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1500 questions
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4 answers

Russian cases: A few examples, I'm really confused

I'm doing the Pimsleur Russian audio course and I've come across some sentences that I'm not sure about. Example 1: I have money = у меня́ есть де́ньги. So far, so good. "At my place, there is money." It seems intuitive that money is in the…
user1622
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14
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3 answers

Difference between российский and русский

I have not yet understood the difference (if any) between the terms российский and русский. I'd like to know whether one is a special case of the other and if the use of the former is old-fashioned. (Dicctionaries only say that российский means…
c.p.
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14
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2 answers

Different words for "German" in Russian?

The Russian word for German is немецкий which means something like, "voiceless" or "mute." And yet the country is sometimes referred to as Германия. Why the difference between the two?
Tom Au
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14
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4 answers

What are some examples of nouns that end in -у in prepositional case

I know one already: in the garden - в саду
Lawrence DeSouza
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14
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3 answers

Imperatives and Aspect

When using an imperative form, what effect does the speaker's choice of aspect have? More concretely — what's the difference between (for example) снимай пальто and сними пальто? In both cases, the speaker intends for the action to be completed…
DET
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1 answer

Why is there a "ц" in "Сан-Франциско"?

San Francisco, Сан-Франциско in Russian, is a Spanish name meaning "Saint Francis". The Сан in the city name is a direct phonetic adoption, but the Франциско differs from the Spanish in the inclusion of the ц. It seems to me that with modern…
Aaron Brick
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14
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3 answers

Is "ну ты бухать" grammatically valid?

I don't understand what makes "ну ты бухать" a valid language construct. Can anybody point out some references? Is it some sort similar to "ну ты даешь"?
Trident D'Gao
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14
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3 answers

What nuances does the term "тугрик" have?

When not referring to the actual Mongolian currency, what nuances does the term "тугрик" have, if any? For example, does it imply that the currency is weak?
Golden Cuy
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13 answers

Does anyone know of a simpler way to add accents to Cyrillic vowels than what is typically found online?

Not too long ago, I found a web page that gave instructions for adding accent marks to Cyrillic vowels. Unlike many other instructions I have seen, these were beautifully simple in that you typed the Cyrillic vowel first and then you used a key…
Lisa Beck
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14
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5 answers

What does "Ой всё" mean?

What does "Ой всё" mean? My Russian friends use it a lot.
Viktor
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14
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6 answers

What order are the parts of a full Russian name in?

It is my understanding that Russians have a first name, surname, and patronymic. What is the order of a full name: "first name, surname, patronymic" or "first name, patronymic, surname"?
Christina Leuci
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14
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1 answer

"С волками жить - по-волчьи выть" - каков изначальный смысл пословицы?

Каков изначальный смысл пословицы "С волками жить - по-волчьи выть"? Я смотрю на разные источники в Интернете и замечаю, что они предлагают разные толкования заложенного в эту пословицу смысла. Есть источники, которые считают, что эта пословица…
14
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3 answers

What is the proper use of the word ли?

My understanding is that it means "whether" in some contexts, but can mean "if" in others. What is the difference in usage? And what might be the difference between ли and Если, assuming that they both can mean "if?"
Tom Au
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13
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6 answers

What is the Russian translation for "brogrammer"?

There is an article about this word in Urban Dictionary. But what is the Russian for this word? "говнокодер" and "быдлокодер" are not suitable here (it means good developer, not bad). An example of using: I don't write unit tests, interfaces, use…
BurundukXP
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13
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6 answers

Does the word "is" have an actual form in Russian? (Usage rules?)

I am currently learning the Russian language, and was quite intrigued by how they treat articles (they basically disregard/imply them). However, the word "is" is not stated to be an article, yet seems to be implied. The only potential word for "is"…
Colbi
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