Questions tagged [usage]
Covers questions about the usage of a particular word or phrase in different situations and contexts.
575
questions
24
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3answers
2k views
How can I understand this puzzling dialogue with “ну я имею в виду вообще”?
My Russian teacher recently had us, his students, listen some audio recordings of what he called "authentic everyday communications of Russians." We had to understand the dialogues and ...
3
votes
2answers
114 views
What's the difference between навлечь and привлечь?
What's the difference between those two words? Can i use only влечь?
4
votes
1answer
104 views
Is there any difference between в общем and в общем-то, and how do they differ from вообще-то?
Is there any difference between в общем and в общем-то, and how do they differ from вообще-то? I've always interpreted в общем(-то) as generally speaking/pretty much, and вообще-то as actually.
32
votes
3answers
3k views
What's the meaning of “у нас” in phrases like “он у нас умный”?
The grammatical construction у меня, literally at/near me, is the Russian way to express possession and is also used to express proximity:
У меня хорошая подруга. (I have a good friend.)
Она сейчас у ...
7
votes
2answers
197 views
“В об(о,е)их коробках оказались семена” - which vowel should I choose?
Some time ago I took a Russian test that contained the following question:
В об(о,е)их коробках оказались семена.
1) обоих
2) обеих
3) оба варианта корректны
4) оба варианта ...
1
vote
1answer
116 views
Comprehending these sentences from the story “Рукавичка”
Excerpt:
“…А ты кто? (1)
– А я кабан-клыкан. Пустите и меня! (2)
Вот беда, всем в рукавичку охота! (3)
– Тебе ведь и не влезть! (4)
– Как-нибудь влезу, пустите!” (5)
– Ну что ...
9
votes
5answers
295 views
How to respond to “За что тебе поставили четвёрку по сочинению?”
Some time ago I did a homework in which I had to complete two-phrase dialogues by writing a meaningful response to a given question. No context was provided for the questions. One of the questions was,...
4
votes
1answer
129 views
Is “чалый” a synonym of “рецидивист”?
Several websites I've come across state "чалый" as a synonym of "рецидивист", but I haven't been able to find any definitions of чалый that would suggest it's synonymous with рецидивист.
Are they ...
17
votes
8answers
3k views
“Член клуба” - how to use “член” in feminine here?
Let's consider this sentence:
I'm a member of the Japanese Renju Association.
A member translates into Russian as член, but the grammatical gender of this word is masculine, so I'm curious how I can ...
4
votes
1answer
166 views
My dictionary sometimes lists two imperfective forms
Consider the verb to send, which my dictionary translates as *посылать (imp.), слать (imp.), послать (perf.). My question is about those cases in which there are two imperfective forms, like in this ...
5
votes
1answer
165 views
Meaning difference between до свидания, до скорого and до встречи
I have been learning Russian for quite some time now and I have recently doubled my sources, adding another app. With no big surprise for me, some things do not align, in particular about greetings ...
2
votes
1answer
275 views
Using Russian-style smile in business conversation )
As a freelancer I recently got in contact with a russian agency on LinkedIn. This person used the 'russian-style smile face' ) quite a lot.
In order to sympathize with this person I was tempted to ...
7
votes
3answers
400 views
Logic behind structures like «в общей сложности»
In one formal texts I encountered this "в общей сложности" used when addressing the total amount of something. An example context below:
В общей сложности страны СНГ продемонстрировали падение ...
5
votes
3answers
760 views
Is it correct to say, “Не врачам этого не понять”?
A former chief sanitary inspector of Russia, Mr. Onishchenko, recently said the following about the chief infection control doctor of the Stavropol region, Ms. Sannikova:
Она долго работает ...
6
votes
5answers
190 views
Difference between “объединяйтесь” and “соединяйтесь”?
Background
I recently saw a translation of the well-known motto "Workers of the world, unite!", but when I looked into it, I found out that there are at least two possible translations:
Пролетарии ...
12
votes
7answers
932 views
How should I translate “the fighting boar” in Grenfell's poem into Russian?
My Russian teacher, whom you know by his tough approach to teaching the language, strongly pushed me to try to translate English poems into Russian, and we agreed I'd have a look at Hymn to the Wild ...
