6743
I found a few examples at ALC, but still not sure about the best way to say
it.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-09-02T02:06:11.657
6676
2012-09-20T13:37:41.840
399
question
words translation set-phrases
How to say "Little did I/he/she/they know"?
For example, the most natural way of translating this expression

> One day Jennifer tidied up her son's bedroom. Little did she know her son
> would be so mad when he found that out.

can be rephrased simply as follows:

> One day Jennifer tidied up her son's bedroom. She did not know her son would
> be so mad when he found that out.

Basically it is a fancier way of saying ～ことをまったく知らなかった where ～ is the
statement that follows the expression.

I find the most natural way of translating this is to write
彼女は（息子が怒り出す）とは思わなかった, to show that the person was kind of caught off guard by
what happened.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-09-09T19:35:00.807
6743
2012-09-20T13:37:41.840
2012-09-20T13:37:41.840
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answer