Tell me how’s (been) your love life? Слишком общо🤔

You should tell me how things are with you in the love department😬

Tatiana, clear something up for me, the хоть бы at the beginning is because the listener is holding back and the speaker is really curious, yes?

I wish you would somehow tell us about how your love life going. (?)

the хоть бы at the beginning is because the listener is holding back and the speaker is really curious, yes?

Something like that.:)

Or, maybe, it’s not that they aren’t holding back - it’s the way the speaker’s trying to make the listener talk specifically about their love life.

I still don’t get the speaker’s motivation. Can you put it in a snippet?

We use хоть бы when we’re impatient to know something (like in the sentence under question) or unhappy about something/angry with someone.
Жена мужу:
- Ой, ты уже с работы? А я ужин приготовить не успела - не думала, что три часа на маникюре просижу. 😌
Муж, заглядывая в холодильник:
- Хоть бы тогда что-нибудь тогда поесть купила - в холодильнике мышь повесилась.😏

Хоть бы рассказал = Ну давай, рассказывай

Just not so forward

Хорошо, даю сниппет конкретно к этой фразе. Из переписки в соцсетях.
- Привет, ты меня забыла? Ничего мне не пишешь.
- Привет, да и я давненько от тебя ничего не получала. Хоть бы рассказал о своих подвигах на любовном фронте.

«Хоть бы рассказал» в данном случае означает, что тот, к кому обращаются много уже о чем рассказал, а о своей личной жизни умалчивает, хотя ему есть что сказать и оба говорящих об этом знают. Тот, кто спрашивает, хочет узнать подробности.

Aha, ok 👍🏼 Thank you, Anna!

Как интересно, Татьяна, похоже каждый воспринимает эту фразу на основе своего опыта.

Да, Анна, и она может нести разные оттенки. В моём случае никакого рассказа не было. Здесь «хоть бы рассказал» нужно понимать как упрёк. Говорящий упрекает собеседника (и упрёк получается обоюдным) в том, что он давно не писал ничего и не рассказывал о своих любовных приключениях, что, по-видимому, имело место раньше в их общении. 😉

I understand the scenario, but I don’t understand the level of emotion on the speaker’s part, so I don’t know how to translate this. I can’t translate what I don’t understand and I’m stumped.

Так что здесь упрёк и нетерпение услышать новые истории.😉

…okay, okay! But I want to hear (more) about your conquests on the roMANtic front! (??)

Uly, you can’t translate this?
This is the entire context.
- Привет, ты меня забыла? Ничего мне не пишешь.
- Привет, да и я давненько от тебя ничего не получала. Хоть бы рассказал о своих подвигах на любовном фронте.

I could try, but I’m sure I’m not capturing the emotion in the response because the Russian words aren’t speaking to me:
— Hi, have you forgotten I’m alive? You don’t write.
— Hey! My mailbox isn’t exactly bursting with your letters either. At least you could tell me about your love life. (???????)

Теперь мне окончательно ясно, что в некоторые вещи каждый вкладывает свой смысл, на основе своего опыта. )

Uly, thank you. Just right for my version. )

Anna, I’m glad you like it, but it’s soooo unnatural in English. I just posted it to show how the Russian reads for me. I’m not assigning the correct emotion to the situation because I just can’t glean it from the original Russian.

…or were you referring to the “okay, okay” translation above?

Yes, I’m speaking about “okay, okay” translation.

Ah! Then I’ll post it. Thank you))

Anytime )

There’s another alternative, but it may be too angry/frustrated: I wish you’d (shut up and) tell me about your love life already!

I can’t imagine a situation when it can be used. )

Uly, actually, I love all the versions; I should’ve be more happy about the one in the comments because it’s just what the doctor ordered, but funny enough, I was absolutely impressed by that with the “roMANtic” part, as I was by you understanding these nuances of Russian. Thank you so much🙏💪🤩
Анна, спасибо за помощь! ☺️

Tatiana, I’m glad you liked it, but I can’t rightly say I understand it — I was just guessing. I had a number of translations in the comments; which one are you referring to that you’re happy about?

“At least you could tell me about your love life.” Although it doesn’t sound quite natural in English, as an explanation, it seemed to perfectly fit in my snippet where there was no precedent chitchat.😉

It just sounds like a complaint to me “you’ve made me sit here and listen to everything else, so the least you can do is tell me about your love life.”

But how come you used it to translate my snippet where all the people did is just exchanging two banal phrases?

Because I didn’t know what else to write. The banality of that exchange is exactly what confused me. Not understanding it fully, I feel that хоть бы is somewhat emotive and your snippet seemed too short for that much emotion.

>The banality of that exchange is exactly what confused me.
But the actual dialogue WAS banal. What can you do about that?:))

I feel that хоть бы is somewhat emotive and your snippet seemed too short for that much emotion.

Yes, I see. This may all be confusing. Let give it another try. Think about two friends: a man who used to share his love stories and a woman who used to listen to those stories. They haven’t heard from one another for a while. He decides to check on her and he says hi to her and complains that she forgot him. And then she responds with hi and complains back about the same matter. This хоть бы рассказал may sound out of the blue to a stranger, but actually it’s something along the lines of “Now that you came out of the blue, do me a favor and tell your love stories because it’s the only thing what interests me in our friendship. A reprimand plus a little bit of sarcasm.

This calls for Marat! I’m going to call him in.

👍

I don’t think I have much to contribute here 😂

Now that I have the full exchange, I’d translate it as

A: Hey did you forget about me? You never text/message me these days

B: Hey! I haven’t heard anything from you in a while either. Not even your (latest) love conquests / Not even how your love life’s been (lately) / Not even how you’ve been doing on the dating/romantic front.

So simple! Thank you)))

😂👍

Thank you all!
Uly, now that we have a translation that fits Anna’s context, can you add one that would fit mine?

👍🏼

Thanks a million! 🤩🙏👍

👍🏼