2
votes
7answers
600 views
Why do Russians say that all men are billy goats (все мужики козлы)?
I was given a Russian song as a listening exercise, and, as far as I could discern, its chorus is:
И мы не устаем, и с ночи до утра
Мы можем говорить, говорить о мужиках.
Бокал до дна в трудные ...
26
votes
4answers
8k views
Why do Russians call some women a dynamo (динамо)?
In English, you call a person a dynamo to say that he or she is extremely energetic (e.g., she was a dynamo in London politics), but Russians mean something entirely different when they call someone a ...
5
votes
3answers
1k views
How can I say in Russian “to see each other” and “to be exclusive to each other,” in the context of dating?
I cannot find the Russian phrases for these two stages of dating and am humbly asking for your help. I know that Russians say Маша встречается с Ваней (which literally means Masha regularly meets ...
0
votes
1answer
164 views
Russian For: No Smoking! [closed]
In England there are no-smoking signs at certain places.
What would be written in Russian? For: No Smoking!
Thanks.
21
votes
6answers
8k views
Why do Russians call a joke a stake (прикол)?
In modern Russian, прикол is a very frequently used word and means a joke, a funny incident, or just anything funny, but the original meaning of this word is very different: a stake to which a ship, a ...
6
votes
3answers
317 views
Difference between шоссе and автострада?
What are the differences between these two words? Is автострада just the same thing, but less used? Or do they have different meanings?
4
votes
6answers
369 views
Is it a mistake to say, “Oвчинки выделка не стоит”(sic!)?
In a recent essay of mine, I accidentally mixed up the grammatical cases in an idiom. Namely, I wrote:
овчинки выделка не стоит
The most common variant of this idiom is:
овчинка выделки не стоит
...
1
vote
2answers
210 views
What does “тоже мне” mean? [closed]
What is the best way to translate these?
Тоже мне!
Тоже мне герой.
Тоже мне новость.
-
1
vote
3answers
357 views
Does the famous Russian translation of Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll imply using drugs?
I recently came across the famous Soviet-era translation by Dina Orlovskaya of Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll, which is a part of a sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and that translation ...
6
votes
4answers
683 views
Moving a preposition to after the object
Curious as to what the Russians think about Japanese cars, I did some research and saw an article with the following title:
Не престижа ради, а токмо драйва для
I knew that ради is an exceptional ...
8
votes
3answers
441 views
What's wrong with “я подсела к стене”?
I wrote in an essay,
В зале стоял длинный стол с закусками, один из концов которого упирался в стену. Мы подошли к столу и стали за него садиться. Я подсела к стене.
My teacher marked the last ...
4
votes
4answers
436 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 ...
3
votes
2answers
253 views
What is the difference between “расскажу о тебе” and “расскажу про тебя”?
(1) Я ему расскажу о тебе.
(2) Я ему расскажу про тебя.
I know that each of these sentences roughly translates as I will tell him about you, but what is the difference? Do the connotations or ...
3
votes
1answer
153 views
Usage of “будет” in phrases like “эта задача посложнее будет”
I translated the following snippet for a Russian friend. The last line I translated as "Now this is going to be a bit more difficult." But my friend insists that this doesn't have a future ...
1
vote
4answers
426 views
What is the meaning of: “Войну ждали. Но она пришла неожиданно.”?
I recently read an article in Russian written by a doctor of art science for the journal Живая история, and that article is about the Soviet-German war and starts with the following two sentences:
...
4
votes
1answer
984 views
Why do Russians refer to flatterers as “downlickers” (подлизы)?
Usually used to refer to a flatterer, the Russian word подлиза literally means a downlicker: the prefix под- means down, below, beneath, or under, and the root -лиз- is common to Russian words about ...
4
votes
3answers
372 views
What does “я сейчас в неадеквате” mean?
I just sent a message to a language exchange partner and instantly received the following response:
давай завтра, я сейчас в неадеквате
What does this expression mean? Has he tied one on?
5
votes
5answers
576 views
Why are German soldiers of WWII commonly referred to in the Russian language as fascists (фашисты)?
