Questions tagged [usage]
Covers questions about the usage of a particular word or phrase in different situations and contexts.
552
questions
1
vote
2answers
108 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
2answers
204 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 ...
5
votes
3answers
575 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 ...
6
votes
2answers
295 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
3answers
263 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 ...
2
votes
2answers
191 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
120 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
3answers
349 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
879 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
325 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
4answers
347 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
213 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)...
11
votes
3answers
355 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?
...
4
votes
1answer
87 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
213 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
442 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 (Source)
(2)...
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, ...
2
votes
3answers
227 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 ...
3
votes
6answers
314 views
Rules for classifying grammatical gender in Russian
How do you recognize masculine and feminine and neuter words on Russian?
-1
votes
1answer
118 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
255 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" ("of the morning"):
Я проснулась в три часа ночи. (Literally:...
2
votes
1answer
183 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
370 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
316 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
192 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 ...
0
votes
4answers
266 views
Which Russian dialect does “орнуть” belong to?
I often play gomokunarabe on an international server, where I sometimes face Russian opponents, and there appeared a very strong mysterious Russian-speaking player about a year ago. Many players want ...
2
votes
3answers
213 views
“Выиграть соперника”: Is it correct, or why do many journalists write in this way?
Playing gomokunarabe on an international server, I saw a couple of Russian players saying "выиграть его," and the intended meaning apparently was "to win against him" as far as could judge from the ...
4
votes
4answers
931 views
What is the precise meaning of “я считаю, что”?
I am puzzled by the Russian phrase "я считаю, что," which is used very frequently. I know that an approximate translation is "I think that," but I strongly feel that there is some special idea, ...
8
votes
3answers
835 views
What is the precise meaning of “подсел на мак”?
Some months ago I saw a Russian gomokunarabe player saying in an online chat to his compatriot,
А я подсел на мак.
I cannot recall the context. I can only recall that their chat looked highly ...
3
votes
3answers
175 views
Subtleties of making a request in Russian
In my university I was explained various grammatical means of making a request, but find it very difficult to understand their connotations. Your language is so rich and nuanced in this regard.
Let's ...
4
votes
1answer
156 views
Inflection of particles
Yesterday I asked a question about the meaning of "научись," and it turned out that in the movie in which I heard this, it was not "научись," but "на, учись," where "на" is a particle.
Reading about ...
3
votes
3answers
198 views
Meaning of “Похоже, ты к нему клеишься”
Похоже, ты к нему клеишься
Please let me know, which of the following translation is better for this?
1- Looks like you stick to him.
2- Sounds to me like you're going towards him.
3- Sounds to me ...
3
votes
7answers
1k views
What are the words for people who cause trouble believing they know better?
Update: To put it simply, what I am looking for is a Russian word or expression that combines three things together: (1) inconsiderate (that is, not careful to avoid harm to others), (2) meddlesome (...
2
votes
3answers
172 views
tensed, conjugated verb + imperfective verb — When can they be adjacent?
This question had an answer which touched on what I'm asking, but not enough, and mostly in the imperative sense - "иди работай" vs. "иди работать" vs. "иди и работай".
...
6
votes
6answers
199 views
Register of “возложить”
I was translating some colloquial French sentences (in standard register, about a rather serious topic) into Russian:
Думаешь, мы возложили на них слишком большие надежды? Перекладывание своих ...
11
votes
5answers
3k views
What people are called boars (“кабан”) and why?
I discovered yesterday that the Russians often use the word "кабан" ("wild boar") or its Old Russian analogue "вепрь" to talk about people:
(1) Что ещё раз доказывает, что здоровья у Уайта ...
5
votes
3answers
217 views
When to use “живот” or “желудок” – words for “stomach”
In French, "ventre" and "estomac" can both translate as "stomach", albeit with certain nuances:
"ventre": a more general, all-encompassing term referring to your (exterior) abdomen which contains ...
2
votes
4answers
146 views
How can I translate “would” in “He had to run faster than his tribemate, as the hindmost would be eaten by the lion”?
Let us consider the sentence shown in the title of my post:
(1) He had to run faster than his tribemate, as the hindmost would be eaten by the lion.
(For context, watch this short commercial: ...
5
votes
4answers
358 views
How should I understand the phrase “это не суть важно”?
I saw the phrase "это не суть важно" in the Internet and then found that this phrase is often used in modern Russian.
I initially supposed that "суть" is an adverb synonymous to "очень", so I ...
5
votes
2answers
203 views
Is “если есть” a kind of tautology?
Wiktionary says that the word если ("if") originated from есть ли (literally "whether is"):
Происходит от стар. естьли (ещё у Карамзина), ср.: укр. єсли, польск. jeśli, др.-польск. jestli, чешск. ...
5
votes
4answers
458 views
Why are the endings in “я студентка” and “я была студенткой” different?
My question is this: How did the Russian language end up having different endings in the phrases shown in the title of this post?
Now I will make some remarks to explain precisely what makes me ...
40
votes
8answers
10k views
Why do Russians almost not use verbs of possession akin to “have”?
I have always been puzzled as to why the Russians almost never use verbs of possession akin to "have" or "own."
Instead of such verbs, the Russians use the preposition у, whose primary or original ...
6
votes
4answers
144 views
In saying “watch the aurora”, how are “наблюдать за” and “наблюдать” nuanced?
In conversation, I just said:
Похоже, что это единственное место в мире, где можно наблюдать за северным сиянием, нежась в горячем источнике!
Or should I have said:
Похоже, что это единственное ...
2
votes
2answers
301 views
Are clauses with “который” restrictive or non-restrictive by default?
Let's consider the following sentence, which I just found in Google as an illustrative example:
Наиболее опасные из акул – тигровые акулы, которые обитают в тропических водах.
Two interpretations ...
4
votes
2answers
193 views
Тhe idiomatic expression “на три господа бога”
Reading a Russian book about a Russo-Japanese war, I saw the idiomatic expression на три господа бога:
Тут, брат, все сделано на три господа бога.
I performed a Google search and found some ...
1
vote
5answers
338 views
How should I interpret phrases like “должен ли Путин уйти”?
I recently wrote a question about the modal должен, explaining that this modal is very hard to me because it has very different meanings.
As my question was deemed too broad and put on hold, I would ...
2
votes
1answer
186 views
What does “буде будет” mean?
Browsing the Internet, I saw the following sentence in a text:
(1) То, что буде будет считаться стильным и модным, какой принт стоит выбрать и как все это сочетать в нашем сегодняшнем фотогиде. (...
0
votes
3answers
187 views
Conditional sentences about unfulfilled past situations
Let us compare the following two sentences:
(1) If I had enough money with me, I would order shark fin soup.
(2) If I had had enough money with me, I would have ordered shark fin soup.
Both ...
