Questions tagged [выбор-слова]
Questions about the difference in meaning or usage between two or more words.
394
questions
2
votes
1
answer
220
views
How to say the difference between two things
How would one say "The difference between [object A] and [object B] is..." in Russian?
For instance, I might want to ask "Do you know the difference between chinos and jeans?". A ...
- 8,265
0
votes
1
answer
65
views
Different ways to ask [duplicate]
There appear to be three different words in Russian for the English word 'to ask': спрашивать, просить, and задавать. Are these synonyms, and if not, how are they different?
24
votes
6
answers
3k
views
What's the difference between -либо and -нибудь?
The pairs кто-нибудь and кто-либо, когда-нибудь and когда-либо etc. have slight differences in meaning and each particle is used in specific settings, but I can't quite pinpoint what the difference is....
- 8,265
14
votes
3
answers
4k
views
Difference between "использовать" and "пользоваться"
I know that the verb to use can be translated into Russian as использовать (with the accusative) or пользоваться (with the instrumental).
I wanted to ask if there's a difference in meaning/usage ...
- 8,265
8
votes
2
answers
21k
views
Расселина и расщелина - в чем разница?
Рас..елина в леднике. - что надо использовать? Есть ли смысловая разница?
- 1
8
votes
8
answers
6k
views
What's the difference between "благодарю" and "спасибо"?
I rarely hear благодарю, so I was wondering under what circumstances would one use it as an expression of gratitude? Are благодарю and спасибо interchangeable?
- 8,265
10
votes
4
answers
8k
views
Difference between "девушка", "девочка" and "подруга"
So, if I remember correctly, "девушка" can refer to both "girl" (of any age) or "girlfriend" (I'm not entirely sure of this, so feel free to call me out). But what about '...
- 8,265
9
votes
4
answers
575
views
What's the difference between низ and дно?
I understand both низ and дно mean bottom, but what is the difference between them in terms of usage? Is it simply that дно additionally or exclusively carries the meaning of bottom surface?
- 8,265
13
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Distinguishing between "effectiveness" and "efficiency" in Russian
The Russian translation for "effectiveness" seems to be "эффективность", a word that sounds pretty similar to "effectiveness" and also initially would seem to be able to ...
- 8,265
10
votes
3
answers
969
views
Why did Microsoft choose "Пуск" for the Windows start button?
The translation of the Windows Start button's name has always looked weird to me.
In Russian, Пуск is usually used as a launch command in the context of missile launching. It can be used to denote the ...
- 8,265
3
votes
4
answers
580
views
С днём рождения или с днем рождения?
I remember from a Russian expression book that it was:
С днём рождения
I've seen my friends from Russia write that on each others Facebook pages on birthdays.
However, I recently saw:
с днем ...
- 8,265
6
votes
2
answers
462
views
What's the difference between "Ива́нович" and "Ивано́в"?
Are both Ива́нович and Ивано́в derived from the given name Ива́н (Ivan)? Ивано́в is a surname, how about Ива́нович?
- 8,265
3
votes
3
answers
218
views
How pleonastic is "эту работу выполним целиком и полностью"?
... до конца года мы эту работу выполним целиком и полностью
... do kontsa goda my etu rabotu vypolnim tselikom i polnost'yu
I understand what this means from closed captions, google translate and a ...
- 8,265
13
votes
4
answers
2k
views
Speed and Velocity in Russian
In physics, we use the English terms speed and velocity differently:
Speed is a number (magnitude).
Velocity is a vector (magnitude and direction).
In English, this is a tradition that spans more ...
- 16.1k
8
votes
4
answers
2k
views
What is the Russian word for the color "teal"?
teal is an aristocratic English word for the color shown below.
Most people whose parents owned only zero or one residential properties (like my parents) and who were fluent in English before they ...
- 8,265
11
votes
4
answers
340
views
радиус-вектор vs. вектор-строка
Yesterday I came across the term радиус-вектор in physics, which surprised me because the order of the two parts is reversed by comparison with the terms вектор-строка and вектор-столбец in linear ...
- 8,265
15
votes
3
answers
5k
views
What's the difference between помнить and вспомнить?
Looking помнить and вспомнить up in a dictionary yields the same results. Is there any difference between them?
