In those two phrases: да ну
and ну да
, the key point for understanding their meaning is that ну
means uncertainty applied on the following thing.
Moreover да
in the beginning of a phrase (e.g. да ну
) means not agreement but rather emotional emphasis: да что же это!
= what the hell is going on!?
, да отстань ты
= get off me!
.
So да ну ..
= I have a very strong emotional concerns\uncertainty about ...
(may be strongly negative concerns):
_да_ *ну* тебя
= I have _huge negative_ *concerns* about you
= get off
_да_ *ну* что вы
= I'm _very_ *uncertain* about if you should or should not help me
= very polite form of saying thank you
(typical of 'upper class', even little bit obsolete)
- or just
-Пошли в кино! \ -Да ну!
meaning -Let's go to cinema! \ -No I really don't want to! I think that's not goin' worth it!
But in ну да
, да
means just yes
, so ну
is applied on yes
: ну да
= yes, but I'm not 100% sure about it
(in some cases even meaning that person says yes
meaning no
).
But for some strange reason ну
might also be an emphasis word :) (usually coupled with уж
emphasis) meaning more like 100% this time!
, while да
-emphasis means more like just I am very emotional
. For example,
ну уж нет!
= No!
(with a very slight not now
meaning)
ну уж теперь ты попался
= уж теперь ты попался
= ну теперь ты попался
= now you're caught!
In fact there are plenty of emphasis-words and they also might combine giving totally opposite meaning, so use them wisely :)
The most complicated probably is да нет наверное
that is translated word-by-word as yes no maybe
, but actually means I'm very uncertain, but I guess the answer is no
.