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2 votes
1 answer
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Can the verb "прозябать" actually be perfectivized?

I recently came across the verb прозябать in a book. Its meaning is one of eking out an existence in the sense of enduring hardship and suffering instead of truly living. This, to me, is an ongoing ...
CocoPop's user avatar
  • 8,058
6 votes
3 answers
296 views

Is the instrumental case used for comparatives?

I'm watching the 1987 James Bond movie, The Living Daylights, with Russian subtitles. In the scene where Bond first spots the main female character, he says, in English: "Sniper. Two floors up, ...
olejhar's user avatar
  • 63
3 votes
1 answer
79 views

Пунктуация в предложениях по типу "Ну сколько их там(?) 5–6?" и ему подобных

Уважаемые пользователи. Имеется предложение "Ну сколько DVD-дисков покупает в среднем человек за названный период(?) 5–6?", вводящее меня в заблуждение: не знаю, какой знак препинания ...
čevabčiči's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
248 views

Why are there two н's in «c мороженной формой» and not just one?

Из-под сена виднелись: самовар, кадка с мороженной формой и ещё кой-какие привлекательные узелки и коробочки. Why is there a double -нн- in the word „мороженной“? And, more importantly, what rule is ...
Alexander's user avatar
  • 1,119
8 votes
4 answers
1k views

What's the purpose of своё in this sentence?

Here's a sentence from my book: Покрытые злобными колючками ежевичные плети изгибались над отжившими своё зарослями папоротника. Why is своё in this sentence and why does it have this specific ...
Colossians's user avatar
6 votes
3 answers
694 views

Will an animate Russian noun still remain animate if used to denote an inanimate object?

This may be a strange question for someone who's fluent in Russian, but we were never taught it in school, and I realized I have a problem. I'm not sure which variant to use. So I decided to ask my ...
Alexander's user avatar
  • 1,119
9 votes
2 answers
1k views

To say "my brother and sister," do I use мои because it's two of them or one each of моя and мой?

I'm studying Russian from a grammar for Italians. Here's one sentence from an exercise, with slots to insert possessives: Это моя семья. Вот ___ папа и ___ мама, а это ___ брат и сестра. I'm pretty ...
Enlico's user avatar
  • 250
2 votes
1 answer
77 views

Identifying Sources of Examples in Dahl's Russian Dictionary

Dahl gives two examples of a usage, now surely extinct, of the word фамилия to refer to one's wife, and at least one of them is surely from some novel or the like. Does anyone have any idea of where ...
Attila the Pun's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
72 views

«Внезапно сверкнула молния(,) и грянул гром». Do we need the comma?

Внезапно сверкнула молния(,) и грянул гром. I suppose this is a random sentence from a dictation exercise for Russian pupils to take down. The teacher decided not to indicate any punctuation marks ...
Alexander's user avatar
  • 1,119
4 votes
1 answer
157 views

Is it true that in Russian, one can never enclose anything written in Latin script between quotation marks?

Кавычки нужны для того, чтобы что-то выделить. А всё, что написано латиницей, в русском языке и так уже является выделительным. Поэтому закавычивать написанное латиницей запрещено. I've heard this ...
Alexander's user avatar
  • 1,119
1 vote
2 answers
115 views

Есть ли специальный термин для обозначения советского канцелярита?

Есть ли специальный термин для обозначения советского канцелярита? Который отличается от дореволюционного обилием плеоназмов и дефисов Пример: "формирование высоких профессиональных, морально-...
pacodelavega's user avatar
-2 votes
0 answers
28 views

How do you ask "How are you?" in Russian? [duplicate]

Which one is correct in order to ask the above question: "Как вас дела?" or "Как ваши дела?"? If they're both correct, what's the difference?
MARIA ZERVOU's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
57 views

Сноситься / связаться

While reading a Russian language resource published in 1950, I noticed that сноситься/ снестись was translated as "to get in contact with." After reviewing some online dictionaries, I ...
the_darkside's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
842 views

What does в сложн. сл. mean in Russian dictionary?

What does в сложн. сл. mean in below screenshot (highlighted with red rectangle)? Source
Jack Chung's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
158 views

Is the Russian expression "мне до ней далеко" grammatical?

Is the Russian expression "мне до ней далеко" grammatical? And if so, what is this phenomenon called?
Anixx's user avatar
  • 14.4k
12 votes
3 answers
1k views

Distinguishing between "effectiveness" and "efficiency" in Russian

The Russian translation for "effectiveness" seems to be "эффективность", a word that sounds pretty similar to "effectiveness" and also initially would seem to be able to ...
Max's user avatar
  • 121
1 vote
2 answers
142 views

How do you abbreviate the word "рубль" and its derived forms "рубля" and "рублей"?

