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1500 questions
12
votes
9 answers
"Деревья свалил ветер" vs "Деревья свалило ветром"
The former is a personal sentence and the latter an impersonal one, though both the sentences seem semantically (almost) equivalent.
Concerning personal and impersonal sentences, I have some idea how different they are in the light of the speaker's…
okazatsky
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12
votes
3 answers
"На английском" or "по-английски"?
I was wondering if there's any difference between
на английском
and
по-английски
(for example when asking how to say something in English).
Sora.
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12
votes
1 answer
Origin of expression "Ёлки-палки"
In a booklet of elementary readings for foreigners I came across the expression Ёлки-палки.
This seems to translate as "damn" but the relation of that meaning to the literal meaning of the words baffles me.
My questions:
1) what is the etymology of…
Georges Elencwajg
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12
votes
5 answers
Does the phrase "не за что!" have two meanings?
I vaguely remember discussing the phrase "не за что!" with my Russian teacher and I believe that he said the phrase has different meanings when spoken in different ways.
I do remember that one meaning is basically "Hell no!" What is the correct…
user4217
12
votes
5 answers
Значение слова "политота"
Я стал встречать по-видимому новое слово политота.
Когда я попросил объяснить мне его значение, мне его объяснили так:
Это школота, только в политике.
Это пролило некоторый свет на то, что оно значит, но полного понимания не дало.
Что обозначает…
ovgolovin
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12
votes
4 answers
Why is мною used here instead of мной?
In this line:
он сел наземь между мною и Верой
Lawrence DeSouza
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12
votes
2 answers
сдавать/сдать экзамен
During my Russian classes and later, I never felt comfortable with the expressions "to take an exam" and "to pass an exam" as сдавать экзамен and сдать экзамен. It doesn't seem to me like taking an exam and passing it are honest aspectual pairs, but…
KCd
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12
votes
1 answer
What is the translation for "жить захочешь, не так раскорячишься"?
Since we seem to accept questions of the Russian-to-English format, I'd like to ask you helping me with the translation of "жить захочешь, не так раскорячишься". Which is a famous quote from a movie.
My best guess would be: You wanna live, you'll…
Trident D'Gao
- 4,252
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- 45
12
votes
7 answers
Are there non-stress-related homographs in Russian?
Are there homographs in Russian that sound different besides the stress?
E.g. like "read" in English:
I will read (ee) that book
VS
I have just read (e) that book
P.S. I hope the answer to this question won't be just "NO" :-)
Geo
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12
votes
3 answers
When is semicolon used in Russian?
What are the cases and possibly rules for using semicolon (;) in Russian?
brilliant
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12
votes
3 answers
Where do the following words come from: лето, весна, осень, зима?
I am interested in knowing the etymology of names of the seasons in Russian: лето, весна, осень, зима.
UPDATE:
And especially the original meaning of the proto-words that gave birth to these words.
Trident D'Gao
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- 45
12
votes
1 answer
Defining autochthonous etymology of Russian lexems
Judging by several etymological discussions erupting around this site, people have vastly different ideas about what constitutes “native” Russian word.
For me, borrowing (whether it be recent (last three-four centuries) technological or scientific…
theUg
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- 29
12
votes
2 answers
Words in "common gender"
In addition to the masculine, feminine, and neuter genders, there are words of "common gender" (слова общего рода) that nearly all decline like a feminine noun but are applied to both men and women. What I find striking about these words is that…
KCd
- 4,964
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- 40
12
votes
3 answers
"Какая рогастая, глазатая, ушатая корова!" — or the morphological domains of "-ст-" vs. simply "-т-"
Perhaps you've noticed this before (every non-native speaker certainly has):
носатый
волосатый
рогатый
усатый
хвостатый
полосатый
but:
губастый
мордастый
рукастый
ушастый
глазастый
What is the pattern here? Is there one?
Before you hurry to…
RegDwight
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12
votes
3 answers
When to use ∂ and when to use the g-type for little д?
I'm always unsure as to how to choose to write д in my handwriting.
Can one arbitrarily choose between ∂ and the minuscule (little g-type) here shown? (I mean, sticking to one of them for the whole text, but is it otherwise arbitrary?)
c.p.
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