Questions tagged [словоупотребление]
Questions about usage of a particular word
658
questions
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3
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Difference between "какой это свитер?" and "что это за свитер?"
What's the difference between какой это свитер? & что это за свитер?
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4
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"Я ему ничего не должен." vs "Я ничего ему не должен."
Does the nuance/emphasis vary between these two sentences?
Я ему ничего не должен.
vs
Я ничего ему не должен.
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2
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What case is needed after 'играть в...'
I have seen examples of this verb used with the sport in question in both the accusative and prepositional case after 'играть в...'
Are both acceptable - I would have expected only the prepositional ...
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4
votes
2
answers
180
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Are "мне больше нравится" and "я предпочитаю" synonymous?
My flashcards have мне больше нравится translated as I prefer and я предпочитаю as I favor. My understanding is that these are essentially synonymous. I suppose I have two questions:
Is there any ...
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3
votes
3
answers
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What's the difference between под and из-под and the cases they govern?
банка под варенье vs. банка под вареньем
бутылка под молоко vs. бутылка из-под молока
The preposition под has several meanings, some of which take the accusative and some of which take the ...
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3
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Different expressions for "ten" in Russian: десять, десятка, десяток
In terms of expressing ten, what's the difference between десять, десятка and десяток? I understand the first is a numeral and the other two are nouns, but I'm curious to know in what contexts each is ...
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4
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Почему люди путают цифры и числа?
Очень часто наблюдаю во всевозможных источниках, что люди почему-то путают понятия число и цифра.
Например:
3 млрд. - очень большая цифра для ...
Хотелось бы озвучить цифру...
И дальше ...
4
votes
3
answers
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Meaning of если что
I found these two recently in different sources:
Она уже не маленькая, если что.
(talking about their daughter, who wanted to move to America)
Я пойду и побью его.
- Он 5 лет занимался ...
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5
answers
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meaning and usage of "что ты"
What is the meaning of "что ты" when person uses it during conversation like this:
Это твой папа?
Нет! что ты! Это мой дядя.
Does it mean What are you saying? or You're saying the wrong ...
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votes
3
answers
275
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Breadth of the word "нетство"
Those nobles who attempted to escape from obligatory military service to the Russian Empire, the "нетчики", performed "нетство".
I wonder if, with some creativity, "нетство&...
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votes
3
answers
230
views
What's the difference between "такой" and "такой же"?
I understand what the word means, but I just can't pin down any difference between the two choices. They seem absolutely identical, but Russian speakers seem to prefer the second version:
Это такая ...
- 16.6k
3
votes
2
answers
425
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What is the meaning of Shatun when applied to Russian family names?
I understand that the Russian word shatun was applied in Siberia to describe a grizzly bear that didn’t go into its usual hibernation, or was awakened before spring, and prowls around in winter, ...
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8
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Good for you! in Russian
Somebody say: I took the full test score
And I answer: Good for you!
which one is correct in Russian:
"хорошо для тебя"
or
"повезло тебе"
And also we use "тебе на пользу" in another situation like: ...
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4
answers
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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 '...
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4
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What's the purpose of своё in this sentence?
Here's a sentence from my book: Покрытые злобными колючками ежевичные плети изгибались над отжившими своё зарослями папоротника.
Why is своё in this sentence and why does it have this specific ...
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votes
1
answer
110
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Identifying Sources of Examples in Dahl's Russian Dictionary
Dahl gives two examples of a usage, now surely extinct, of the word фамилия to refer to one's wife, and at least one of them is surely from some novel or the like. Does anyone have any idea of where ...
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4
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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?
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7
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521
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Is склока in current Russian usage?
Recently I discovered the word склока and I was very surprised that its main meaning was "to squabble". For squabble, I would have felt that ссора or драка would be more appropriate.
So is склока in ...
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votes
5
answers
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What do ")" or multiple ")))" mean in an internet conversation?
I sometimes see Russian people add some ) to the end of sentences, and sometimes even many of them: )))).
I recently read:
In Russian: ))))))) is a loud laugh
So I wonder what it means when there's ...
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6
answers
2k
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Имя vs название
I've seen both used for both people and things. So are they interchangeable? What's the difference?
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4
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What's the difference between "последний" and "прошлый"?
I don't see the difference between "последний" and "прошлый". For both words, I find definitions like "last", "past", "latest", and "recent"....
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1
answer
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How early is the word "животноводство" attested?
"Животноводство" (from "животные") describes animal husbandry, particularly cattle-raising. From how long ago is this word attested?
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1
answer
195
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Old orthography grave accent vs acute accent in words like какъ, такъ, что, то, чѣмъ
I noticed in old russian bibles, the words чѣ’мъ (іудіѳь 8:26), именны’мъ (2-ая ездры) have an acute accent (ó) instead of a grave accent (ò), since if a stressed syllable is at the end of a word, a ...
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5
answers
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Meaning of "хитровыебанный"
What does it imply when someone describes or refers to another person as хитровыебанный? Is it a compliment or an insult? Also, what syllable is the stress on?
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3
answers
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посередине vs посреди
I am wondering what the difference is between the two Russian words посередине and посреди? As far as I can tell, they are used in similar contexts to mean "in the middle of," but I can't ...
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vote
2
answers
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этим пуфом or этом пуфом?
I'd like to say: There is a picture above this pouf.
