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I was watching an American TV show with Chinese subtitles on. There was a scene where a character said, "You haven't seen the last of me, Ms.Ellison.", and the Chinese subtitle for it was,"你我还没完呢 Ellison小姐.". For better context, the character who is speaking, "still believes" that Ms. Ellison committed some murders despite no one believing this.

I was wondering if there is any "better" translation for "你我还没完呢 Ellison小姐."? Because I translated it as "You and I are still not over, Ms. Ellison."

Assuming that my translation is close to correct, why isn't there "和", making it as "你和我还没完呢 Ellison小姐."?

Also can anyone please confirm that "呢" in this sentence indicates that something is still continuing? Which in this case I guess, indicates his situation/relationship (trying to send her to jail) with her will continue.

Thanks, if anything is confusing about what I have written, please let me know.

update I think I shouldn't have said "better" translation, I meant if it could have been another possible translation. But thanks to everyone's input, I was able to come to an understanding. It was hard to choose the best answer.

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    Have you considered 你我 as an inclusive 'we'? 我们can be exclusive.
    – deutschZuid
    Oct 28, 2014 at 2:44
  • I didn't thought about that and I actually had to search that up to learn more. I think 你我 in this case isn't really completely inclusive? Because the speaker is the only one who believes that the addressee is a murderer. So other people associated with the speaker doesn't matter to the meaning of the sentence, they aren't involve, making 你我 not truly inclusive? (atleast in this sentence) But I could be wrong, I'm going by what I have just learn from my search and I didn't actually find anything that mention 你我. Thanks for bringing it up.
    – chinese_beginner_need_help
    Oct 28, 2014 at 22:37
  • I think if you ask other English speakers to compare "You and I are still not over, Ms. Ellison" with "You haven't seen the last of me, Ms.Ellison," without even saying it is a question of translation, they will find the first one kind of odd.
    – Colin McLarty
    Feb 9, 2015 at 20:52

4 Answers 4

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The translation is accurate. 没完 means that there will be a continuation, and 呢 adds to this.

Translations are not and should not ever be word for word, but adapted to the linguistic context. Chinese is not as wordy as, say, American English, and there is simply no need to sprinkle the text with repeated instances of pronouns (like 我) or words that can be inferred by context.

你我 is very common.

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  • But could my translation be an alternative translation to "你我还没完呢 Ellison小姐."? I understand that part of the reason translations aren't easy to do, is because it's hard translate to word for word without sometimes sounding very odd/unnatural or it just doesn't make sense, completely lose the meaning. Even though I still can't help but wonder sometimes why so and so is left out. I will keep in mind about the pronouns. Thanks for your answer.
    – chinese_beginner_need_help
    Oct 26, 2014 at 9:57
  • There are many ways to translate any given statement.
    – user4452
    Oct 26, 2014 at 11:57
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    @chinese_beginner_need_help Personally speaking, "你和我还没完呢" sounds acceptable, but "你我还没完呢" is a little more natural in a conversation. It would be better not to focus on such details which might only be explained by the language intuition. Besides, 你我, 你和我, 我和你, sound good, but "我你" sounds strange. Similarly, we say "彼此" but never "此彼".
    – Stan
    Oct 26, 2014 at 15:31
  • Agree on the "not as wordy" when it's hedged in "in spoken context". Written Chinese is dramatically more wordy than English; double and sometimes triple adjectives are not uncommon in speeches and we have to boil it down a bit when we translate them to English. Spoken is as you described, the other way around.
    – Rob_vH
    Oct 5, 2020 at 12:36
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你我 is a common way of saying 'you and me', and is sort of a contraction of 你和我. Therefore this translation is correct, and 呢 is something people say after a statement. Like 你我还有事儿得干呢 which means "You and me still have stuff to do."

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The best translation of "You haven't seen the last of me, Ms.Ellison.", should be 你还不知道我的厉害呢, 这位小姐！

你我还没完呢 is ok. It means, 你,我还没(查)完呢 =>我还没(查)完你呢. But it is not very close to the original. "I haven't finished my work to deal with you yet".

For example, 这钱我不会给你的 => 这钱, 我不会给你的 =>我不会给你这钱的

You can not add "和" here because the first word is actually object and just be moved forward. In other cases, add "和" is ok. 你我都要好好工作 <=> 你和我都要好好工作.

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To me, 你我 and 你和我 is essentially the same meaning but used to convey a different tone/intensity for the situation. 你和我 is quite neutral and literally means "You and I". However 你我 in my opinion is used to imply that "You and I" are linked by some external circumstance. When hearing 你我, I'm ready for something bold to follow.

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