Most Popular
1500 questions
14
votes
7 answers
How to sarcastically say "good job"
I took Russian in university and can talk a little. A few days ago my Russian friend lost his keys and I wanted to sarcastically say "nice job" in Russian, but I didn't really know what was the proper thing to say and said "хорошая работа". He…
alamoot
- 275
- 2
- 11
14
votes
1 answer
Various words for "priest". What are their emotional connotations?
There are various words used for "priest" in Russian language: поп, батюшка, священник, иерей, ксендз... What are emotional connotations of this words and when are they appropriate to use?
zefciu
- 899
- 7
- 14
14
votes
4 answers
Addressing taxi/bus driver by "шеф"/"командир" - where does it come from?
While using buses and marshrutkas as a means to reach point B from point A, I often hear drivers being addressed as "шеф" or "командир", as in:
Командир, возьми за проезд!
or
Шеф, до вокзала едешь?
Where does this tradition come from and is…
xyzman
- 817
- 5
- 12
14
votes
2 answers
Order of declensions (склонения)
I'm learning Russian, and I see it mentioned in study material that Russian nouns have three declensions (склонения). In English-language learning material, the order of the declensions is like so:
First declension: Most masculine and neuter…
Derek Morrison
- 633
- 7
- 11
14
votes
6 answers
Origin of Да будет свет! - сказал электрик и перерезал провода
What is the origin of the expression Да будет свет! - сказал электрик и перерезал провода.?
Philip Seyfi
- 2,615
- 19
- 34
14
votes
1 answer
Why some Russian interrogatives start with к- and others - with ч-?
Many Russian interrogatives start with к-:
кто?
кому?
куда?
кем?
как?
который?
где? (<кде?)
когда?
On the other hand, some interrogatives start with ч-. They seems to be case variants of "что?":
что?
чему?
чем?
чего?
о чём?
I suppose that all these…
Anixx
- 14,542
- 2
- 32
- 50
14
votes
5 answers
How can I say "start both hourglasses" in Russian?
I've been given the following task:
"Let's suppose you have an hourglass that measures 7 minutes and an hourglass that measures 4 minutes, and you need to time 9 minutes by using only these hourglasses."
I've already figured out a solution, but…
Mitsuko
- 11,281
- 3
- 34
- 95
14
votes
7 answers
Translation for "PhD"
I came across different translations of PhD. I'm always unsure how to use those. The title itself, as lingvo states, can be translated as доктор философии. I've sometimes heard доктор наук too, which I guess is the particular title granted to any…
c.p.
- 3,093
- 3
- 22
- 42
14
votes
2 answers
Can we call forms like "Зин", "Дим", "мам", "пап" vocative case?
Why Russian is usually said to have only six cases, while most Slavic languages have seven?
The missing one - the vocative (звательный падеж) - is however clearly present, at least in the colloquial forms:
Маша → Маш
Зина → Зин
Дима → Дим
etc.
Roger V.
- 359
- 1
- 11
14
votes
5 answers
What does "кося" in phrase "накося выкуси" exactly mean
These days I'm reading a book "История моего современника" by V. G. Korolenko (don't feel guilty for reading it online, you are not breaching any copyright laws in this case, since the author is actually a XIX-early XX centuries revolutionist,…
shabunc
- 37,983
- 5
- 90
- 152
14
votes
6 answers
Why is the Turkish president's surname spelt in Russian as Эрдоган, with г?
I recently got puzzled as to why the Russian journalists spell the surname of the current Turkish president as Эрдоган, with г. We spell his surname as エルドアン, which does not include any sound similar to the Russian г. The Koreans spell his surname…
Mitsuko
- 11,281
- 3
- 34
- 95
14
votes
12 answers
What is the meaning of "понаехать"?
Wiktionary defines the verb "понаехать" as follows:
наехать, приехать во множестве, в большом числе
This is obviously a single meaning, not a list of different meanings, because different meanings are given in Wiktionary as a numerated list rather…
Mitsuko
- 11,281
- 3
- 34
- 95
14
votes
9 answers
Pronunciation of 'ы'
Several resources that I am using say that 'и' and 'ы' represent the same vowel sound, and that the only difference is the palatalization of consonants preceding 'и', but I perceive two different sounds. The same sources say that 'и' sounds like the…
ctype.h
- 1,515
- 4
- 18
- 28
14
votes
7 answers
Russian equivalents of "no love lost"
You say, for instance:
A mere month ago, it seemed they couldn't get enough of each other. My, how things have changed after one big falling-out. Now there is no/little love lost between them.
This expression might not translate easily into other…
Con-gras-tue-les-chiens
- 11,319
- 3
- 14
- 25
14
votes
2 answers
Склоняется ли "сколько"?
Как правильно сказать:
На скольких человек заказывать пиццу
или
На сколько человек заказывать пиццу
Olga
- 6,558
- 4
- 30
- 68