Highest scored questions
4,844 questions
75
votes
7
answers
27k
views
Why does "охуенно" mean "great" but "хуёвый" mean "bad"
I came across some words chatting with my friend (he's a native speaker). What's the difference between пиздато, охуенно, хуёво and пиздец? The first two words have a positive meaning but хуёво and ...
- 767
75
votes
13
answers
13k
views
Resources for learning Russian
Using the same structure in the Chinese Resources question, this is a specifically created Community Wiki which gathers resources for learning Russian and it has been approved by the Community itself.
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59
votes
14
answers
43k
views
59
votes
2
answers
8k
views
What are the lesser known Russian cases?
In schools, it is taught that Modern Russian has 6 cases:
Nominative (Именительный)
Genitive (Родительный)
Dative (Дательный)
Accusative (Винительный)
Instrumental (Творительный)
...
- 5,377
51
votes
10
answers
16k
views
What's the difference between "лежит на столе" and "стоит на столе"?
Can anyone explain the difference between the following sentences:
"Чашка лежит на столе" vs. "Чашка стоит на столе"
"Мяч лежит на столе" vs. "Мяч стоит на столе"
"Лэптоп лежит на столе" vs. "Лэптоп ...
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45
votes
3
answers
24k
views
Why does italic 'т' look like 'm'
The Cyrillic letter 'т', when italicized, looks like a Latin 'm'. This is illustrated in the image below. The first row is the Cyrillic letter 'т', the second is the Cyrillic letter 'м', and the third ...
- 1,515
43
votes
9
answers
12k
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 ...
- 11.3k
42
votes
10
answers
8k
views
Usage of "про" instead of "о"
One of the prepositions I never learned in Russian courses is про, which I only met later when communicating with native speakers or when reading. Is it possible to give a good rule of thumb about ...
- 5,006
41
votes
8
answers
4k
views
The meaning of "давай" when saying good bye
I was always wondering: When at the end of the phone or other conversation people say "ну давай" meaning "see you later". Where does this come from?
In terms of meaning, I always understood it to ...
- 1,326
38
votes
8
answers
6k
views
Why doesn't Russian have native words beginning with А?
I've heard that Russian has no native words beginning with the letter A. The claim is that the words appearing under A in dictionaries were all imported at some stage or another. Browsing through the ...
- 1,895
37
votes
8
answers
8k
views
When is it more appropriate to use здравствуйте rather than привет?
As far as I understand, both of these mean more or less the same thing. Rosetta Stone, that introduced me to the Russian language seems to prefer здравствуйте, but it seems привет is more commonly ...
- 646
37
votes
2
answers
7k
views
How can "to teach" and "to learn" be translated to Russian?
I know that there are several Russian verbs can be used to translate the English verbs "to teach", "to study", and "to learn", e.g. учить, выучить, научить, учиться, изучать, ...
However, I am a bit ...
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34
votes
3
answers
4k
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 ...
- 11.3k
33
votes
14
answers
36k
views
ахуеть and охуеть - which is used, and what is the precise meaning?
I came across the (obscene) verb ахуеть chatting (instant messaging, to be precise) with a native speaker (context: soccer game). A bit of research on the Russian Wiktionary seems to show that this ...
- 464
32
votes
8
answers
18k
views
Do adult Russians normally hand-write Cyrillic as cursive or as block letters?
In The Netherlands, we learn to write Latin characters in cursive in school, but most adults write block letters in practice. My experience is that in other countries using the Latin alphabet, most ...
- 421
31
votes
4
answers
15k
views
If a Russian girl calls herself a thawing pike (тающая щука), what could it mean?
I recently had a video call with a Russian girl, and in the middle of the conversation she called herself тающая щука. That made no sense in the context, so I used a mirror to try to understand what ...
- 11.3k
31
votes
11
answers
9k
views
What is the Russian translation of "excited about something"?
I find it very hard to translate "excited" to Russian. Dictionary says "взволнованный, возбуждённый" which doesn't fit in most cases. For example how would you translate the following sentences:
...
