3

From what I understand, чем is used for the instrumental case and чём is for the prepositional case. I have listened to an audio recording of both and they were pronounced the same way. Is that true? I thought they were pronounced chyem and chyom respectively.

No, I do not have access to a native speaker, nor will I ever have access, so please don't ask. Thank you.

Improve this question
4
  • Can you provide the text that was recoded? I cannot imagine them being pronounced the same way; maybe it was чем/чём in both of the cases in the text?
    – Anton Poznyakovskiy
    Feb 27, 2016 at 19:51
  • @AntonPoznyakovskiy Hopefully no one shames me for this, but I listened to google translate. Not a good source, but just about the only one I have. I entered "with what" in hopes it would use the correct form, but it most likely did not. Wasn't sure though.
    – casey
    Feb 27, 2016 at 19:59
  • 1
    We have a number of posts about letter Ё here: russian.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/… I think you might find them useful.
    – Artemix
    Feb 29, 2016 at 12:01
  • @Artemix Yes I was confused by the audio clips I heard and their being the same. I think it was because it thought I was typing чём without the dots above the е. Thanks for the reply!
    – casey
    Feb 29, 2016 at 12:06

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
6

For some reason, Google translate pronounces an isolated чем or с чем (with е, not ё) as чём. This is definitely incorrect. The phrase "Лучше поздно, чем никогда", however, is pronounced correctly.

Improve this answer
1
  • Thanks for clearing that up. I always thought twice about using GT, but now I will think thrice haha.
    – casey
    Feb 27, 2016 at 20:16
1

oh, there is a problem with a letter 'ё' somebody trys to erase that letter from russian alphabet and history, and there was a rumor about try to make any law to change ё on е. but anyway, this is a different sounds, and letters too. чем and чём is two diffent words. о чём ты говоришь? what do you talking about? a subject чем ты это докажешь? how will you prove that? a property

Improve this answer
5
  • Yeah I tried to enter in the translate "с чем" so that it would see I'm using the instrumental and not prepositional, but it didn't recognize it :/
    – casey
    Feb 28, 2016 at 21:09
  • с чем - is : with what? and you can't use " с чём ", because of difference in sounds : е sounds like " и - е "
    – user6861
    Feb 28, 2016 at 21:20
  • yes that's why I tried to use "с" was to make it recognize the case :)
    – casey
    Feb 28, 2016 at 21:22
  • с чем - is : with what? and you can't use " с чём ", because of difference in sounds : е is sounds like " и - е " , and ё is sounds like " й - о ". and also google speaker system displays these sounds differently, in 1st case almoust right, in 2nd case totally incorrect ( it's when you hear them as the same ), and it depends on what order words will appear, with ё first, or with е first. so should try it by yourself to see.
    – user6861
    Feb 28, 2016 at 21:30
  • 1
    and yes - you've made it right! smart move! now I see))
    – user6861
    Feb 28, 2016 at 21:41

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.