“You don’t want to do smth” idiom

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sovtransavto
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“You don’t want to do smth” idiom

Post by sovtransavto »

Hello everyone! Please help!
There’s a sentence: “You don’t want to go on living with her”.
To make a proper translation, I need to know what does the idiom ‘you don’t want to do smth’ mean.
Does it mean in the context of this sentence:
1) Don’t go on living with her!
2) I know that you don’t want to go on living with her.
3) How can you go on living with her?
4) You can’t go on living with her!
5) Your variant?
Thank you.
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Joe
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Re: “You don’t want to do smth” idiom

Post by Joe »

In this sort of context, "you don't want to (wanna) do something" is advice, meaning "In my opinion you should not do something."

Thus your sentence means something like:

I suggest you don't keep living with her.
You should stop living with her.
It would be best for you to stop living with her.

Compare:
You wanna get your hair cut = You need a haircut
You don't want to listen to him = He talks a load of bullshit
You wanna mind your own business = Keep your nose out

This expression is fairly informal, hence I use the contraction "wanna" in some examples above.
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