- 419
31
votes
9
answers
4k
views
"Руки не доходят посмотреть" - what does it mean?
Could you please explain what this means, and why?
Руки не доходят посмотреть.
- 311
31
votes
5
answers
7k
views
Why do Russians add -то behind a word?
Just watched a Russian show today (The Road To Calvary), and I noticed they frequently add -то behind a word.
For example:
«Когда ж это будет-то»
«А потом-то вернетесь»
What does adding -то mean?
If I ...
- 319
31
votes
6
answers
2k
views
Genitive plural of "башка"?
What is the genitive plural and nominative plural of башка?
My search returned a lot of contradicting information. Is there any authoritative source with a single concrete answer?
- 2,635
29
votes
10
answers
13k
views
In Russian, do vehicles walk? And can one walk across the city using the bus?
It's commonly taught that the difference between ходить/идти and ездить/ехать (and between their prefixed derivations) is that the former connotes movement by foot and the latter connotes movement ...
- 3,071
29
votes
4
answers
9k
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 ...
- 11.3k
29
votes
13
answers
9k
views
How to address people in the street?
Suppose you want to ask someone for directions or to attract someone's attention. What is the appropriate way to address this person?
Context:
..., подскажите, как выйти на улицу Чехова?
or
......
- 6,568
29
votes
8
answers
5k
views
How can I finally understand the confusing modal verb "мочь"?
The verb мочь is one of the most basic words, actually a central modal verb, but I am so much confused about it. I am often at a loss as to how to interpret it in particular sentences, and I avoid ...
- 11.3k
28
votes
9
answers
19k
views
Why do Russians call their women expensive ("дорогая")?
My question is in the title of this post, and I do not know what else to say. I am just puzzled.
Okay, to avoid my post being put on hold for being too succinct, I will add a couple of naive thoughts ...
- 11.3k
28
votes
3
answers
8k
views
What Russian letter is this?
Is the 4th letter a valid russian character?
When I copy the above word it is automatically converted to "сведения".
- 383
28
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Are there words that can be spelled with both т and ф?
Some words of Greek descent use ф as corresponding to the Greek θ, while some use т. The former I think tend to be loaned earlier. However, in "Brothers Karamazov" I have found Mitya using the word "...
- 909
28
votes
4
answers
4k
views
What is correct: "их" or "ихний"?
My wife always corrects me when I say ихний or ихних instead of их. However, I've seen these pronouns in classical literature many times (Chekhov, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky).
Which form is correct in ...
- 675
28
votes
5
answers
2k
views
Elementary understanding of the concept aspect
First, for the aim of this question I must say that I am not familiar with the Russian language, but I read a bit about it and am curious. I've never learned Russian before and just able to say a ...
- 1,658
27
votes
4
answers
5k
views
What are these Russian characters that aren't in the alphabet in my learning material?
I have this comic book in Russian that uses characters I don't know from my Russian learning materials.
Please see my image. There are:
small m
и with line on top
g
mirrored s
Which 'standard' ...
- 273
27
votes
2
answers
105k
views
Слово "дно" во множественном числе
Как выглядит слово "дно" во множественном числе?
Одно дно
Два дна
Три дна
Четыре дна
Пять ???
Я знаю правильный ответ, но не знаю почему так. Хотелось бы услышать аргументированный ответ, ...
- 389
26
votes
5
answers
9k
views
Why does "ебало" mean a face and "ебаться" mean to fuck?
I had been talking with my Russian friend which used such words like "ебало", "ебаться" and "ебнутый". As I understood, this words have completely difference meaning. It is very curious.
- 421
26
votes
4
answers
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 ...
- 11.3k
26
votes
9
answers
2k
views
Equivalent adjective of 'thirsty' in Russian
When you're hungry, you say
Я голоден.
When you're thirsty you say
Мне хочется пить.
Is there an adjective in Russian that means thirsty? Perhaps derived from жажда (thirst)?
Has there ever ...