- 8,265
1
vote
2
answers
90
views
What is the difference between приводиться and доводиться
I have to admit I haven't been wildly successful in bouncing between Wiktionary, Yandex, and ChatGPT in my attempt to nail down certain words. Wiktionary lists these two terms with nearly identical ...
- 8,265
7
votes
3
answers
16k
views
"Следующий понедельник", "следующий четверг"
Согласно толковому словарю Ушакова, смысл слова "следующий":
ближайший по очереди, первый из долженствующих появиться
Тем не менее, если мы говорим о днях недели, то мы скорее используем ...
- 1
-1
votes
1
answer
176
views
Difference between "Я бы хотел..." and "Прошу вас"
What construction would you use when writting a letter to a bank or your boss, asking for something
Я бы хотел попросить вас сделать что-то...
Прошу вас сделать что-то...
Я бы хотел, чтобы вы ...
In ...
CommunityBot
- 1
1
vote
1
answer
136
views
How do you reply to an email expressing you agree?
I received the following email response to a request I had made:
Здравствуй! Я тьютор тьюторской службы университета. Мы получили твою заявку
на тьюториал, но, к сожалению, сейчас мы не проводим ...
- 8,265
1
vote
4
answers
120
views
Is "оформить товар двумя частями" correct?
You're ordering a product and the seller offers you a installment plan. You want to pay it off in two installments.
Прошу вас оформить это товар двумя частями
Прошу вас выпустит это товар в два ...
- 1,542
6
votes
5
answers
572
views
Uses for «для чего» and «зачем»? And uses for «зачем» and «почему»?
From what I understand «зачем» means "for what purpose", and trying to distinguish between that and «для чего» doesn't translate well. Additionally, how does «зачем» compare with «почему»?
10
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Verb быть in past tense sentence inversions: был, была or было?
I know Russian is quite a "strong" language in terms of word order, which I actually like. However, I recently learned that the verb быть changes in past-tense sentence inversions.
For ...
- 194
16
votes
5
answers
8k
views
The difference between "свой" and "мой"
What's the difference between свой (своя и т.д.) and мой (моя и т.д.) when Russian people speak they seem aware of the difference but still I can't wrap my head around it.
- 194
12
votes
4
answers
1k
views
Why does she say "Я понимаешь" and not "Я понимаю"?
I've heard people say "понимаешь" when they clearly intend to mean "I understand", such as in this line from the Serebro song Не Время:
Я понимаешь, я это чувствую потом мы всё ...
- 194
0
votes
3
answers
157
views
What is the difference between возложить and наложить?
Both возлагать/возложить and накладывать/наложить seem to have the meaning of putting something onto others. But I could not find anything that explains the difference between two.
So what difference ...
- 14.4k
7
votes
1
answer
1k
views
What is the translation of "afternoon" in Russian language?
What is the common translation for 'afternoon' in Russian language?
I've checked the dictionary and I found many options which some of them seems to be incorrect at all. Look at the attached picture....
3
votes
1
answer
284
views
Why is the accusative of животное not животного?
In the following sentence:
Ты прячешь животное.
Why is it "животное", not "животного"? In Russian, an animal is considered an animate object, and животное is conjugated much like ...
- 8,265
3
votes
4
answers
2k
views
What's the difference between "уродиться" and "родиться"?
As the title says, what's the difference between these two verbs? I've seen the latter used in this sentence: Он таким уродился. Couldn't one use the verb "родиться" in this case as well? ...
- 8,265
0
votes
1
answer
167
views
A very small text I tried to write, could you correct it?
I've been learning Russian for two weeks and I tried to write a small text in order to practice. Could you please correct it? Thanks in advance! Here it is:
Я живу с моей семьёй в малом городком в ...
- 52.2k
1
vote
1
answer
173
views
Why is the word "тот" used in this sentence and why is it in the dative case?
Here's the text from my book:
-У вас есть стихи Лермонтова?
-Нет, к сожалению, стихи Лермонтова проданы.
-Но ведь они были несколько дней тому назад!
-Да, но всё уже продано.
I don't understand the ...
- 16.1k
10
votes
4
answers
4k
views
"Одену" or "надену"
I can't seem to figure out the difference between одену and надену.
Both are future tense verbs of "to put on" or "wear".
Are they both just synonyms? I fee like there is a subtle difference
- 8,265
5
votes
2
answers
539
views
What's the difference between single что and reduplicated что что?
