買不到 vs 不能買

[Kenny Chang]

Hello, everyone.

I wonder how to translate these two in English: 買不到 and 不能買. I think 買不到 is simply "cannot buy" or "can't buy," for example, money cannot buy happiness. (金錢買不到快樂。)

So how about 不能買? For example, 我不能買酒，因為我未滿18歲. Is it still "I cannot buy wine"? Thank you.

 

[yuechu]

Hi Kenny,
"Can't" and "cannot" are both fine here.

Money can't buy happiness.
I can't buy wine because I'm not 18 yet.

 

[Kenny Chang]

Hi Kenny,
"Can't" and "cannot" are both fine here.

Money can't buy happiness.
I can't buy wine because I'm not 18 yet.

Thank you for your help, yuechu.

"I can't buy wine because I'm not 18 yet" can be translated into 我不能买酒因为我还没18岁 in Chinese. But if I want to say "买不到," is it still "can't buy"? For example, 你买不到這本小說了因为它已经绝版了. How do you say it in English? Is it "You can't buy this novel because it is out of print"?

If I simply say "I can't buy it," does it mean "我买不到" or "我不能买"? Because in Chinese they mean differently. Or does it depend on the contexts?

 

[kategogogo]

Is it "You can't buy this novel because it is out of print"?

I am not a native speaker of English, but I hope to contribute my two cents. If someone said “I can’t buy such and such book.”, it would sound to me like the unavailability is not due to the book being hard to find, but rather due to legal or ethical reasons, such as the book being banned. Personally I would say ‘You can’t buy this book because .....’ fit more naturally in a sccenario like this: You can’t buy this book, because it contains photographs of child porn. It is illegal! A word which might work better in your example would be ‘I can’t find this novel anywhere. It is out of print.’

 

[SuperXW]

我的想法和kate类似：
不能买 我会考虑用 I can't buy ... (because...)
买不到 我会考虑用 I can't find (anywhere to buy) ...

另外，对于 money cannot buy happiness. (金錢買不到快樂。) 我认为比较特殊：买不到的原因不是“缺货”，而是因为“快乐”是种抽象的感情，把它视为“商品”只是一种修辞手法。所以用 cannot buy “不能买” 也没问题。

 

[skating-in-bc]

can't/cannot = 無法/沒辦法.
金錢 買不到 快樂 = 金錢 無法/沒辦法買 快樂 Money can't buy happiness.
我 不能買 酒，因為我未滿18歲 = 我 無法/沒辦法買 酒，因為我未滿18歲. I can't buy wine because I'm not 18 yet.

你買不到這本小說了因為它已經絕版了
你無法買這本小說了因為它已經絕版了 ==> 就算絕版了, 有錢能使鬼推磨, 所以, 這裡說 "無法買" (can't buy), 聽起來怪怪的.

 

[Contraine]

你買不到這本小說了因為它已經絕版了
你無法買這本小說了因為它已經絕版了

我的语感是，“买不到”偏向外部的客观原因，而“无法买”更多地和自身的原因有关。例如：“如果你没钱，就无法买这本小说了。”不过，这个区分好像也没那么严格。

 

[skating-in-bc]

“买不到”偏向外部的客观原因，而“无法买”更多地和自身的原因有关。例如：“如果你没钱，就无法买这本小说了。

Agreed.
我不能買 (= 無法買) 這本小說因為它超出了我的預算. I can't buy this novel because it's over my budget.
我買不到這本小說因為它超出了我的預算.

 

[Kenny Chang]

Thank you for your help.

我的語感是"I can't buy it"仍是「我不能買」，而我總覺得還是有其他方式可以表達「我買不到」。我是有想過"I can't get it"，但不確定get有沒有包含「買」的意思。

我不能買因為我未滿18歲。→ I can't buy it because I'm under 18.
你買不到那本書的，因為早就絕版了。 → If I translate it into "you can't buy it because..." just doesn't sound right to me. Maybe "you can't get it" might work.

"You can't find it"給我的感覺只是「你找不到」，但找歸找不見得是要買，也許只是去書店或圖書館找書而已。

 

[SuperXW]

can't/cannot = 無法/沒辦法.
...

你并没有解答他的问题：“买不到"英文怎么说，怎么和"无法买"区别。

"You can't find it"給我的感覺只是「你找不到」，但找歸找不見得是要買，也許只是去書店或圖書館找書而已。

所以我的回答 I can't find (anywhere to buy) ... 加了括号里的内容。如果希望讲清，感觉可以加上去。
我英文虽然不好，但我知道一个原则：汉语和英语无法逐词对应。汉语中用几个字能清楚分开的表达，英语未必可以，反之亦然。

 

[skating-in-bc]

你并没有解答他的问题：“买不到"英文怎么说，怎么和"无法买"区别。

我的回答是:

假如 "買不到" 可以代換成 "無法買" (e.g., 金錢買不到快樂 = 金錢無法買快樂), 那麼英文可以直接翻譯成 "can't buy".

