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il l'avait longtemps attendu mais maintenant il a peur de l'amour

English translation: He has been awaiting love for a long time but now he is afraid to love


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10:05 Oct 5, 2003
French to English translations [Non-PRO]
French term or phrase: il l'avait longtemps attendu mais maintenant il a peur de l'amour
il l'avait longtemps attendu mais maintenant il a peur de l'amour
tom
English translation:He has been awaiting love for a long time but now he is afraid to love
Explanation:
.
Selected response from:

Margarita
United States
Local time: 04:29
Grading comment
Graded automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +2He has been awaiting love for a long time but now he is afraid to love
Margarita
5 +1he had waited so long, but now he is afraid of/to love
Aisha Maniar
4 +2la phrase cloche en français
Ségolène Neilson
4 +2He has been waiting for love for a long time but now he was getting cold feetxxxsarahl
4 +1He despaired for so long of ever knowing love, but now he's dreading it.
Jacques Saleh
5"he's been waiting for love a long time, now he is shy / afraid"Enel Diamond
4although he had been waiting for a long time, he now found he was afraid to loveRHELLER
4For a long time, he had expected love, but now he is awe-struck by it
irat56
2 +2he awaited it for a long time but now he is afraid of love
writeaway
4he had waited a long time but now he is afraid of love/to loveCavina
3For long he had waited for it, but now love seemed a daunting thing for him.xxxaes
3he had waited a long time but was now afraid to lovePascale Dahan
1 +1he had been expecting love for a long time but at that time (otr then) he was scared of it
Catherine Johnstone


Discussion entries: 1





  

Answers


4 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
He has been awaiting love for a long time but now he is afraid to love


Explanation:
.

Margarita
United States
Local time: 04:29
Native speaker of: Native in RussianRussian, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in pair: 9
Grading comment
Graded automatically based on peer agreement.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Shoosh1: He had waited for it so long but now was afraid of love
12 mins
  -> "il a peur de l'amour" is in the present tense; waited _for_ so long, I guess, would be better, too
agree  lien: very nice. yeah, he is afraid to love
4 hrs
  -> thank you!
agree  Catherine Norton
6 hrs
  -> thank you, Catherine!
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30 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
For a long time, he had expected love, but now he is awe-struck by it


Explanation:
Could be more romantic...

irat56
France
Local time: 10:29
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in pair: 352

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  xxxsarahl: awe-struck? Will that make him run away?
33 mins
  -> Could be...if she is a feminist!! <);-)
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
He has been waiting for love for a long time but now he was getting cold feet


Explanation:
Let's hope he'll warm up to her!

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2003-10-05 11:36:41 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

correction: he had been waiting

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2003-10-05 12:18:27 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Unless he had been waiting for \"him\", another possibility here

xxxsarahl
Local time: 01:29
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in pair: 1306

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Rowan Morrell: "Getting cold feet" is a rather nice translation here.
41 mins
  -> Thanks Rowan!
agree  lien: cold feet, yes...
6 hrs
  -> merci !
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5 peer agreement (net): +2
he awaited it for a long time but now he is afraid of love


Explanation:
or he waited for HIM
or he waited for it.....
etc.

a very straightforward translation, but without setting the phrase in its context, it's hard to do anything else. Context plays a major role when translating such phrases.

writeaway
Local time: 10:29
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in pair: 2683

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Yves Ferrer: the best yet
52 mins
neutral  lien: Can't wait to hear the last gossip ? :)
3 hrs
  -> ?? :)
agree  Catherine Norton
4 hrs
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3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +1
he had waited so long, but now he is afraid of/to love


Explanation:
I would say that translating the "l" in "l'avait" is unnecessary

Aisha Maniar
Local time: 09:29
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in pair: 347

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  writeaway: also possible since you are not inventing, second-guessing or embellishing outside the context given
2 hrs
  -> I can ONLY work within the context given and not assumptions beyond it :-)
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3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
he had waited a long time but now he is afraid of love/to love


Explanation:
simplest translation

Cavina
Local time: 10:29
Native speaker of: Native in ItalianItalian

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  writeaway: a bit too copy cat-you could have just agreed with the previous answer(s)
1 hr
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3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
la phrase cloche en français


Explanation:
la concordance des temps n'est ps respectée
on devrait avoir il l'avait attendu longtemps mais maintenant il avait peur de l'amour

OU

Il l'a attendu longtemps mais maintenant il a peur de l'amour

Ségolène Neilson
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:29
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in pair: 541

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  ayang
1 hr
neutral  lien: les deux sont valables ;)
2 hrs
agree  xxxntouzet
3 hrs
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4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
he had waited a long time but was now afraid to love


Explanation:
OR:
He had waited for her a long time but was/is now afraid to love.

I agree that the tenses don't seem right in French.

Pascale Dahan
United States
Local time: 01:29
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in pair: 81
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4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
He despaired for so long of ever knowing love, but now he's dreading it.


Explanation:
or: He despaired for so long of ever knowing love, but now he has some trepidation/misgiving/qualm/apprehension about it.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2003-10-10 16:00:13 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Alors, Tom, on se decide pour adjuger les kudoz???

Jacques Saleh
Local time: 04:29
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in ArabicArabic
PRO pts in pair: 169

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Jane Lamb-Ruiz: you are funny
6 hrs
  -> I try...
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5 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
although he had been waiting for a long time, he now found he was afraid to love


Explanation:
although he had been waiting for a long time, he now found he shied away from love


1) shied 1. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.
...Past tense and past participle of shy

he feared love
he was afraid to love / of love


RHELLER
Local time: 02:29
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in pair: 1582
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6 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 1/5Answerer confidence 1/5 peer agreement (net): +1
he had been expecting love for a long time but at that time (otr then) he was scared of it


Explanation:
I think it is all in the past ...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 6 hrs 47 mins (2003-10-05 16:53:46 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

read (or then) sorry for misprint

Catherine Johnstone
France
Local time: 10:29
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in pair: 1624

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  lien: il y a maintenant dans la phrase et le verbe est au present
27 mins
  -> oui mai en F un présent narratif de ce genre est tout à fait courant et le maintenant ne veut pas forcément dire aujourd'hui..
agree  writeaway: absolument, tout à fait plausible -too bad we don't have any context
1 hr
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9 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
For long he had waited for it, but now love seemed a daunting thing for him.


Explanation:
OR

For long he had waited for love, but now he was afraid of it.



xxxaes
Local time: 14:59
Native speaker of: Native in TamilTamil
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11 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
"he's been waiting for love a long time, now he is shy / afraid"


Explanation:
I think that flows a bit more

Enel Diamond
Native speaker of: Native in Haitian-CreoleHaitian-Creole, Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in pair: 7
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