To tell the truth: Do you know any languages where that is translated by a single word (like: "lie", but for "truth" instead)?
2017-09-21T03:03:01Z
1. as a verb, not as a noun) (but feel to add the noun form as a bonus)
2. please list the language
3. please list your source (native speaker, intermediate, etc).
As far as I know, the languages I have learned or am learning all express that by a verb with a noun. (French, German, Italian, Japanese), my native English
2017-09-21T17:28:44Z
Sorry: I didn't realize my format was ambiguous. I would like to know languages where "tell the truth" can be translated by a single verb, along with that word, and how you know it. You can tell a lie or the truth, but you can also lie (yet you can't "true" or "truth", as verb).
?2017-09-25T02:39:46Z
Interesting. Interesting... Is it pushing it too far, or is there some truth at ground level, that 'to speak/say/tell' is a positive (even if only 'a positive' being something that is there put out into the world, as contrasted with mere silence); that the opposite/contrary to a basic communication (i.e., to lie) has its own particular verb (which has become a contrary to the first, in many languages); and that most of the rest, from that point has to be expressed in what seems like a 3rd-step creation, a more complicated construction (which doesn't seem to exist in most languages. .... ) Interesting question. May be hopeful for humanity, the original assertion being a + , if it's not pushing the original premise too far ... And you tell us, if you know or find out one, here... Because I can't think of any, after having learned several languages over the years...
Im sure there is, but I don't know which ones there are. You can use it HUMOUROUSLY in English (as in Nancy Sinatra's song "These Boots Are Made for Walking" - "you keep lying when you ought to be truthing"). Oh, there is the word "aver" in English.
German: "wahrsprechen" is a verb, which literally means "to truespeak." Source: Go to google books and look for inflected versions of the verb such as "wahrzusprechen" and "wahrgesprochen." It exists, although many of the examples come from the 19th century, More recently, people seem to divide it into two words, "wahr sprechen" (to speak truly).
I think you want to ask if the everyday expression: "To tell the truth" is not translated by a similar expression in another particular language, but can only be expressed as a single word.
You have to understand that most languages, especially English, have everyday expressions which cannot be translated word for word into other languages. For instance: The French literal equivalent for "a pig in a poke" is "a cat in a bag".
You asls need to know that there are some words in English , e.g. "save" which need two or three or more words in other languages, and vice versa. You can save money in a bank, or save lives at sea, or think that "Jesus saves". in many languages there are three different words for those different types of saving.
Conversely, in French the same word "enceinte" could mean "pregnant", or "audio loudspeaker" according to context, as "le bac" means "river ferry" or "type of cooking dish" according to context.
In Spanish there is no direct equivalent to "chutney" - you have to explain that word by a phrase noting that it is a condiment made from fruits from the Indies.