To be confused about something

Question

How would one express that one is "confused about something"?

I was once told that no direct translation exists, as in Russia no one is confused, but jokes aside, I wonder how I would say it.

As you can see from the answers below, there are countless expressions in Russian that each addresses a single use-case of the much more universal confused about something — Philip Seyfi, Jun 13 '12 at 21:53

Roman Yankovsky · Answer 1 · 2012-06-13T21:45:03.493

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The translation depends on the context,to confuse may mean смущать or путать. So to be confused is я смущен or я запутан/сбит с толку.

edited Jun 13 '12 at 21:45

answered Jun 13 '12 at 21:39

Roman Yankovsky

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Oh, I like "сбит с толку", I think this is the best actually! – serg Jun 13 '12 at 21:48
сбить с толку is a great expression, though it's colloquial and does not span as many use-cases as confused about – Philip Seyfi Jun 13 '12 at 21:51
+1: сбит с толку - is very close, but stronger than confused. сбит с толку ≈ completely confused or confused ≈ слегка сбит с толку – farfareast Nov 10 '12 at 22:06

Philip Seyfi · Answer 2 · 2012-06-13T21:49:25.797

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I'm confused can be translated as я в замешательстве.

Я в замешательстве и не знаю, что происходит.

X confused me can be expressed with X привело меня в замешательство

Её слова привели меня в замешательство.

edited Jun 13 '12 at 21:49

answered Jun 13 '12 at 21:41

Philip Seyfi

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And how to express "about something" here? :) – Sergio Tulentsev Jun 13 '12 at 21:42
That one is great as a separate statement. Not as great with about after it. – GSerg Jun 13 '12 at 21:42
"confused about" > "приводить в замешательство" – serg Jun 13 '12 at 21:44
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@serg: Actually, "to be confused about smth." could rather directly be translated as "быть в замешательстве от gen.": "I am confused about her words" -> "Я [есть] в замешательстве от её слов". – Andriy M Nov 25 '12 at 00:04
@AndriyM: I would translate "I am confused about her words" - as: "Я не совсем понял что она этим хотела сказать". :-) – farfareast Dec 07 '12 at 02:37
@farfareast:, To me, your version sounds more down-to-earth (more natural, at least), although that is not to say I would avoid phrases with замешательство entirely in my speech. Anyway, my point with serg was merely to point out a slightly more direct translation of confused about which would use the word замешательство too. – Andriy M Dec 07 '12 at 06:32

score 6 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 13 '12 at 21:40

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I would agree no direct translation exists.

In general, you may get away with saying the subject is confusing/complex/hard/incomprehensible instead of saying you are confused by the subject:

I'm confused about tax legislation
Налоговое законодательство такое сложное

answered Jun 13 '12 at 21:40

GSerg

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That's an awesome example. – Dan Jun 13 '12 at 23:07
These sentences have different meaning. I'm confused about tax legislation = Я запутался в налоговом законодательстве. But Налоговое законодательство такое сложное = Tax legislation is so complicated. – Anixx Jul 22 '12 at 19:50
@Anixx Speed is relative and subjective. You have no idea what your speed is unless you have something against which you can measure your speed. Similarly, complication/ease is relative and subjective. The object cannot be complicated on its own -- there absolutely must be someone who thinks the object is complicated, because the very meaning of "complicated" is "there are people who have troubles with it". If there were no sentient beings in the Universe, no object in the Universe would be "complicated," because noone could judge them as such. – GSerg Jul 22 '12 at 20:01
To clarify further: I never said these two are direct translation of each other. They are not. But this is how a Russian-speaking person would approach conveying the fact [s]he's confused about tax legislation. When you're saying something is complicated you mean it is complicated for some people. And if you say something is complicated per se, without anyone being confused about it, you're not being helpful. – GSerg Jul 22 '12 at 20:28
@GSerg: You said that you do not claim that it is absolutely equivalent phrases. Still I want to draw attention to the differences. When you say "I'm confused about tax legislation" you accept responsibility. When you say "Tax legislation is complicated" you do not accept responsibility, you kind of say that you are confused because everybody would be confused. – farfareast Dec 07 '12 at 02:23
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@GSerg: How about "Для меня налоговое законодательство такое сложное"? – farfareast Dec 07 '12 at 02:31

score 4 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 14 '12 at 04:47

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What about “Я запутался в...”?
Seems right to me.

edited Jun 14 '12 at 04:47

Dan

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answered Jun 13 '12 at 21:43

Irina Rozental

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I like this. In general to be confused about something is the opposite of being clear about something. This works. – JAM Jun 13 '12 at 21:46
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“Я запутался в” means “I got confused by [something]”. This sounds extremely odd in many cases. Consider: “I'm confused by what she just said”. “Я запутался в том, что она только что сказала” doesn't seem like a good translation at all. – Dan Jun 13 '12 at 23:06

score 3 · Answer 5 · answered Jun 13 '12 at 22:19

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"I am confused about ..." does not translate well.

However, "I do not understand ... well" easily translates to "Я не очень хорошо понимаю ..." or "Я не очень хорошо разбираюсь в ...".

For example, "I do not understand tax legislation well" --> "Я не очень хорошо разбираюсь в налоговом законодательстве"

answered Jun 13 '12 at 22:19

vasek1

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I had asked several Russian mathematicians how to say "I am confused" and they said there is no translation with the same general scope as in English. One of them suggested it's simplest just to say Я не понимаю. – KCd Nov 30 '12 at 22:43

score 2 · Answer 6 · answered Nov 30 '12 at 19:28

"не разбираюсь/не уверен/не знаю" хорошо передает смысл

"сбит с толку/запутался/помогите/нужна помощь", как ни странно, тоже означает то же самое

score -1 · Answer 7 · edited Dec 09 '12 at 20:54

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"смущен этим" "это вызвало трудности" Если более развернуто то "я морально не готов к..."

edited Dec 09 '12 at 20:54

Olga

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answered Dec 06 '12 at 05:42

Oleg

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Welcome to Russian Language and Usage Beta! Usually we prefer longer and more elaborated answers on short answers. If you can improve your answer by adding detail, context, examples, and backing up with references, this would increase your answer's quality. Poor and/or repetitive answers risk being down-voted and subsequently removed. – Alenanno Dec 06 '12 at 10:51

score -2 · Answer 8 · answered Jun 14 '12 at 07:08

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Я сконфужен этим isn't common, but totally possible translation. It's just out of young people lexicon.

answered Jun 14 '12 at 07:08

Nakilon

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Сконфужен exists in Russian, but maps to embarrassed, which has additional meanings and can therefore be... confusing. – GSerg Jun 14 '12 at 09:12
This translation has a completely different meaning, I cannot think about a case when it would be applicable. – texnic Jun 15 '12 at 10:24

To be confused about something

8 Answers8