I need your help with the place of "the third time"

[michaelwwww]

Dear everyone,

I am not a native English speaker and would like to know whether the meaning of "The third time Jesus said to Peter xxx" is the same as "Jesus said to Peter the third time XXX'". I am wondering whether the gammar demands that the content of the third saying is the same as the first two. Could any one help me?

Thanks!
Michael

[Daniel]

Welcome Michael!

Administrative point: I'm very sorry, but the spam filter caught your account, because it followed patterns similar to recent waves of spammers. You didn't do anything wrong, but can you please sign up again? I'll make sure your account remains active this time.

Short answer to your question: they mean the same thing. Longer answer: there may be a subtle distinction in emphasis between the two variants, but it's hard to determine that without context. Regardless, the difference would be small.

(Of course it's possible that Jesus said to Peter: "The third time you did this...", etc., that "the third time" would be part of what was said, rather than the third time saying it, but that's a very different meaning of course.)