All Questions
4,665
questions
1
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5
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Asking the time
I read this phrase in a Russian book: "Сколько время?" Is this correct? I thought it was "Сколько времени?".
- 13
5
votes
4
answers
312
views
Pronouns with transitive verbs
First, a few examples. The following excerpts are taken from "Brothers Karamazov" by Dostoevsky:
Page 22:
Не плачь, Григорий, ступай к Марфе, она утешит, спать уложит.
"she will ...
- 432
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 ...
- 133
1
vote
4
answers
246
views
What's an appropriate Russian noun or verb for "representation"?
There exist some people who have difficulty learning the Python programming language and some people who do not have such difficulties.
When teaching students, it's useful to explain that the Python ...
- 193
3
votes
2
answers
247
views
What is the difference semantically between речь and выступление?
I believe both речь and выступление can have the same shade of meaning that the word "speech" does in English (not as in an utterance, but as in a formal address you give before an audience)....
- 31
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votes
2
answers
152
views
How would you render the phrase, "the symbol for the suit of spades in a deck of playing cards" in Russian?
How would you write:
♠
"This is the symbol for spades in a deck of playing cards"
The following is not a very good translation:
♠
Это символ пики в колоде игральных карт.
- 193
1
vote
2
answers
227
views
Is the sentence „Птицы не любят такого леса“ grammatically correct, and why?
Несмотря на тишину и покой, птицы не любят такого леса и предпочитают
держаться в молодых зарослях.
link (Mamin-Sibiryak)
Despite being a Russian speaker myself, I have some trouble with the ...
- 1,225
0
votes
2
answers
95
views
Rules for dash between subject and predicate when the predicate is an adjective
I'm a native Russian speaker, but I'm a little ashamed that I don't quite know the rules for when I need to use a dash.
Let's consider a very simple sentence:
Маша (—) умная и красивая.
Do we need a ...
- 1,225
2
votes
2
answers
164
views
Как правильно указать на счеты во множественном числе?
Канцелярских счёт или канцелярских счётов? Как правильно в родительном падеже?
- 123
11
votes
4
answers
2k
views
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"....
- 113
0
votes
2
answers
172
views
Is разговор in fact раз + говорить because a conversation is like a repeated/iterative/continuous act of speaking?
Take the three chunks of text below:
One time.
Speak.
A conversation.
They can be translated as
Один раз.
Говорить.
Разговор.
So I can't help but notice that pазговор- looks and sounds like a ...
- 250
1
vote
0
answers
58
views
Когда/Почему используется глагол «быть» в прошедшем времени с другим прошедшим глаголом? [duplicate]
Я читаю книгу Пелевина «Омон Ра» и несколько раз видел такую конструкцию, типа:
[...] я положил было руку на трубку, но вспомнил, что уже заткнул уши ватой;
Почему используется здесь «было», то есть,...
- 11
0
votes
1
answer
137
views
палёнка = pálenka?
Недавно я наткнулся в чешском языке на слово "pálenka" - это такое фруктовое бренди. Первая ассоциация, пришедшая на ум - слово "палёнка" (алкоголь низкого качества).
Это может ...
- 277
5
votes
5
answers
312
views
"Eдинственная, кто поддержалa его" or "eдинственная, кто поддержал его"
Consider the two following phrases:
она единственная, кто поддержалa его
она единственная, кто поддержал его
Which one is correct according to official rules (whatever we mean by official. Let's say ...
- 37.9k
9
votes
6
answers
2k
views
Why can "через неделю" mean "через 14 дней" depending on the context?
Context : We have math class every Thursday. The teacher said, "...в следущий четверг у нас не будет контрольной... ...будет через
неделю"
To me "через неделю"(1) means in seven ...
- 396
2
votes
5
answers
260
views
When do you use со мной in the accusative case?
I found that sometimes in the Russian language, people use the dative case in the accusative case.
Here is an example:
как ты мог так поступить со мной?
