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Google Translate identifies, находимся, as the English word, are. Is this true? If it is, then when are you supposed to use it? I thought Russians don't have words such as: is, are, and am.

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    Находиться (infinitive) means to be located in/at, and hence can be substituted with are in speech.
    – Aleks G
    Apr 23, 2015 at 20:55
  • It means situated, located
    – Anixx
    Apr 23, 2015 at 21:23
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    This just shows how terrible translation services like Google Translate are. They are easily misused or misunderstood by someone who does not understand well both languages involved in the translation. I wonder how often language teachers have to deal with students submitting homework filled with crap generated by Google Translate.
    – KCd
    Apr 24, 2015 at 0:34

2 Answers 2

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Находиться - to be located somewhere. As I see, it really have to be translated as are, but it can also be skipped in Russian in such sentences.

Мы [находимся] на улице.
We are [located] on the street.

Мы находились/были на улице.
We were [located] on the street.

Сейчас он находится в Москве. / Он сейчас в Москве.
He is in Moscow now.


Be careful with находить = find and находиться = to be somewhere. Also there is a verb найтись.

Он куда-то пропал и нашёлся только через 2 дня.
He disappeared somewhere and had been found after 2 days.

This case is used with past time and seems that they are never used in present. At least I can't remember any such example now.


In fact there is a case when найтись is about mind, not about location:

Он был запутан, но быстро нашёлся. / Он был запутан, но быстро сориентировался.
He was confused, but quickly dealt with it.

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    The last example about perfective form "найтись".
    – Matt
    Apr 24, 2015 at 4:34
  • @user4419802, I've updated the answer.
    – Qwertiy
    Apr 24, 2015 at 7:00
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    There is an example for находить = find in present: Ищу ответ на вопрос в гугле, но ничего не находится (Ищу ответ на вопрос в гугле, но ничего не нахожу) - I'm googling for an answer to my question but can't find anything Jun 12, 2021 at 21:34
  • @RomanKonoval, nice catch.
    – Qwertiy
    Jun 13, 2021 at 1:06
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Russian verb can be made reflexive by suffixing -ся (возвратная частица), a short form of the reflexive себя. This verb form will often be translated by a passive in English, e.g.

читается     it is being read (literally: it is reading itself)
  находим следующий результат 
  we find the following result    
    └────┘
  среди действительных чисел находится число, которое ... 
  among the real numbers there is (finds itself) a number which ... 
                                  └────────────┘
  if you know whereabouts in it we are now
  если бы вы хоть приблизительно представляли, в каком месте мы находимся

  just above where we are standing
  чуть повыше того места, где находимся мы

  he and I have been on strained relations
  мы с ним находимся в натянутых отношениях

  We had been so busy satisfying our hunger that 
  hitherto we had not found time to look about us.
  Поглощенные едой, мы не обратили внимания на то, где находимся.

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