How English people say "to tell not aloud, but in heart"?

[leo12345]

Example: I think how I come tomorrow to my enemy and tell him: 'You are not right, you did this and that.'

So I do kind of 'menthal dialogue' with my enemy. How is it called in English? 'I told him in my heart'? Or 'I told him mentally'? or 'I told him in my thought'?

Thanks...

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

How do English people say "to tell not aloud, but in heart"?



Example: I am thinking about going to my enemy tomorrow and telling him: 'You are not right, you did this and that.'

So I do a kind of mental dialogue with my enemy. What is it called in English? 'I told him in my heart'? Or 'I told him mentally'? or 'I told him in my thought'?

Thanks...

Good question! We don't have an expression for it. In English, we would say head, not heart. In ordinary conversation, we usually use our heads for thoughts and our hearts for feelings.

We might say something like:

- I imagined the conversation in my head.

- I mentally practiced talking with him.

- I rehearsed it in my head.

- I could hear it in my head.

- I pictured our meeting.

- I imagined the conversation.

- I imagined how the conversation would go.

- I thought about how our talk might go.

I hope that helps!

cb

 

[leo12345]

Charlie, thanks for this!
I was thikning of the heart by analogy to 'know by heart'.

So, as far as I understood you, if I describe how I am thinking of myself talking to someone, I should say something like this:

I told him in my head: 'You are not right' and he replied me in my head: 'No, this is you who are not right.'

(I need this for translating some piece where it is described as some person talks to another pesron 'in his head').

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Charlie, thanks for this!
I was thikning of the heart by analogy to 'know by heart'.

So, as far as I understood you, if I describe how I am thinking of myself talking to someone, I should say something like this:

I told him in my head: 'You are not right' and he replied me in my head: 'No, this is you who are not right.'

(I need this for translating some piece where it is described as some person talks to another pesron 'in his head').

That's better. It's correct English but not natural. We would be more likely to say something like:

- In my head, I heard myself saying, "You're wrong," and I heard him saying, No, I'm right."
- I imagined saying, "You're wrong," and him replying, "No, you are."
- In my imagination, I said, "You're wrong," and he said, "No, I'm not."
- I could imagine telling him he's wrong and hearing him say he's right.

To know by heart = to have memorized: I don't need to see the lyrics. I know the song by heart.

 

[leo12345]

Thanks!
Hope I'm not bothering you too much.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Not at all! This is fun.

=O]