How could you do this to me?
Here they used the ...
1
vote
1
answer
95
views
чего-то невозможного
Here is a sentence from Семейное счастие by Tolstoy:
Неужели и у тебя не примешивается какая-то тоска к наслаждению природой, как будто хочется чего-то невозможного и жаль чего-то прошедшего.
In all ...
- 175
-4
votes
1
answer
144
views
Какое слово используют русские математики для логического следования?
Мой русский очень плохого качества. Пожалуйста, вернитесь к результатам поиска, если вы хотите читать только качественные вопросы и просто не отвечаете на вопросы, которые вам не нравятся.
Для тех, ...
- 193
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 ...
- 193
3
votes
1
answer
119
views
How would the word "облако-кочевник" look in the accusative plural?
облако-кочевник
I want to put this word in the accusative plural. If I want to use correct Russian grammar, how would it look and sound and why? Which rule applies?
Here's the song. https://www....
- 1,225
2
votes
3
answers
121
views
What kind of word is this? "случи́вшемся"
Grammatically and morphologically speaking, what kind of word is this? "случи́вшемся" in the following sentence:
Поговори́ с сы́ном о случи́вшемся.
ChatGPT says: The word "случи́вшемся&...
- 453
5
votes
2
answers
197
views
Use of instrumental and nominative cases with "быть" and "стать"
I was practicing my Russian with a friend when she wrote the following:
"когда я пришёл на фестиваль, народу было не очень много, но позже очереди за едой стали слишком длинные."
In this ...
- 51
1
vote
1
answer
115
views
"я цирюльник-с" and "помните-с?" from Anton Chekhov's "В бане"... what is that -c? [duplicate]
Love Anton Chekhov. In his story "В бане" a character says:
"— Я, ваше высокородие, не банщик, я цирюльник-с."
"Помните-с? Тогда же вы изволили меня насчет невест ...
- 13
3
votes
2
answers
210
views
How to keep on track with large numerals
To be entirely frank, I'm a native speaker, but for the overwhelming majority of my day I only use English, and my Russian has started to wane. My job requires me to cycle through a couple of ...
2
votes
1
answer
76
views
Declension of cвитер [duplicate]
While studying I encountered this word 'cвитер' and then I wondered why there were two forms of the plural for all the declensions.
Does anyone know if this is from the old or the new orthography, ...
- 181
2
votes
1
answer
87
views
Old orthography всѣ, все, всё and издалека vs издалёка
It's redundant to write the two dots above the е in the word все in old orthography (because when it isnt a ё sound, ѣ is written), so why do some old russian bibles do it still? Some places they ...
- 45
0
votes
1
answer
93
views
Translation of "ради Бога" [closed]
For "ради Бога" dictionaries give "for goodness' sake" and "for heaven's sake" as well as "for God's sake." As expressions that support a request, the first two ...
- 49
2
votes
1
answer
172
views
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 ...
- 45
2
votes
1
answer
145
views
Should it be 'было' or 'были' in this case?
What option is correct?
Его уникальным изобразительным средством было всего три символа.
or
Его уникальным изобразительным средством были всего три символа.
?
- 5,752
1
vote
1
answer
153
views
Location - dative or prepositional case?
В носу́ - дательный, в голове́ - дательный или предложный? Is there a rule for this usage?
- 149
2
votes
1
answer
95
views
пригнувшись ко мне грудью
In Семейное счастие by Толстой, we read:
Он, пригнувшись ко мне грудью, стал отстегивать его, и его пальцы без
перчатки тронули мою руку.
I would translate пригнувшись ко мне into "leaning ...
- 175
2
votes
2
answers
170
views
What is the difference between «референтный центр» и «референсный центр»?
In English, the term "reference center" usually refers to a laboratory or a lab network created to pursue all the scientific and technical problems related to a specific narrow area, such as ...
- 123
2
votes
1
answer
74
views
Понимание чего-то(,) как чего-то
Нужна ли запятая в данном обороте перед "как"? Под какое правило можно подвести этот случай?