假如 "買不到" 不可代換成 "無法買", 那麼英文就換一個說法, 不能直譯. 譬如:
"你買不到這本書了因為它已經絕版了" 可以意譯為 "The book is not available in bookstores now because it is out of print."
"蛋價節節升高, 民眾還是買不到蛋" 可以意譯為 "The egg price keeps going up. People still find them hard to come by."

 

[Sanchuan]

英语中，“金钱买不到快乐”和“金钱不能买快乐”一样，都翻译成“money can't buy happiness"。恐怕别无他译。

奇怪的是，“能/不能”和“V得/不到”虽然都包括can/can’t的意思，但用法也可以独立，甚至平行。我也听说过“能+V得到”这个说法，例如：“这本书能买得到，它还没绝版呢”。不清楚是否标准。

但是 *不能买得到/*不能买不到 我觉得根本不可以。

 

[SuperXW]

假如 "買不到" 不可代換成 "無法買", 那麼英文就換一個說法, 不能直譯. 譬如:
"你買不到這本書了因為它已經絕版了" 可以意譯為 "The book is not available in bookstores now because it is out of print."
"蛋價節節升高, 民眾還是買不到蛋" 可以意譯為 "The egg price keeps going up. People still find them hard to come by."

把主语变成商品本身是一个好思路，不过有时还是和中文意思略有不同。
“我买不到……”可能仅仅意味着我本人无法找到地方购买，但我不能确定市场上的整体情况，所以似乎I can't find anywhere to buy...更精确些。

 

[Kenny Chang]

Thank you for your help.

可以來造一些句子，例如：
1. A: Why don't you buy that book? B: I tried, but I couldn't find anywhere to buy it.
2. I couldn't find anywhere to buy eggs. They were all sold out!

But I think only the native speakers of English would tell if they sound idiomatic.

 

[skating-in-bc]

可以來造一些句子，例如：

例如: 那裡我買不到蛋, 都賣光了, 最後我是在Walmart買的. ==> 有時候 "買不到" 是無法用 "can't find anywhere to buy" 來翻譯的.

 

[becomelikewater]

Thank you for your help.

可以來造一些句子，例如：
1. A: Why don't you buy that book? B: I tried, but I couldn't find anywhere to buy it.
2. I couldn't find anywhere to buy eggs. They were all sold out!

But I think only the native speakers of English would tell if they sound idiomatic.

For 1 you can say "A: Why didn't you buy that book? B: I tried but I couldn't find it anywhere.
For 2 you can say "I couldn't find any eggs. They were sold out everywhere!"

If I were talking casually with someone in an everyday scenario, this is how I would express myself.

 

[Kenny Chang]

For 1 you can say "A: Why didn't you buy that book? B: I tried but I couldn't find it anywhere.
For 2 you can say "I couldn't find any eggs. They were sold out everywhere!"

If I were talking casually with someone in an everyday scenario, this is how I would express myself.

Thank you for your help.

 

[Cory Kung]

我认为买不到可以换几个表达方式，思维不要停留在“买”这个动作上，比如说，可以说，the book is out of stock; or the book is not available now.

 

[Kenny Chang]

我认为买不到可以换几个表达方式，思维不要停留在“买”这个动作上，比如说，可以说，the book is out of stock; or the book is not available now.

謝謝您的意見。

不過這些說法我覺得也可以單純是陳述事實(書沒貨了)，不見得能表達出想要「買」的這個動作，除非有明確的前後文。

 

[dingyujie]

买不到 because this thing isn't enough.
不能买 because you have no enough money or this thing isn't suitable for you. For example, the students who under 18 isn't allowed to smoke in China.

 

[zhongxiang]

Hello, everyone.

I wonder how to translate these two in English: 買不到 and 不能買. I think 買不到 is simply "cannot buy" or "can't buy," for example, money cannot buy happiness. (金錢買不到快樂。)

So how about 不能買? For example, 我不能買酒，因為我未滿18歲. Is it still "I cannot buy wine"? Thank you.

here is my opinion about your question. i think that 买不到means even you have much money but you dont have the way to buy something.emmm maybe you could think nobody can sell you and you also can buy.But 不能买means you have the ability to buy something but some rules limit you that you can buy.So somebody sells this thing but you couldn't buy
嘿嘿这是我小小的拙见 希望对你有帮助