-sarcasm-hyperbole-and-understatement-side-by-side/) - next →: [Off with her head and the finest house on the river: Alice and Toad](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/54-off-with-her-head-and-the-finest-house-on-the-river-alice-and-toad/) - ↑ back to [Language](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/)