Let me express my own personal opinion. To my mind, words such as рубль, рубля, рублей must be abbreviated as рубл. Of course, I'll provide a link to the respective rule. При стечении двух одинаковых ...
Alexander's user avatar
  • 1,119
1 vote
3 answers
163 views

Is the sentence "Лошадь, которая плохо везёт, нужно бить" grammatically correct?

Лошадь, которая плохо везёт, нужно бить. Is this good Russian? Is the sentence grammatically correct? Why yes or why no?
Alexander's user avatar
  • 1,119
1 vote
1 answer
110 views

What does м ж.-д. stands for in the screenshot below?

What does the м ж.-д. stand for in the screenshot below? Source: brks.info
Jack's user avatar
  • 13
2 votes
2 answers
209 views

What's the Russian equivalent of "This song slaps!"?

What would be Russian slang equivalent of "This song slaps!" in the sense that it's excellent, really cool, fire? The word "slap" for us native English speakers brings to mind the ...
AMDG's user avatar
  • 123
3 votes
1 answer
110 views

Is there an equivalent of the Harvard sentences for Russian?

The Harvard sentences (Wikipedia, full list of sentences) are a set of English sentences that: Are phonetically balanced in the sense that the phonemes that are used in the sentences appear at the ...
Emily's user avatar
  • 133
5 votes
1 answer
1k views

2 x 2 = 4 or 2 + 2 = 4 as an evident fact?

In Tolstoy's Исповедь one reads : Истина эта была всегда истина, как 2 × 2 = 4, но я не признавал ее, потому что, признав 2 × 2 = 4, я бы должен был признать то, что я нехорош. 2 x 2 = 4 is ...
Bruno's user avatar
  • 87
2 votes
1 answer
129 views

What is "ского" at the end of the name of a city?

In Пикник на обочине, the city of Harmont is introduced and it is written as Хармонтского. After a couple of days of practicing the Russian alphabet, it was easy to decipher the "Kharmont" ...
toraritte's user avatar
  • 123
1 vote
1 answer
182 views

What is the Russian equivalent of 'perfect is as perfect does'?

I've encountered this saying multiple times in English, but even though I'm a native Russian speaker, I can't find an exact equivalent of this saying in Russian. Perhaps someone here knows?
Rusurano's user avatar
  • 213
1 vote
5 answers
243 views

Asking the time

I read this phrase in a Russian book: "Сколько время?" Is this correct? I thought it was "Сколько времени?".
MARIA ZERVOU's user avatar
5 votes
4 answers
299 views

Pronouns with transitive verbs

First, a few examples. The following excerpts are taken from "Brothers Karamazov" by Dostoevsky: Page 22: Не плачь, Григорий, ступай к Марфе, она утешит, спать уложит. "she will ...
Sam's user avatar
  • 432
3 votes
3 answers
213 views

How pleonastic is "эту работу выполним целиком и полностью"?

... до конца года мы эту работу выполним целиком и полностью ... do kontsa goda my etu rabotu vypolnim tselikom i polnost'yu I understand what this means from closed captions, google translate and a ...
vectory's user avatar
  • 133
1 vote
4 answers
236 views

What's an appropriate Russian noun or verb for "representation"?

There exist some people who have difficulty learning the Python programming language and some people who do not have such difficulties. When teaching students, it's useful to explain that the Python ...
Samuel Muldoon's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
245 views

What is the difference semantically between речь and выступление?

I believe both речь and выступление can have the same shade of meaning that the word "speech" does in English (not as in an utterance, but as in a formal address you give before an audience)....
johnna_nyet's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
146 views

How would you render the phrase, "the symbol for the suit of spades in a deck of playing cards" in Russian?

How would you write: ♠ "This is the symbol for spades in a deck of playing cards" The following is not a very good translation: ♠ Это символ пики в колоде игральных карт.
Samuel Muldoon's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
217 views

Is the sentence „Птицы не любят такого леса“ grammatically correct, and why?

Несмотря на тишину и покой, птицы не любят такого леса и предпочитают держаться в молодых зарослях. link (Mamin-Sibiryak) Despite being a Russian speaker myself, I have some trouble with the ...
Alexander's user avatar
  • 1,119
0 votes
2 answers
89 views

Rules for dash between subject and predicate when the predicate is an adjective

I'm a native Russian speaker, but I'm a little ashamed that I don't quite know the rules for when I need to use a dash. Let's consider a very simple sentence: Маша (—) умная и красивая. Do we need a ...
Alexander's user avatar
  • 1,119
2 votes
2 answers
154 views

Как правильно указать на счеты во множественном числе?

Канцелярских счёт или канцелярских счётов? Как правильно в родительном падеже?
Грузчик's user avatar
11 votes
4 answers
2k views

What's the difference between "последний" and "прошлый"?

