How should I translate “It was the most horrible time of my life”?


Using Weblio, I can go through the words and get some ideas on how to
translate this sentence:

[It](https://ejje.weblio.jp/content/it): それは. I have spent enough time with
Japanese sentences to know that I can just omit it and still be understood.

[Was](https://ejje.weblio.jp/content/was): でありました, であった，でした, だった, いた，あった, and
a few others that I may have missed. Since this sentence is in writing, I’m
trying to be polite, and the sentence has the basic sense of “X = Y”, I should
probably pick でありました.

[The most](https://ejje.weblio.jp/content/most): 最も, 一番. I’m picking 最も,
because it modifies an adjective.

[Horrible](https://ejje.weblio.jp/content/horrible): ぞっとするほどいやな, 実にひどい, 残酷な. I
think “horrible” is being used in the “very bad” sense here, so I think 実にひどい
would be a good choice.

[Time](https://ejje.weblio.jp/content/time): 時，時間, 時の経過，歳月. I’m picking 時間,
because “time” in this sentence refers to a period of time.

[Of](https://ejje.weblio.jp/content/of): I know there are a lot of ways to
translate “of” into Japanese, but I think の might be my best bet.

[My](https://ejje.weblio.jp/content/my): 私の. I think I can omit this and still
be understood.

[Life](https://ejje.weblio.jp/content/life): 人生. That page is loaded with
different terms that could be translated as “life”. Still, I have seen
examples similar to the sentence I’m trying to translate, and they indicate
that I should pick 人生.

Based on all this, I think “It was the most horrible time of my life” can be
translated as 人生の最も実にひどい時間でありました.

Is this a good translation? If it isn’t, how should I translate it?




I think it is not bad, but it would be changed to more natural sentence,

"the most horrible" can be translated as 最悪. If you refer to "long time", you
should use a word 時期. I interpret 時間 as "short time". 時 is used in either the
meanings. And you can omit の in 人性の as well as 私の. I feel ありました is a bit more
stiff than でした.

So I rephrase your translation as 人生最悪の時期(時)でした.




I think it is not bad, but it would be changed to more natural sentence,

"the most horrible" can be translated as 最悪. If you refer to "long time", you
should use a word 時期. I interpret 時間 as "short time". 時 is used in either the
meanings. And you can omit の in 人性の as well as 私の. I feel ありました is a bit more
stiff than でした.

So I rephrase your translation as 人生最悪の時期(時)でした.