- 5,377
26
votes
6
answers
1k
views
Mathematical pronunciation of the number 1
I have a question about pronouncing the number 1 in Russian for mathematics.
When the number 1 appears by itself on the right side of an equation (or inequality or congruence or other mathematical ...
- 5,006
25
votes
13
answers
85k
views
Is the Ukrainian language understandable for the average Russian native speaker?
The Ukrainian language is very similar to the Russian, but is it understandable for the average Russian native speaker, let's say, in Moscow?
Ukrainians understand Russian, but this is mostly because ...
user37
25
votes
11
answers
8k
views
Usage patterns of "надо" vs. "нужно"
What are the mechanics behind using надо over нужно or vice versa? What governs when they are interchangeable and when not?
To be perfectly clear: I have no problems simply using whichever sounds ...
- 1,259
25
votes
6
answers
2k
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What is the meaning of: "- Отнеси кота на веранду. - Да уж лежит там."
In a recent test I had to translate the following:
-- Отнеси кота на веранду.
-- Да уж лежит там.
My translation was:
"Bring the cat to the verandah."
"It is already lying there.&...
- 11.3k
25
votes
11
answers
4k
views
Been learning Russian for 10 years, still can't understand my wife when she talks with her friends, what to do?
I really want to become fluent in Russian. And I've been trying for so many years.
With a risk that this question will be closed, I can't think of a better place to ask this.
My wife is of Russian ...
25
votes
8
answers
3k
views
How are short and long form adjectives used differently?
I'm confused by long form adjectives (which seem to be more common) and short form adjectives. For example, from свобода (freedom) there is the long form adjective свободный and the short form ...
- 643
25
votes
4
answers
2k
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Как бы звучало по-русски название медведя *r̥ḱs-os/*r̥ḱt-os, доживи оно до наших дней?
Как известно, слово "медведь" это слово-заменитель табуированного "истинного" имени зверя. Похоже что такие замены происходили неоднократно - старое "истинное" имя забывалось и табу переходило на ...
- 11.3k
25
votes
3
answers
381
views
What is the order of adjectival premodifiers?
What are the syntactic and semantic constraints on the order of adjectival premodifiers in Russian?
In English, linguists and nonspecialist users of language alike generally agree that the order of ...
- 353
24
votes
9
answers
6k
views
Russian word for a male zebra
Let's suppose I am writing a fictional but realistic story about a male zebra.
Here is the problem. On the one hand, the grammatical gender of the Russian word "зебра" is feminine, so it is ...
- 11.3k
24
votes
4
answers
6k
views
How frequently do Russian people still refer to others by their patronymic (отчество)?
I'm American, and so almost all of the Russian people I know are ex-Soviets, most of whom are very traditional and many of whom have impeccable manners. As such, I think that I may have an overblown ...
- 343
24
votes
13
answers
15k
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What is the difference between "теперь" and "сейчас"
It seems to me that these two words have the same meaning. The dictionary doesn't help much, it gives them as synonyms. Although the meaning of "сейчас" is more general and can refer to past events:
...
- 6,568
24
votes
5
answers
4k
views
How come the Russian cognate for the Czech word "čerstvý" (fresh) means entirely the opposite thing (stale)?
In Russian, черствый хлеб (chorstvy khleb) is stale bread.
And to my great surprise, I recently learned that in Czech, čerstvý chléb is precisely the opposite thing: fresh bread.
My question is: ...
- 11.3k
24
votes
8
answers
16k
views
"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 ...
- 1,658
24
votes
6
answers
16k
views
The history and meaning of "ни фига себе"
I understand how the expression is used pretty well, but wonder where did it come from?
What exactly does фиг mean?
- 1,326
24
votes
6
answers
4k
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....
- 1,895
23
votes
5
answers
22k
views
Racist language in Russia/USA
I really hope this question doesn't get deleted or flagged, so to make sure it doesn't I will try to keep it as academic as possible.
I am currently an American student studying in Saint Petersburg ...
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