I don't see the difference between "последний" and "прошлый". For both words, I find definitions like "last", "past", "latest", and "recent"....
dsamky's user avatar
  • 113
0 votes
2 answers
168 views

Is разговор in fact раз + говорить because a conversation is like a repeated/iterative/continuous act of speaking?

Take the three chunks of text below: One time. Speak. A conversation. They can be translated as Один раз. Говорить. Разговор. So I can't help but notice that pазговор- looks and sounds like a ...
Enlico's user avatar
  • 250
1 vote
0 answers
40 views

Когда/Почему используется глагол «быть» в прошедшем времени с другим прошедшим глаголом? [duplicate]

Я четаю книгу Пелевина «Омон Ра» и несколько раз видел такую конструкцию, типа: [...] я положил было руку на трубку, но вспомнил, что уже заткнул уши ватой; Почему используется здесь «было», то есть,...
Hydrolox's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
119 views

палёнка = pálenka?

Недавно я наткнулся в чешском языке на слово "pálenka" - это такое фруктовое бренди. Первая ассоциация, пришедшая на ум - слово "палёнка" (алкоголь низкого качества). Это может ...
Paul's user avatar
  • 277
5 votes
5 answers
302 views

"Eдинственная, кто поддержалa его" or "eдинственная, кто поддержал его"

Consider the two following phrases: она единственная, кто поддержалa его она единственная, кто поддержал его Which one is correct according to official rules (whatever we mean by official. Let's say ...
shabunc's user avatar
  • 37.8k
9 votes
6 answers
2k views

Why can "через неделю" mean "через 14 дней" depending on the context?

Context : We have math class every Thursday. The teacher said, "...в следущий четверг у нас не будет контрольной... ...будет через неделю" To me "через неделю"(1) means in seven ...
Maroon Racoon's user avatar
2 votes
5 answers
254 views

When do you use со мной in the accusative case?

I found that sometimes in the Russian language, people use the dative case in the accusative case. Here is an example: как ты мог так поступить со мной? How could you do this to me? Here they used the ...
Just an idiot 's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
91 views

чего-то невозможного

Here is a sentence from Семейное счастие by Tolstoy: Неужели и у тебя не примешивается какая-то тоска к наслаждению природой, как будто хочется чего-то невозможного и жаль чего-то прошедшего. In all ...
Bruno's user avatar
  • 87
-4 votes
1 answer
135 views

Какое слово используют русские математики для логического следования?

Мой русский очень плохого качества. Пожалуйста, вернитесь к результатам поиска, если вы хотите читать только качественные вопросы и просто не отвечаете на вопросы, которые вам не нравятся. Для тех, ...
Samuel Muldoon's user avatar
8 votes
4 answers
2k views

What is the Russian word for the color "teal"?

teal is an aristocratic English word for the color shown below. Most people whose parents owned only zero or one residential properties (like my parents) and who were fluent in English before they ...
Samuel Muldoon's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
116 views

How would the word "облако-кочевник" look in the accusative plural?

облако-кочевник I want to put this word in the accusative plural. If I want to use correct Russian grammar, how would it look and sound and why? Which rule applies? Here's the song. https://www....
Alexander's user avatar
  • 1,119
2 votes
3 answers
118 views

What kind of word is this? "случи́вшемся"

Grammatically and morphologically speaking, what kind of word is this? "случи́вшемся" in the following sentence: Поговори́ с сы́ном о случи́вшемся. ChatGPT says: The word "случи́вшемся&...
Isa's user avatar
  • 453
5 votes
2 answers
173 views

Use of instrumental and nominative cases with "быть" and "стать"

I was practicing my Russian with a friend when she wrote the following: "когда я пришёл на фестиваль, народу было не очень много, но позже очереди за едой стали слишком длинные." In this ...
Rivi's user avatar
  • 51
1 vote
1 answer
107 views

"я цирюльник-с" and "помните-с?" from Anton Chekhov's "В бане"... what is that -c? [duplicate]

Love Anton Chekhov. In his story "В бане" a character says: "— Я, ваше высокородие, не банщик, я цирюльник-с." "Помните-с? Тогда же вы изволили меня насчет невест ...
pilothale's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
206 views

How to keep on track with large numerals

To be entirely frank, I'm a native speaker, but for the overwhelming majority of my day I only use English, and my Russian has started to wane. My job requires me to cycle through a couple of ...
BlasphemousBanana's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
70 views

Declension of cвитер [duplicate]

While studying I encountered this word 'cвитер' and then I wondered why there were two forms of the plural for all the declensions. Does anyone know if this is from the old or the new orthography, ...
aitía's user avatar
  • 181
2 votes
1 answer
83 views

Old orthography всѣ, все, всё and издалека vs издалёка

It's redundant to write the two dots above the е in the word все in old orthography (because when it isnt a ё sound, ѣ is written), so why do some old russian bibles do it still? Some places they ...
Lancetier's user avatar

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