Skip to main content
Search type Search syntax
Tags [tag]
Exact "words here"
Author user:1234
user:me (yours)
Score score:3 (3+)
score:0 (none)
Answers answers:3 (3+)
answers:0 (none)
isaccepted:yes
hasaccepted:no
inquestion:1234
Views views:250
Code code:"if (foo != bar)"
Sections title:apples
body:"apples oranges"
URL url:"*.example.com"
Saves in:saves
Status closed:yes
duplicate:no
migrated:no
wiki:no
Types is:question
is:answer
Exclude -[tag]
-apples
For more details on advanced search visit our help page
Results tagged with
Search options not deleted user 9256

How the grammar works: how different forms of the same word can be used, what they mean, how they are composed into phrases or sentences. Use this tag with or without a more precise one (check out "morphology", "syntax", "word-order", and tags for different parts of speech ("nouns") and grammatical categories ("cases")).

3 votes

Construction—Как бы не...—Why is "не" used?

"Как бы не" is a traditional construct that is often utilized to convey negative meaning. Let's look into the details of your example. "Правительство боится, как бы этот закон не привел к увлечению б …
Alexander's user avatar
  • 4,339
3 votes
Accepted

Masculine job nouns on women

Masculine job titles are generally well accepted for women as well. Feminine job titles are only sometimes more preferable (ex. "певица" vs "певец"). In many cases feminine titles are either only col …
Alexander's user avatar
  • 4,339
1 vote

Auxiliary verbs

I will touch only the nuances of given examples in my answer. "я погуляю" ("I will go out") is perfective. The implied meaning can be "I will be out, but come back soon." For example: "The dinner is …
Alexander's user avatar
  • 4,339
7 votes

Why use the present imperfective "отвечаем" instead of the future perfective "ответим"?

"Не ответим" is perfective, and the meaning is "Won't be held responsible". "Не отвечаем" is imperfective, and the meaning is, generally, "Won't be seen as being responsible". The difference, as you …
Alexander's user avatar
  • 4,339
0 votes

What is the difference in English between “мне нельзя” and “я не могу”?

In a nutshell - people use "мне нельзя" when they want to say: "I'd like to, but there would be severe repercussions". "Я не могу" is more generic.
Alexander's user avatar
  • 4,339
4 votes
Accepted

What's the difference between using the perf passive participle's short form (with быть) and...

Good question Both variants are grammatical, but only the first one (Дом был построен отцом) is valid. +1 To @shabunc 's answer. Why? Reflective verbs are not universally usable in Russian. Perfective …
Alexander's user avatar
  • 4,339
0 votes

Difference between "такое" and "так"?

"Она часто такое говорит?" - "Does she often say such things?" "Она часто так говорит?" - "Does she often say this?" As @AnnyManny1 stated in the answer "так говорит" may refer to the manner of spee …
Alexander's user avatar
  • 4,339
5 votes
Accepted

How do I determine when to use the perfective versus the imperfective in certain contexts? [...

Generally, perfective forms are used for singular, novel events, while imperfective forms are used for events that might have occurred repeatedly. "я видел его вчера" - "I saw him yesterday". "я увид …
Alexander's user avatar
  • 4,339
8 votes

"У меня все в порядке" or "со мной все в порядке"

Both prepositions are correct, depending on meaning. "у меня все в порядке" means "I'm doing fine", "Things are all right" "со мной все в порядке" means "I'm good" (not hurt, not gone crazy)
Alexander's user avatar
  • 4,339
0 votes

Why do we say "было" instead of "были"?

Because "было" is in front of "много энергии и большой талант" it is preferable to use singular "было" rather than multiple. Сложность вызывает согласование сказуемого с несколькими подлежащими. …
Alexander's user avatar
  • 4,339
3 votes

Sentence structure in the following sentences

2 is a tough case to understand straight, I don't think it's ever used. I can propose a context that can make it somewhat plausible: "Ну что там поймала кошка?" "Мышь! Мышь поймала кошка."
Alexander's user avatar
  • 4,339
4 votes

English "for + verb"? eg 'I need to buy supplies for camping.' There are "for + noun"

Russian language does not have a Gerund. "For + [verb]-ing" construction does depend on a gerund. To express similar meaning, Russian either use "for + [noun]" or "for the purpose of [verb]" or "for d …
Alexander's user avatar
  • 4,339
0 votes

What are the uses of words ending in но

If you are looking for English equivalent, Russian "-но" words may be compared to English words with "-able" ("-ible") and "-ful" suffixes. For example: permit permissible можно understand understand …
Alexander's user avatar
  • 4,339
4 votes

"Толстой" and "толстый"

Yes, "-ой" ending is an archaic form of Russian adjectives, which was largely discontinued by the end of XVIII century. Хотя в славенском языке мужеские прилагательные имена множественного числа в …
Alexander's user avatar
  • 4,339
1 vote

Relative locations with compass points

Углич находится на двухстах километрах к северу от Москвы - "Углич находится в двухстах километрах к северу от Москвы" This would probably be the most common colloquial use case. There may be an alte …
Alexander's user avatar
  • 4,339