What does this sentence mean?
I will never be alone with you.
Does it mean I want to be with you or I don't want to be with you?
-
12Can you include more context? Without context, it can actually mean two opposing things.– CatijaCommented May 1, 2015 at 17:22
-
@catija can you give me example? unfotunately there is no context. Someone(we are non native speaker) asked the question. so I said it means B. But another say this sentence means that I will be with you so I'm no longer lonely. Is that right?– DasikCommented May 1, 2015 at 17:36
-
1I will never be alone with you does not mean A or B (or C, in between, as in no opinion on the matter). The quoted sentence can be used as part of a context that includes either A or B (or C, neutral).– user6951Commented May 1, 2015 at 18:00
-
2They are stating the fact that the two of you will never be alone together. They are not saying whether this fact makes them feel happy or sad. Therefore, there is no way to know whether or not they want to be alone with you. They are only saying that they wont be.– KeikiCommented May 1, 2015 at 18:23
-
1@Keiki yes... but how they say it, if it's said orally, can give you the context. It can be understood if it's said aloud.– CatijaCommented May 1, 2015 at 18:46
Add a comment
|
2 Answers
This can mean either:
Because of you, I will never be alone.
This could be better re-written as "With you, I will never be alone."
Whenever I am with you, other people will always be nearby; the two of us will never be alone together.
Note that this does not indicate whether I want this to be the case. Compare two uses:
I want to tell you a secret in private, but your parents are always watching us. I will never be alone with you.
I know that if no one is watching, you will try to rob me. To protect myself, I will never be alone with you.
-
2For the "To protect myself" version, I would explain it as:
I will never put myself into a position where only you and I are togetherCommented May 1, 2015 at 21:55 -
It can also mean the situation where the speaker will take great pains to ensure that the two of them are never alone.– MaryCommented Oct 24, 2020 at 17:24
Without context or knowing which words received emphasis, apsillers' answer covers both A and B. However, rearranging the sentence could mean something else entirely:
With you, I will never be (feel) alone.
"Never do I feel more alone than with other people, but with you it's different because of the connection we share."
Said from one companion to another, 'never feeling alone' is what they meant. Anyone else would be talking about the impossibility or their unwillingness to be alone with someone, literally.
Whichever way it's worded, it's still rather ambiguous. We have a written transcript of what they said. We'd need the context of their relationship to know what they meant.
