Can you provide two sentences that mean the same, but one sentence is formally a negation of another?

Question

Does there exist in Russian a pair of sentences which are the formal negation of each other, but have the same meaning?

"Ждать пока закипит чайник", "Ждать пока не закипит чайник", though thorough analysis shows that it is not "true grammatical negation". — Artemix, Feb 26 '14 at 10:31
@Artemix Not bad, but it is not the answer, sorry. The negation of a secondary clause of the sentence is not the negation of the sentence — Gangnus, Feb 26 '14 at 14:31
"Хотите ли откушать рыбки?", "Не хотите ли откушать рыбки?" — Artemix, Feb 27 '14 at 10:34
@Artemix Excellent! And different to what I thought about. Please, put it as an answer — Gangnus, Feb 27 '14 at 11:01

score 6 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 18 '20 at 08:26

6

My answer would be:

Хотите ли откушать рыбки?

Не хотите ли откушать рыбки?

The latter question however cannot be answered with simple Да or Нет answer.

edited Jun 18 '20 at 08:26

Community

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answered Feb 27 '14 at 11:09

Artemix

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I meant "Чайник долго остывает" and "Чайник долго не остывает" – Gangnus Feb 27 '14 at 11:42
Really, your example is not what I wanted - it is the question and has no affirmative meaning. But it does fit to the question as I set it. – Gangnus Feb 27 '14 at 11:44

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 25 '14 at 16:02

1. Он ответил на половину вопросов.
   Он не ответил на половину вопросов.

2. Нам нужно будет провести повторный эксперимент с вероятностью ровно 50%.
   Нам не нужно будет проводить повторный эксперимент с вероятностью ровно 50%.

3. Половина опрошенных поддержала президента, а половина не поддержала.
   Половина опрошенных не поддержала президента, а половина поддержала.

The first is excellent, the second is the same, the third really is only exchange of places. But correct and different from others answers here. +1. — Gangnus, Mar 25 '14 at 20:27
All three are very similar. It's up to you to decide which one (if any) you like the most :) — Yury, Mar 26 '14 at 03:13

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 02 '16 at 00:52

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"Чайник долго остывает" and "чайник долго не остывает" are an example.

answered Jun 02 '16 at 00:52

L_Pav

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It is the answer I waited for. But it is already written here, in comments. – Gangnus Jun 02 '16 at 13:13

Barafu Albino · Answer 4 · 2014-03-26T08:03:38.953

1

One more here

Да, я не люблю медведей.
Нет, я не люблю медведей.

And this

Он не понял ничего.
Он всё не понял.

(However, the second one sounds awkward).

edited Mar 26 '14 at 08:03

answered Mar 21 '14 at 19:12

Barafu Albino

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I can't take it as a negation of the whole sentence, sorry. The sense of the sentence is answering. And the first one says "yes" and the second - "no". But not bad, +1. – Gangnus Mar 25 '14 at 20:31
Added another one. – Barafu Albino Mar 26 '14 at 08:04
Sorry, for that second example, I think, any formally opposite sentence will be grammatically incorrect. The variant "Он всё не..." has rather meaning "He still doesn't..." – Gangnus Mar 26 '14 at 08:51
-1 I think that the second sentence of the second example is not correct Russian. I liked the first example, though. – Olga Mar 26 '14 at 08:53

zag · Answer 5 · 2014-03-26T11:32:43.967

1

— Ты не будешь больше пить чай?
— Да.

— Ты не будешь больше пить чай?
— Нет.

Both answers mean that the person wouldn't drink tea anymore. Both answers are correct, however the first one sounds more natural when question has emphasis on чай (i.e. person decided not to drink tea at all), and the second one does when emphasis is on не будешь (i.e. person doesn't want tea right now).

edited Mar 26 '14 at 11:32

answered Mar 26 '14 at 11:26

zag

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No. Both answers are undefined. – Gangnus Mar 26 '14 at 15:26
Actually, neither answer contains negation. – Olga Mar 27 '14 at 08:09

score -1 · Answer 6 · edited Jun 18 '20 at 08:26

There is a number of so called biaspectual verbs in Russian, those whose perfective and imperfective aspects are homonyms.

Though technically those are different verbs, using them may lead to something you are probably looking for:

Когда-нибудь я крещусь. Я никогда не крещусь. // Some day I'll get baptized. I'm never crossing myself.

Я бегу марафоны. Я не бегу марафонов. // I'm running marathons. I'm not avoiding marathons.

score -2 · Answer 7 · edited Mar 21 '14 at 21:06

-2

Do you mean that you are looking for two sentences that have opposite meaning, and both contain grammatical negation?

If yes, my answer is "indirect negation". Compare the following two sentences:

Я не думаю, что Алекс выиграет
Я думаю, что Алекс не выиграет

The verb "думать" here means "to believe", and both sentences state the same: the absence of your belief in Alex's victory.

It is not a specifically Russian thing, you can construct the same two sentences in English:

I don't believe that Alex will win
I believe that Alex will not win.

You can make similar trick with other verbs of statement, such as "считать", "полагать", "верить", etc.

edited Mar 21 '14 at 21:06

Aleks G

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answered Feb 26 '14 at 14:25

Olga

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No. I mean sentences as: I do like it. I do not like it. – Gangnus Feb 26 '14 at 14:30
Ah, I see. OK, I'd change the title of the question then, because there is no such thing as two sentences that are grammatical negation of each other. – Olga Feb 26 '14 at 15:05
But I know an answer. And there can me more than one, of course. Any correct one will be accepted. :-) – Gangnus Feb 26 '14 at 15:07
Oh, cool, then you can post the answer, too =) – Olga Feb 26 '14 at 15:08
http://russian.stackexchange.com/help/self-answer – Olga Feb 26 '14 at 15:09
I'll wait for a week - people should have a possibility to solve a task themselves. – Gangnus Feb 26 '14 at 15:14
So, on Russian.SE there is no etiquette that one indicates in the question that one knows the answer if one knows the answer? – user32021 Feb 26 '14 at 21:59
It's not that, people usually ask questions to get help, not to play riddles. – Olga Feb 27 '14 at 07:36
But playing riddles is also fun =) – Olga Feb 27 '14 at 07:37

Can you provide two sentences that mean the same, but one sentence is formally a negation of another?

7 Answers7