What is "I almost forgot" in Japanese? (Can't be directly translated)

Today's post is an entry in the "Can't Be Directly Translated" series.

Have you ever translated "I almost forgot" as "hotondo wasureta"? This is actually incorrect because "hotondo wasureta" means something different.

Oboeta kanji o hotondo wasureta: I forgot almost all of the kanji I had remembered.

Oboeta kanji o zenbu wasureta: I forgot all pf the kanji I had remembered.

When "hotondo" used in relation to amounts or counts, if "zenbu" is 100%, then "hotondo" works out to about 80%. However "I almost forgot" isn't referring to the number of kanji forgotten, right? "I was very close to the point of forgetting (something)." Using "sou" would be a appropriate to express the idea that something is (was) nearly happening.

Recall these sentences that you might have seen in a textbook.

Ame ga furisou desu: There is a chance of rain from now.

Ame ga furisou datta: There was a chance of rain. However, it didn't rain.

I was very close to the point of forgetting something, but I remembered it at the last moment. This situation is exactly the same as "-sou datta" and "I almost forgot" can be translated as "wasuresou datta."

With that, let's consider the following sentence:

"Kanojo wa taoresou datta."

What kind of situation is this referring to?

It looks like she doesn't feel well and is lightheaded. Perhaps she might even collapse at any moment. So, we'd say "kanojo wa taoresou desu" (She has nearly fainted.)

However, let's say she had some water, sat down, and ultimately, didn't collapse. In this case, you'd say

"Kanojo wa taoresou datta."

This means there was a chance that she would collapse, but that she didn't.

I'll list a few more examples, so for each one, please try to imagine what's happening:

Kousaten de nidai no kuruma ga butsukarisou datta. 

Kushami ga desou datta kedo, gaman shita.

Kare wa umi de oboresou ni natta. (You can use "-sou ni naru" too.)

Taorete, shinisou datta.

The last one is an exaggerated way of speaking, but the expression is used fairly often.