I thought it would be like this: Над этом пуфом висит фотография.
But when I put this sentence in Google Translate it is showing: Над этим пуфом ...
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votes
1
answer
154
views
What does "ну-ка" means? [closed]
I've seen this a lot in a comedy series that I'm watching.
For example in a situation when the boss yell at some unknown guys to get out of the house he says:
"Ну-ка, пошли вон отсюда!"
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votes
3
answers
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"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 ...
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votes
8
answers
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"Left" and "right" in Russian
On a German page about the Russian language, I learned the words
прямо [prjáma] – geradeaus (straight on)
направо [napráwa] – rechts (right)
налево [naléwa] – links (left)
for directions (location ...
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vote
3
answers
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Use of на in place of за/для
If I wanted to say that I moved somewhere for work, my understanding is that I could say переехал из-за работы but that переехал на работу is more natural. I also think that для работы is wrong here, ...
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"Как дела?" and "как у тебя дела?" which one to use?
In my book the meaning of как дела? is given as how are you?
Also the meaning of как у тебя дела? is given as how are you?
So which one should I use?
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1
answer
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In what contexts was самомобилизация used in older (Soviet) times?
This term, самомобилизация, recently surfaced in the news to refer to the forming of (more) volunteer battalions. However, the term was apparently in use before, having been included in a dictionary ...
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vote
1
answer
252
views
Difference between "толстовка", "свитшот", "худи", "кофта" and "пуловер"?
Could someone give me some insight on these Russian words from the perspective of a native Russian?
From what I've seen, many websites use these words interchangeably, and some of those websites even ...
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votes
3
answers
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Why does колбасер "Sausage maker" mean someone who raves or hardbasser?
I hear this term in hardbass a lot. "Kolbaser" literally means sausage maker, but refers to something completely different. What is the exact meaning of this term and why does it mean what it means? ...
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2
votes
2
answers
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views
What does "тоже мне" mean? [closed]
What is the best way to translate these?
Тоже мне!
Тоже мне герой.
Тоже мне новость.
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- 391
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2
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Detailed rules when о (=about) becomes об or обо?
I have gathered from various sites/resources, the following rules concerning the preposition “o” which, when its meaning is “about”, is always followed by the prepositional case (предложный падеж):
1. ...
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3
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What's the meaning of "было" in these contexts/sentences?
I'm wondering what the purpose and meaning of "было" is in these sentences, and if it is a conjugation of "быть" or a separate word. The word "было" meaning "there ...
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12
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Why do some say "на Украине" and others "в Украине" and what is correct?
Can anyone explain? Is there some rule for when to use на and when to use в?
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2
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Difference between "это" and "этот"
Are these two words interchangeable or is there a difference? My online dictionary says that "это" and "этот" both mean "this". I'm a bit confused.
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2
answers
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What are the fuller expressions of the Russian equivalents to some common festive greetings (e.g., Happy Birthday, Happy Easter, Happy New Year's)?
Even Duolingo will tell you that
Greetings and other similar expressions are often shortened versions of longer phrases, where words still retain their forms.
When you see an oblique form (i.e., a ...
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10
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How should I understand and translate "закатить истерику"?
Some time ago, I took a test in which I had to translate some short texts from Russian into English. One of them contained the following sentence:
По приходу домой она закатила истерику.
My solution ...
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What does the idiom "что уж там" mean?
I am very puzzled by the idiom "что уж там" and its sister "чего уж там". Let me show you a few sentences:
(1) Давайте везде курить, что уж там, детям в лицо: депутат Госдумы (...
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2
answers
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What's the most common usage and meaning of the verb исходить, which belongs to two impf/pf verb pairs, each with a different meaning?
According to a table of frequency I found, the verb исходить ranks pretty high (1716 out of 100,000). However, since it has two usages and meanings, I wonder which one is most frequently used:
in the ...
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2
answers
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Using ordinal numbers for elapsed time
Иван начал жить в Москве шестого января 2017. Сегодня четвертое апреля 2022. Следовательно
а) Иван живет в Москве пятый год.
б) Иван живет в Москве шестой год.
Which phrase is correct?
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2
answers
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Is there a difference between "21 час" and "21 часа"
Based on what I've seen so far, the case should follow the last number, 21 (one - один) should be nom. sing. but when I was looking at the macbook pro on apple's web site, they describe the battery ...
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vote
1
answer
181
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 ...
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2
votes
5
answers
275
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What is the difference between "украшение," "драгоценность," and "ювелирные изделия"?
This one is just in time for Valentine's Day ...
I came across "ювелирные изделия" in my Russian textbook ТРОЙКА. I was curious about the etymology of it, so I looked it up in Wiktionary ...
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4
answers
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How to translate "by the way" and "anyway": linker expressions
I find it difficult to understand how to translate some English expressions used to "link" sentences in order to make your language more fluent.
For example:
"Ok let's meet tomorrow at ...
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6
answers
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Иметь vs у меня for physical things
I get that у меня is the most common pattern for showing ownership of things, say леопарда or самокат. What happens to the meaning were I to use Иметь instead? Does it mean the exact same thing?
(...
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votes
4
answers
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Какая разница между «салют» и «фейерверк»?
I learned the word «фейерверк», which means fireworks, from a song. But when I use it in conversation with native Russian speakers (my tutors), they correct it to «салют».
Are there any differences? I ...
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