At times, I've heard native Russian speakers say что что, instead of single что. For example,
(I say something that is incomprehensible to a waitress.)
Что-что?
Is there any difference between что-...
- 8,265
1
vote
2
answers
170
views
When would I choose следующий over ближайший?
I'm a little confused about the difference in usage between the two.
Which is more common?
When would I choose the other (less-common) one to describe a 'next' something?
The dictionary definitions ...
- 213
4
votes
3
answers
297
views
Is there a difference between "Он не был там." and "Его там не было."?
Is there a difference between "Он не был там." and "Его там не было."?
Are both phrases correct?
- 26k
3
votes
3
answers
154
views
Is there a difference between "у меня болит голова" and "у меня головная боль"?
I've been trying to prevent my Russian from rusting by going through Duolingo in both directions (Russian for English speakers and English for Russian speakers). I found "I have a headache" ...
- 8,265
2
votes
3
answers
163
views
What are the different usages for these translations of "to type" (as in on a computer keyboard)?
My dictionary's translations of "to type" are, unfortunately, quite verbose:
2 (write with typewriter) печа́тать (impf) (на маши́нке) / напеча́тать (pf) (на маши́нке); (write with computer ...
- 8,265
1
vote
3
answers
183
views
What is the difference between раздаться and донестись?
In my dictionary, both доноситься/донестись and раздаваться/раздаться show the meaning as "sound to be conveyed". But I'm not sure when to use one over the other, if there is any difference ...
- 8,265
2
votes
3
answers
260
views
What is the difference between дать and подать?
I'm not sure that подать connotes anything different, except that it means to pass something to someone, much like дать. Apparently, "passing something" always implies handing someone ...
- 8,265
-1
votes
2
answers
123
views
Разница между поступать и подавать?
Пытаюсь досконально разобрать разницу между поступать и подавать. Так, чтобы понял иностранец.
Предполагаю, что поступать описывает весь процесс подачи документов и зачисления. (Иначе как может ...
- 8,265
6
votes
2
answers
334
views
Is день used with на or в?
I have seen that день is used with both prepositions (на and в), but I'm not sure which one to use. For example,
на следующий день
на день рождения
в этот день
At least I feel that it is always used ...
- 11
1
vote
2
answers
143
views
Should the word вещь be genitive singular or plural after мало?
In the following sentence:
В детской мало (вещь).
I'm not sure if I should use genitive singular (вещи) or genitive plural (вещей). If I understand it correctly, nouns after много/мало/несколько/...
1
vote
1
answer
805
views
Употребление предлогов на, за и через - временные контрукции
Объясните пожалуйста как правильно употреблять предлоги за,на,через(или без предлогов) когда речь идёт о времени.
насколько я понимаю, предлог НА отвечает на вопрос "как долго?", а предлог ...
- 21.4k
5
votes
5
answers
2k
views
ходил / сходил / пошёл
I was told that :
пошёл - went somewhere and (usually) haven’t come back yet (and told that I can use ушёл here too) if you state it as a fact or as a part of a story with other actions following one ...
- 149
1
vote
3
answers
173
views
What is the difference between в прошлом and раньше?
I'm not sure what is the difference, if any, between the word в прошлом and раньше. Both seem to mean 'in the past' or 'before'.
For example:
Главный переводчик много работал журналистом в прошлом.
...
- 111
5
votes
3
answers
1k
views
"Индустрия выдержала удар пандемией" - why instrumental here?
In this sentence:
Книжная индустрия выдержала удар пандемией (source)
why is пандемия in the instrumental? I understand that the sentence means "The book industry endured (survived) the hit of ...
- 109
9
votes
4
answers
3k
views
Difference between "какой" and "который"
As of writing this question, there are two questions here on the difference of those two words. The first one has a quite extensive answer and the second one, unfortunately, just a short answer that ...
- 2,215
5
votes
6
answers
682
views
Is there a positive Russian word for a whistleblower?
Let's suppose some students gather every evening in a student dormitory and make loud noise till late night by playing guitar, talking, singing, laughing, etc., and a female student from the same ...
- 119
3
votes
1
answer
294
views
Why is стоялО used for две кровати?
I found this sentence somewhere.
В комнате стояло две кровати.
But I don’t understand why this sentence uses стояло (neutral form), not стояли (plural because of две) or стояла (female because of ...
- 884