I found a short sentence on tatoeba.org and I'm not exactly sure what it means.
好像找到了。
My best guess is that it means, "Seems like you found it." Is that right?
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In Tatoeba there is a Spanish version of that sentence, translated to English is "It seems that we have found it" (Parece que lo hemos encontrado.)– dusanCommented Sep 22, 2012 at 18:28
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3 Answers
This sentence has no subject. In Chinese, it's sometimes acceptable to leave out the subject if it's obvious from the context (some sentences are better analysed without using the concept of subject altogether, but that's a bit out of topic). So, in this case, it's difficult to translate directly to English since the English version would need a subject. In this case, I would say it's very likely that the subject is "我“ simply because "我好像找到了" makes more sense than other alternatives.
answered Sep 22, 2012 at 6:26
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1To give a little more background, Chinese is an example of a null-subject language where the subject of a sentence can be omitted when it is evident from context who or what the subject is. Not only that, but Chinese is also a pro-drop language, meaning that even objects can be omitted when the context is clear.– ClawCommented Sep 25, 2012 at 7:53
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In English, we can use the passive voice: "It seems found." Here we make an unspecified object the subject.– Becky 李蓓 ♦Commented Dec 25, 2019 at 9:19
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The subject of the sentence can be a lot of things. For example:
-Your friend's book has been lost. You and another person know about that. Then after the book has been found by your friend, you say to another person that sentence. Then it means: It seems the book has been found (You don't know yet if the book is found, you are guessing).
-It can be yourself. You have lost something and you think you have found it. It means, you forgot something where it placed and in a sudden you remember where you placed the thing.
It can means a lot of things. Based on the previous statement following that sentence. It's just like Korean language that if the subject has been clearly stated before, then you will have no need to restated it.
Hope helps. :)
It actually means
It seems that I have found it.
The subject is "me". If it's "找到了？"("found it?"), it's "you".
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3I think it can mean a lot of things. Since the subject is left out, it could be anything, but should be obvious from the context. Commented Sep 22, 2012 at 6:20