Контекст:
Я давно подхватил выражение: бодрят победы, а война быстро утомляет. Безусловно, ...
1
vote
2
answers
197
views
"damage" and "to do damage" in video games context
I'm making a YouTube video game guide and I'm adding Russian subtitles to expand my audience. As you know, video games use phrases like "damage", "to do damage" and "deal ...
- 11
7
votes
4
answers
301
views
"его ничем не удивишь": why 2nd person?
I'm reading Гарри Поттер и философский камень and came across a sentence I'm curious about:
Ему вообще казалось, что теперь его ничем не удивишь.
Why is удивишь in the second person? I've googled ...
- 171
3
votes
3
answers
228
views
Perfective of "путешествовать"
Neither of my dictionaries gives a perfective for this imperfective.
Is there an appropriate perfective form of this verb, or should I buy better dictionaries?
- 31
1
vote
3
answers
1k
views
Russian equivalents of some English idioms
I don't speak or read Russian myself, but I'm trying to find some genuine and natural-sounding Russian equivalents of a couple of English phrases.
The first is "keep your shirt on," a ...
- 21
2
votes
1
answer
253
views
Why is непричемыш word written with не?
Why is the word непричемыш written with не, despite the fact that ни при чем is always written with ни?
- 127
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 ...
- 113
5
votes
5
answers
405
views
Какая разница между "почему" и "зачем"?
Какая разница между "почему" и "зачем"?
0
votes
1
answer
98
views
Is there a relation between звонила and телефоне? [closed]
-вон- in звонила sounds a lot like -фон- in телефоне, so I wondering if the former comes from the latter.
The reason I don't think the relation (if it exists) can't be the other way around is that it ...
- 250
0
votes
1
answer
131
views
Why мне всё мало is "I'm not enough" and not "Nothing is enough for me"?
At least on Google Translate, "мне всё мало" is "I'm not enough", which is something I cannot understand. Judging from other uses of the dative case and the word мне, I understand ...
2
votes
2
answers
116
views
preposition attached to noun
In English, you could imagine or invent some situations where you enunciate every single word and leave a space between words. For example:
"This - is - a - sentence. Do you understand?"
In ...
- 432
2
votes
4
answers
263
views
Сначала vs Начало
I've noticed that начало means beginning and сначала means first (in the sense of precendence in time), for instance:
At the beginning of June I bought the table first.
is translated as
В начале ...
- 250
1
vote
2
answers
124
views
Examples of mid-open and mid-closed vowels in Russian
I am looking for Russian word pairs illustrating the distinction between mid-open and mid-closed vowels. Although the distinction is not significant in Russian, both types are probably realized, which ...
- 359
5
votes
2
answers
247
views
Purpose of «по-» as prefix
The way I saw it, «шутил» was potentially the past tense of «шутить».
So, what's the reason for saying «пошутил»? Is it just to make the verb perfective? If so, does that apply to all verbs?
All I ...
- 53
1
vote
2
answers
187
views
What's the difference between "Я хочу приготовить суп на обед" and "Я хочу готовить суп на обед"
I was reading about aspects and I think I understand it's meaning for past tenses, but I still cannot figure out the difference between perfect and imperfect present.
- 145
2
votes
1
answer
177
views
Is there a relation between готов and готовить?
I'm at a very basic level, and I'm doing my best to remember words and notice connections to save some memory.
Cooking and be ready seem to be related to me. In some way, when something is cooked... ...
- 250
8
votes
3
answers
8k
views
Why do Russians refer to the war in Ukraine as "всем известные события"?
At the university I attend, when they have to make a reference to the war in Ukraine, the staff always say "всем известные события..." "... научная конференция не состоится".
It ...
- 396
3
votes
1
answer
255
views
In the word "скорого" why is the "г" pronounced as a "V"?
I thought the letter "г" was supposed to be for the sound "G"?
- 131