How do I say no brainer in Russian?

Question

A "no brainer" is something so clear and obvious that it takes little to no thinking to make a decision, it is definetely not worth the effort to be thinking harder about. How do I say it in Russian?

score 7 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 11 '15 at 11:41

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In Russian it could be:

Slang: Ежу понятно (Коню понятно etc).
Проще простого.

answered Jan 11 '15 at 11:41

Dmitry

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Also 'it was a no brainer' - было [совершенно] очевидным. – Yellow Sky Jan 11 '15 at 12:08
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@YellowSky No. That's not a translation. That's an explanation in another language. I second ежу понятно. – Nikolay Ershov Jan 11 '15 at 14:16
A less — how should I put it — fruity one, but not less expressive (and a bit grumpy), would be дурак и тот поймёт. (No comma needed.) – Nikolay Ershov Jan 11 '15 at 15:36
What is the image of a hedgehog in Russian that gives rise to this? Are they imagined to be dumb animals? – KCd Jan 11 '15 at 23:12
@KCd - There're 2 versions, it can be a quote from the 1925 poem by Mayakovsky, "Сказка о Пете, толстом ребенке, и о Симе, который тонкий": «Ясно даже и ежу — / Этот Петя был буржуй». According to the other version, in the Soviet specialised schools for gifted children there were classes А, Б, В, Г, and Д for those who had to study 2 more years, and Е, Ж, И for 1 year, the pupils in the latter were called "ежи", and when they only started their studying in those schools the former pupils had already been there for a year and were more educated. Here: http://www.gramma.ru/RUS/?id=14.77 – Yellow Sky Jan 11 '15 at 23:31
Yellow Sky Wow i've never knew that! I've studied in a school that just had too much classes and labeled up to "Ж" and there was no such differences. Maybe because it was just common soviet school. – Dmitry Ilukhin Jan 14 '15 at 07:00
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By the way, hedgehog is not only one used for this saying; in our family we say "козе понятно" :) – Dmitry Ilukhin Jan 14 '15 at 07:01

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 14 '15 at 06:42

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We have a lot sentences with the same meaning:

К бабке не ходи
И ежу понятно
Естественно
Само собой
etc.

answered Jan 14 '15 at 06:42

Alexander Perechnev

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К гадалке не ходи, Разумеется, Понятное дело

madfriend

Jan 20 '15 at 14:07

user1306322 · Answer 3 · 2015-01-13T02:09:32.690

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You could also say «Ясное дело!» или «Ясен пень!» (which is a jargon version of the first) but the more appropriate phrase of all listed in the answers depends on the context.

− Смотри не пожодги газовый баллон.
− Ясное дело — взорвется ведь!
− Взорвется, это и ежу понятно.

edited Jan 13 '15 at 02:09

answered Jan 11 '15 at 22:06

user1306322

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While this expression obviously exists I do not think promoting (potentially short-lived) jargon is particularly productive here. The expression itself is a jargon version of ясное дело - literally, a clear matter. – Avi Gordon Jan 12 '15 at 20:45

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 11 '15 at 20:13

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Ежу понятно - it is correct, and colloquial.
Other options:

не бином Ньютона (maybe slightly bookish)
не требует большого ума (stylistically neutral)

answered Jan 11 '15 at 20:13

Eugenia Vlasova

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"Козе понятно". – BrainsFeeder Jan 13 '15 at 06:22

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 12 '15 at 02:34

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Даже ребёнку понятно.
И дураку понятно.

answered Jan 12 '15 at 02:34

Jacob Seleznev

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score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Jan 12 '15 at 08:00

When you refer to the situation of an obvious decision (rather than an a reason or explanation), a closer translation of "no-brainer" would be like «нечего раздумывать», «тут и думать было нечего» or so.

«Ежу понятно» and other suggested variants can refer to any uncomplicated matter, even when "no-brainer" is hardly applicable («Спасибо, что объяснил. Теперь-то это и ежу понятно!»)

How do I say no brainer in Russian?

6 Answers6