Vocabulary gap: not broken

[pne]

I spoke to Amy on the phone just now and realised another vocabulary gap: I couldn't think of the opposite of broken.

In German, I could have asked, "Ist dein Auto heil oder kaputt?", but in English, I have no word for "Is you car ___ or is it broken?".

dict.leo.org wasn't much help, either; it hardly seemed to know the word "heil", ditto for "heile" (which might be more vernacular, anyway), and "safe" (which it offered) doesn't fit.

There was the phrase "heil und gesund" as a translation of "safe and sound", though; I suppose "sound" does have the meaning "not broken; intact", but it sounds rather formal; not the sort of thing I'd say every day, especially not to a toddler.

Maybe "intact"? Though that sounds a bit high-brow as well.

Has English simply no good, colloquial word for the concept?

Another attempt: how would you finish this sentence? "A wheel broke off my toy car, but then I asked my father to repair the car and now it's ______ again." ("Von meinem Spielzeugauto ist ein Rad abgebrochen, aber dann habe ich meinen Vater gebeten, das Auto zu reparieren/heile zu machen, und jetzt ist es wieder heile.")

And while "fixed" might fit there, that seems to emphasise that the intact state is the result of repairs. How about this, then? "I used to have eight plates, but then three of them fell down and cracked; now I only have five which are still ______." ("Ich hatte mal acht Teller, aber dann sind drei davon heruntergefallen und haben einen Sprung bekommen; jetzt habe ich nur noch fünf, die noch heil sind.")

"In one piece"? Though that doesn't cover situations such as something being bent or scratched in a way that nothing broke off but it's still "broken" in the sense of no longer being usable.

Comments

[kamara.livejournal.com]

"In working order" might be what you're looking for?

If put into the sentence of "Is your car in working order or is it broken?" sounds like what you want. But in the case of the plates then it wouldn't really work. I guess intact works there.

[blech.livejournal.com]

I concur; English demands two seperate words, and my first choice would have been "working" for the car and "intact" for the plates. I'd imagine it's possible to come up with a third example for which neither of those work, just to make things even murkier.

[eridanusus.livejournal.com]

I thought of intact and whole for the plates, I'd probably use whole with a toddler because intact is sort of smarter sounding. There's "good", but that's such a wishywashy word it can mean almost anythng.

Bah, I don't know if this makes sense.

[kait-the-great.livejournal.com]

I think "intact" is fine for the plates (which are still in their original state) and "fixed" for the result of repairs.

But it's tricky! English sucks.

As for the "Is your car ___ or is it broken?", where "intact" has too strong a connotation with "not being in pieces"... maybe just "OK", "still running", or maybe "fine".

In fact, "fine" works in both the latter situations to me, as long as it is offered as the opposite to a broken state. Without the context of "it's not broken; it's fine", fine carries a "OK but not perfect" meaning.

"How are you?" "Fine" - I would say means you could be better.

"I heard you hurt your ankle!" "Oh it's fine now" - means you are all better.

[darth-spacey.livejournal.com]

I'd happily use "okay" in all your gaps, but that might be a British thing.

[pleiades829.livejournal.com]

That's what I was going to post! I'm American, for what it's worth.

[elgrande.livejournal.com]

Does "whole" fit?

[node-ue.livejournal.com]

I would say "not broken" or "okay".

[jpallan.livejournal.com]

You so need a thesaurus.

Whole, entire, complete, unbroken, undamage, unimpaired, faultless, flawless, unscathed, untouched, unspoiled, unblemished, unmarked, perfect, pristine, inviolate, undefiled, unsullied, virgin, in one piece, sound, solid.

I would go for "OK" here but that's American English.

[alsatia.livejournal.com]

In the car example, I'd have said "working", "running", "usable" or "functional". I don't think we tend to concern ourself with the opposite of broken that much though...we assume things are as they should be, and only ask about things that are out of the norm. So the question would just be "Is your car broken?" and the answer is either yes or no, possibly with elaboration from the answerer.

[arthur-sc-king.livejournal.com]

"OK" works for all cases, including Canadian, but is definitely colloquial.

"Heil" reminds me of the English word "hale", which connotes both "whole" and "healthy" (often used in the phrase "hale and hearty"). But it's little-used, almost archaic now, and is most often used in reference to people. ("Bob had cancer two years ago, but he's so hale and hearty now you wouldn't believe it.")

For the car, one would often use the word "fixed", even though its pre-damaged state wasn't really "fixed". For the plates, "intact" or "whole" or "OK" are the only common words I can think of.

"Sound" would also work in all cases, but it's less-used. It might be more common in British English, but in North America it might sound a bit like an affectation, depending on your audience.

[lexabear.livejournal.com]

"OK" works like others have said, but the first word to come to mind is "good" (again, informal/colloquial). "I still have five plates that are good" sounds natural.

[nik-w.livejournal.com]

I'd stick "okay" in each of the examples :)

[nyssa.livejournal.com]

In the case of the plates, I'd say "whole". But generally, you could say "okay"? Is your car okay, or is it broken? Is it functional? Operational? Running? You could say "Is your car running, or is it broken?", even though technically running would insinuate that it's actually on.

My vote goes to "okay" as being the catchall opposite of "broken".

[nyssa.livejournal.com]

Looks like I should read the previous comments before posting! :P

[lnbw.livejournal.com]

For the sake of more data points:

"Is you car working or is it broken?"
"A wheel broke off my toy car, but then I asked my father to repair the car and now it's fine again." (I could also put "okay" here, but the two sentences read slightly differently -- "now it's okay again" to me implies that it wasn't a good choice before it broke, and it still isn't now, but it's useable.)
"I used to have eight plates, but then three of them fell down and cracked; now I only have five which are still intact." (If the three were broken, rather than just cracked, I would use "whole.")

[wingflutter.livejournal.com]

my initial reaction was to say 'fixed' but then i read the rest of the post! :)

living in england, i would say that seeing as how nothing actually works properly here, the english never bothered to invent a word with that meaning. as others have said, i'd vote for OK as the best option in this case. But it still doesn't exactly say what you want it to, does it?