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How do you say "Can you imagine yourself.." in German?

Kannst du dir vorstellen, ins Fitnesstudio ohne Wasser zu fahren? Nach dem Krafttraining wirst du Durst haben.

Can you imagine yourself going to the gym without water? After working out you'll get thirsty.

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    "...vorstellen, ins F.S. zu fahren, ohne Wasser mitzubringen?" ?
    – c.p.
    Commented Jan 8, 2014 at 5:51
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    Fitnessstudio with sss :p
    – Christian Graf
    Commented Jan 8, 2014 at 8:05
  • lol das kommt mit der Zeit ;)
    – DerPolyglott33
    Commented Jan 8, 2014 at 8:34
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    @c.p. Auch wenn im Deutschen eine strikte Trennung zwischen mitbringen und mitnehmen nicht so vorliegt, wie in anderen Sprachen, würde ich hier doch zu "mitnehmen" tendieren.
    – Em1
    Commented Jan 8, 2014 at 8:36
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    Is "can you imagine yourself" correct English? Isn't the "yourself", if not wrong, then at least obsolete? Can you imagine going to the gym without a water bottle? - The yourself bit, is that along the lines of the youth colloquialisms you have been posting so much lately? The ones where He goes let's go and she's like not really. And then like two hours later there's like no breakfast on the table. This is where the 'imagine yourself' fits. But not in proper English. I don't see how improper English that is not even documented can follow any translation rules.
    – teylyn
    Commented Jan 8, 2014 at 9:03

2 Answers 2

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If you want somebody not to leave without something to drink, a mere 'vorstellen' is not explicit enough. In this case I would say:

Willst du wirklich ohne Wasser ins Fitnessstudio fahren? Nach dem Krafttraining wirst du bestimmt Durst haben!

But this sounds fine to me, if you refer to going to the gym w/o water in general, and not just in a special, current case:

Kannst du dir wirklich vorstellen(,) ins Fitnessstudio ohne Wasser zu fahren?

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6

Yes, the sentence is correct, hovewer the part with the water is ambiguous like this. Be more precise: "... in dem es kein Wasser gibt" or "ohne Wasser mitzunehmen", whichever applies.

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    Well, to me it is obvious that you bring water just for dringking to the gym, so ohne Wasser ins Fitnessstudio zu fahren sounds fine to me.
    – Christian Graf
    Commented Jan 8, 2014 at 8:04
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    I totally agree on the ambiguity. I had to read the sentence twice and still didn't understand the intention. However, "...in dem es kein Wasser gibt" still can be ambiguous. You might be talking about showers.
    – Em1
    Commented Jan 8, 2014 at 8:39
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    @Em1: My first idea was also that he was expecting a pool or something in the gym. Only the second sentence makes clear that this is not the meaning.
    – PMF
    Commented Jan 8, 2014 at 9:13

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