I have read a number of constructions such as моей жене скучно слушать музыку and вам трудно понимать русскую прессу? They all seem to have the form dative adverb infinitive. Are there only certain infinitives which can have this construction e.g. смотреть, говорить, читать
1 Answer
No, any infinitive can accept object in Dative just like the English construction
It's + adverb + for me + infinitive
The construction just means that doing something for you (or anyone denoted by a (pro)noun in Dative) has the quality expressed by the adverb. E.g.
It'shardfor meto agree - Мне тяжело согласиться
It'sembarrassingfor themto admit - Им стыдно признаться
It'stoo latefor himto change - Ему слишком поздно меняться
answered May 11, 2019 at 12:35
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Instead of вам трудно понимать русскую прессу? could you write Вы трудно понимаете русскую прессу? Which is the more common way? Commented May 12, 2019 at 15:10
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@Bob Daley as a question the 1st variant is the idiomatic one, the 2nd one rephrased as Вы с трудом понимаете русскую прессу sounds much more natural as a positive statement, however yet more appropriate phrasing for a question would be Трудно ли вам понимать русскую прессу? because thanks to the particle ли you don't need to apply intonation too much to make it sound like a question Commented May 12, 2019 at 16:55