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1500 questions
13
votes
5 answers
What is the difference between "всё" and "все"?
I thought that всё referred to inanimate/abstract concepts - like in всё равно or это всё - and все was used with animate - like все студенты. But I've seen the two used in virtually the same contexts recently, and I'm confused as to the difference…
анна
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13
votes
5 answers
Proper usage of "бедолага"?
The closest thing I could find out is that this means something like "poor thing", used when you are taking some sort of pity on someone. Is this correct?
Also, what does the word actually translate to, and how did it get to mean that?
galois
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13
votes
3 answers
Повадно ли такое словотворчество?
Льзя ли применять слова без отрицательной приставки?
BrainsFeeder
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13
votes
3 answers
Declension chart
Many years ago, more than ten, I stopped studying Russian. Even quite understand things, I can read and understand (almost) without problems. However I would like to practice and improve my Russian.
However in my last move I lost some of the…
Aradnix
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13
votes
8 answers
Is there a difference between "кидать" and "бросать"?
In many cases, you can find that words which initially appear to be absolute synonyms actually have slight differences in meaning, so that one can be used in a specific setting while the other cannot. Is there such a difference for кидать and…
Vitaly Mijiritsky
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13
votes
3 answers
"нет грамм" vs. "нет граммов": a new case or two different words with separate paradigms?
The question comes from the discussion here and is a little bit geeky =)
It was suggested that there may be a new case in Russian: Счетный (Numerative).
As an instance of this case, Anixx gave the following example:
на этой шкале нет граммов…
Olga
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13
votes
4 answers
13
votes
5 answers
Using "когда-то" to refer to the future
I feel it is safe to say that outside of any context, когда-то defaults to meaning "at some point in the past", at least in the dialect I am speaking. I might even go so far as to say that that's the only meaning I use it in myself.
However, every…
RegDwight
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13
votes
3 answers
Distinguishing between "effectiveness" and "efficiency" in Russian
The Russian translation for "effectiveness" seems to be "эффективность", a word that sounds pretty similar to "effectiveness" and also initially would seem to be able to be used interchangeably to describe the same concept in both…
Max
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13
votes
1 answer
больница vs госпиталь
Меня учили, что это синонимы. Но по прочтении некоторых книг мне кажется, что все-таки некоторая смысловая разница есть. А какая?
johnfound
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13
votes
6 answers
Иметь vs у меня for physical things
I get that у меня is the most common pattern for showing ownership of things, say леопарда or самокат. What happens to the meaning were I to use Иметь instead? Does it mean the exact same thing?
(this Q seems to imply Иметь is for abstract things…
MatthewMartin
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13
votes
4 answers
What is this Russian word which means "just a sec"?
I am looking for a word I heard already several Russian people say and that yet I can’t find on any translation platform. This word sounded like «час», or «счас», in the context of «give me a sec», or «one moment please».
But I have no clue how to…
AAS98
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13
votes
5 answers
What's the problem with "я свободна в четверг и могу в него сходить на свидание"?
My instructor marked that sentence as wrong. He said it would have been fine to write, "Я свободна в четверг и могу в этот день сходить на свидание." Why is "в этот день" fine while "в него" isn't?
Update: A comment was made by Elena:
Всего…
Jessica
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13
votes
6 answers
Is there a future tense in Russian?
There is widespread consent among grammarians of Germanic languages that there is no future tense in those languages. The idea of futurity is either conveyed periphrastically (often with modal or semimodal verbs, as in English will/shall/be going…
stillenat
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13
votes
5 answers
What does "Я дежурный по апрелю" mean?
Here is a song by Bulat Okudzhava "Дежурный по апрелю":
Ах, какие удивительные ночи,
только мама моя в грусти и тревоге:
"Что же ты гуляешь, мой сыночек,
одинокий, одинокий?
Что же ты гуляешь, мой сыночек,
одинокий, одинокий?"
Из конца…
brilliant
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