When would a person use the word родня? I know its literal meaning is relative but what does it loosely translate to in English in its contextual meaning?
1
-
1Is not it an analogue of English word kin? Though for me, kin is rather outdated and pompous, while родня has low speech register (не могу перевести слово просторечный).– se0808Jul 11, 2015 at 19:25
Add a comment
|
2 Answers
Word родня does not just mean a relative - it refers to an extended group of relatives, essentially all and any people even remotely related to the person in question. A rather close English translation is extended family, however Russian родня has more of a connotation of familiarity. Quite often, it's used to describe the collection of all relatives, e.g. вся родня. For example:
Если вся моя родня будет ей не рада,
Не пеняйте на меня - я уйду из стада.
Another related word is родичи, which is colloquial form of родственники, meaning relatives.
EDIT: Following a comment from Andrey 'lolmaus' Mikhaylov, it's worth adding that word родня may also be used to indicate some (unqualified) relatives (e.g. "Провел выходные с родней") - yet it pretty much always used to refer to a plural relatives rather than one individual relative.
-
Though i agree with this answer, i would like to emphasize that родня can be used as a direct synonym for relatives. "Я провел выходные с родней" = "I spent the weekend with my relatives". This doesn't necessarily mean that there was a clan gathering of two hundred people, it could mean just four people as well. Mar 11, 2014 at 14:58
-
@Andrey'lolmaus'Mikhaylov Agree; my reference to "all and any", I believe, addresses it. Выходные с родней would certainly qualify as weekend with [some/any] relatives. I'll update the answer to add some as an option.– Aleks GMar 11, 2014 at 15:09
-
1I would like to add that "родичи" can sometimes be used by young people to informally refer to their parents, mostly because "родители" sounds a bit too formal and is long to pronounce. E.g. "Родичи на дачу уехали, а брат остался дома." However, "Родня уехала на дачу." implies that the brother went with them.– OlegMar 11, 2014 at 16:19
-
Can it be usd by couples to address each other affectionately meaning darling or sweetheart, etc?– DiviMar 12, 2014 at 2:34
-
@Divi I can't imagine this word being used in such context. First, it always refers to relatives (blood relatives), second, it's not affectionate at all - quite the opposite.– Aleks GMar 12, 2014 at 8:38
You can also say about your relatives/family/dear friends as "they are my Родные/ they are Родные to me". When not used in plural, You can say it as You'd say sweetheart/dear/dearest - "родная" (f) and "родной" (m). For example, 'my sweetheart/my dear' to a woman - "родная my/my родная".
Although, google would translate "native", as in native land/home land - "родная land". But we all know, google translator usually sucks when it comes to context.
I hope this helps.
-
3
-
Thanks I think that answers my question a lot better and as I am new to Russian, this difference of words makes more sense– DiviMar 12, 2014 at 11:45
-
Artemix, yes, I actually wanted to add my suggestion as a comment (and not a separate answer), but it didn't allow due to lack of reputation, so I had to put it as an actual answer. Bottom line, it helped! ;) Mar 12, 2014 at 16:07
-
This answer does not answer the question, it is about a different word.– AnixxMar 17, 2014 at 0:36