I read quite a few Russian materials about WWII and noticed that Russians commonly refer to German soldiers of WWII as фашисты (fascists). Here are some typical examples:
(1) Фашисты заняли ...
6
votes
2answers
235 views
How to complete “налей мне” and “отдай мне обратно”: “чаёк,” “чайка,” or “чайку”?
Here is a question in a test:
Как корректно закончить следующие предложения?
Налей мне ... .
(а) чаёк
(б) чайка
(в) чайку
Отдай мне обратно ... .
(а) чаёк
(б) чайка
(в) чайку
I am at a loss as ...
15
votes
4answers
526 views
“Я считаю Пушкина более талантливым поэтом, чем Блок” or “чем Блокa”?
Here I am sitting late in the evening, struggling with a home test devised by a university teacher of mine, and here is a question in the test:
Как корректно закончить следующее предложение?
Я считаю ...
4
votes
1answer
88 views
Semantic effect of postposing a quantifying adjective from its noun
I recently read this sentence in a story related by a very good writer:
Щен за мной увязался годовалый, за пальто покусывает. Кинула я ему эту
слойку – отстал.
In trying to render the meaning ...
5
votes
2answers
240 views
Meaning of “встал колом”
In this passage, I'm wondering if встал колом is correct (I didn't write this - it was written by a native Russian speaker on a forum for anecdotes), and if so, what is the literal interpretation word ...
8
votes
8answers
516 views
What does the idiom “что уж там” mean?
I am very much 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 ...
6
votes
3answers
1k views
How is погода (weather) a count noun?
Wiktionary says that the word погода (weather) has a plural form: погоды.
I see in Google that although the word is usually used in the singular form, the plural form is used either. For example, ...
3
votes
3answers
258 views
“Лицам старше 16 лет и более 70 кг” - тут логическое “и” или “или”?
На детской площадке запрещается:
пользоваться детским оборудованием лицам старше 16 лет и более 70 кг
(Source)
May I use the playground equipment if the above rule is to be interpreted formally as ...
3
votes
7answers
438 views
Rules for classifying grammatical gender in Russian
How do you recognize masculine and feminine and neuter words on Russian?
-1
votes
1answer
128 views
Different Words in Russian, Same Meaning in English! [closed]
I practice Russian in Duolingo app and there are a lot of words that have same meaning in English. For example:
мои - мой - моя - мое
это - этот - эта
как - что
2
votes
2answers
275 views
How long is the night from the Russian language standpoint?
When Russians tell what time it is, they often add "дня" ("of the day"), "вечера" ("of the evening"), "ночи" ("of the night"), or "утра&...
2
votes
1answer
187 views
Типа такой vs типа такого
I'm having trouble knowing when to use the expression типа такой vs. типа такого. For ex:
He was watching 'The Walking Dead' or something like that.
Он смотрел "Ходячие мертвецы" или типа такого. ...
4
votes
6answers
393 views
What is the Russian equivalent of the proverb 水清ければ魚棲まず (if the water is clear, fish won't live there)?
The proverb's meaning is that just as fish prefer muddy waters and avoid clear streams, people generally do not associate with those who are too ideal in terms of ethics, manners, and habits. In other ...
5
votes
13answers
3k views
How can I say in Russian “I am not afraid to write anything”?
The question is in the title of my post.
Somehow this simple idea made me really confused as to how I can express it in Russian.
My first attempt was:
(1) Я не боюсь писать всё.
But I guess ...
1
vote
4answers
339 views
How can I say in Russian “they cannot make the tournament attractive by itself”?
The question is in the title of this post. A couple of explanatory points:
Context: The organizers of a certain tournament cannot provide a big cash prize that would attract a lot of participants, so ...
12
votes
7answers
4k views
Russian equivalents of 能骗就骗 (if you can cheat, then cheat)
On this SE there have been many interesting questions about Russian equivalents of various idiomatic expressions and proverbs of the French language and other languages, and I decided to make my own ...
3
votes
3answers
218 views
How should I translate Future Perfect constructions to Russian?
Let's suppose I am grilling fish for a big party. I have grilled 20 fish and will grill 30 more. The grilled fish are immediately taken away to be given to the guests. A friend of mine comes in and ...
