Russian Language Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for students, teachers, and linguists wanting to discuss the finer points of the Russian language. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
Вчера я отдал свою швейную машинку. Предупредил женщину, которой я ее дал, что она очень тяжела. Она ответила, что «Своя ноша не тяжела». Как это понимать? Она объяснила эту пословицу, но я её не понял.
Yesterday I gave my sewing machine away. I warned the lady I gave it to that it was heavy. She answered, "Своя ноша не тяжела". How to understand that phrase? She tried to explain it to me but I didn't understand.
Своя ноша не тяжела или Своя ноша не тянет.
This is a proverb that means "What is done for yourself is not hard". Even if it is really a hard job. Just to add the English equivalent
"A burden of one's own choice is not felt".
Она ответила, что »Своя ноша не тяжела«you did two mistakes. First, quotes are used in Russian in the opposite way:«Своя ноша не тяжела»(you exchanged opening and closing quotes). Second,свояshould start with lowercase letter. In Russian, capital letters are used more frugally. "Я" should also be lowercase (unless it is the first word in a sentence). If a native Russian speaker writes "Я" in capital, he or she may be viewed as a pompous ass. – user31264 Apr 15 '17 at 18:26