He said to them (so most translations) is literally “but he said to them.”

Throw your net out on the right side of the boat is similar to most translations. New English Bible has Jesus using the technical language of an English seaman: “Shoot the net to starboard.”

The Greek word translated boat in this verse is the same one used in verse 3. It is different from the one used in verse 8, but the two words should be considered as synonymous.

In Greek the verb you will catch does not have an expressed object, but one must be supplied translationally. Good News Translation reflects most other translations, but Phillips has “you’ll have a catch,” and New English Bible “you will make a catch.” In some languages the equivalent expression would be “you will net some fish” or “you will catch some fish in your net.”

So they threw the net out is literally “therefore (oun) they threw,” but English requires an object, though the Greek obviously does not require it. The Greek term translated net is a very general one, applicable to various kinds of nets. In this context the net was probably a circular net with small weights around the edge. Such nets are still used in many parts of the world. They … could not pull it back in must be rendered in some languages as “they could not pull the net and fish back into the boat” or “… up into the boat.”

Because they had caught so many fish translates a noun phrase in Greek (literally “from the number of the fish”). Since the fish were still in the water, it may be necessary to say in some languages “because they had netted so many fish” or “because there were so many fish in the net.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .