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  3. Poetry & Literature

怎么你倒忘了.

English translation: How could you forget?

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Chinese term or phrase:怎么你倒忘了.
English translation:How could you forget?
Entered by: cristini04

12:49 Apr 25, 2016
Chinese to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature / Literature.
Chinese term or phrase: 怎么你倒忘了.
Hello. Could you please tell me what is the role of 倒 here? Thank you in advance.
cristini04
Romania
Local time: 20:50
How could you forget?
Explanation:
We don't have any context to go on, but it appears that 倒 is functioning here to emphasize a kind of contrast or something contrary to expectations. "It was something you should've remembered. How could it have slipped your mind?" That sort of thing.
Selected response from:

Robert Hopkins
United States
Grading comment
Thanks.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +4How could you forget?
Robert Hopkins
4I can't believe you forgot.
Jason Cochrane
4Probably indicating unexpectedness
Frank Zou
4How could you just forget?
Intotheworld
4How the heck did you forget it
jyuan_us
3反而
tanglsus


  

Answers


52 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +4
How could you forget?


Explanation:
We don't have any context to go on, but it appears that 倒 is functioning here to emphasize a kind of contrast or something contrary to expectations. "It was something you should've remembered. How could it have slipped your mind?" That sort of thing.

Robert Hopkins
United States
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Thanks.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Jason Cochrane: I added a sentence version, but this is perfectly acceptable as well.
4 hrs
  -> Thanks!
agree  alexgochenou (X)
6 hrs
  -> Thanks!
agree  MY Lim
13 hrs
  -> Thanks!
agree  Intotheworld
1 day 5 hrs
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4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
倒
反而


Explanation:
怎么你反而忘了

供参考

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Note added at 4 hrs (2016-04-25 17:17:50 GMT)
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怎么你却忘了

tanglsus
United States
Local time: 13:50
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in ChineseChinese
PRO pts in category: 8
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4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
I can't believe you forgot.


Explanation:
Broken down, the sentence means...
怎么: How is it that
你: you
倒: unexpectedly
忘了: forgot

Without additional context, the period at the end indicates a rhetorical question which can be translated in English as a question if the context allows (see Robert's answer of "How could you forget?") or turned into a sentence as I have.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 5 hrs (2016-04-25 18:01:26 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

倒 most literally means to flip. This can be a physical object (lit. or for profit like a house), a direction or something like a statement or expectations. 'Unexpectedly' is what it means in the context of flipping over the speaker's expectations.

Jason Cochrane
Ireland
Local time: 18:50
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in DanishDanish
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10 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
Probably indicating unexpectedness


Explanation:
It could be indicating unexpectedness
Most likely it's used here to emphasize that you should have remembered but you didn't.
http://baike.baidu.com/link?url=7jiNk8ntktRtYA0i6XADh4iQNguU...

Frank Zou
China
Local time: 01:50
Native speaker of: Native in ChineseChinese
PRO pts in category: 16
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1 day 6 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
How could you just forget?


Explanation:
Supposed to remember, and should remember without question, but..

Intotheworld
United States
Local time: 13:50
Native speaker of: Native in ChineseChinese
PRO pts in category: 4
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4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
How the heck did you forget it


Explanation:
http://www.chazidian.com/r_ci_4d401eea47885396c9770aee329f15...

倒 = 反倒， it implies that you are expect to remember it but you actually forgot it.

How the heck did you forget it?

(if it is not too strong for your context)


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 hrs (2016-04-25 17:24:19 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

It implied that you are expected to remember it but you actually forgot it."

It is implied that you would remember it but you even forgot it.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day11 hrs (2016-04-27 00:33:10 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Depending on the context, it could also be expliained this way:

怎么你倒忘了 = 为什么你会忘了呢？为什么你竟然忘了呢？

Why could you have forgotten it?
How could you have even forgotten it?
I told you about it but you didn't remember it.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 7 days (2016-05-02 13:21:04 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Another version: How come you forgot it?

jyuan_us
United States
Local time: 13:50
Native speaker of: Native in ChineseChinese
PRO pts in category: 44
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