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1500 questions
12
votes
4 answers
Is "мочиться" a vulgar or indecent word to any extent?
This is a famous quote from Heart of a Dog (Собачье сердце)
Если я, входя в уборную, начну, извините за выражение, мочиться мимо унитаза и то же самое будут делать Зина и Дарья Петровна, в уборной начнется разруха.
(translation by Avril Pyman) If,…
sharptooth
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12
votes
3 answers
Affectionate Name for Girlfriend
I am writing a story (set in the modern day) involving a Russian man who has an American girlfriend named Anna.
I'm trying to figure out what affectionate name he might use for her. Specifically:
Is there an appropriate diminutive form for…
Lynn
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12
votes
3 answers
How to translate 'My brain is fried?'
What are some phrases that can be used to express that it's hard to think because you're very tired. In English, saying your 'brain is fried' can be due to external factors such as taking drugs, but I'm talking very simply about how to say you're…
Конрад
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12
votes
3 answers
Why does дом become дома instead of домы?
I don't understand why the plural version of дом is дома instead of домы. I had thought that the common rule was to add -и / -ы at the end of masculine words in the nominative form.
user5898
12
votes
7 answers
“Она врач” or “она врачь”?
So my question is whether I should use a soft sign at the end of врач when I am referring to a woman doctor? It seems like in this case врач becomes feminine and the same rule as for ночь has to be used.
Trident D'Gao
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11
votes
2 answers
Russianization of Ancient Greek personal names
Can anyone shed some light onto the process by which (masculine) personal names of the Ancient Greek world were Russianized? With some notable exceptions (Homer, Aristotle, Hadrian, et al.), English tends to Anglicize them using a fairly…
Kачкодзьоб
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11
votes
10 answers
Why do Russians say "Чего?" and not "Что?" when they didn't understand something?
Иди, дело есть. ― Чего? ― спросил Карусельщик с подозрением, но из тумана все же показался. // [Елена Хаецкая. Синие стрекозы Вавилона/ Семеро праведных в раю господина (2004)]
Could anybody explain why чего is used in genitive here?
In English…
Paul Throttle
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11
votes
8 answers
"Being wise after the event" - analog in Russian?
I've found that there is a relatively known English proverb that goes like this:
It is easy to be wise after the event.
I'm interested, is there an equivalent in Russian for the whole proverb or the phrase "being wise after the event"? If not,…
Mirzhan Irkegulov
- 760
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11
votes
2 answers
Why are there letters which look similar but are pronounced differently between the English alphabet and Russian Cyrillic?
Gadling teaches you to read the Cyrillic alphabet in 5 minutes mentions that there's some letters in Cyrillic that look like letters in the English alphabet, but their pronunciation in Russian is different to the similar looking letter in…
Golden Cuy
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11
votes
2 answers
Why "обо всём" but "перед всем"?
Why is it
обо мне
обо всём
but
передо мной
перед всем
Philip Seyfi
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11
votes
7 answers
"Horse has gypsy in its teeth" - what does it exactly mean?
In the Neil Cornwell translation of Daniil Kharms' story "Clunk" I see the following sentence:
The picture is a drawing of a horse, the horse has gypsy in its teeth.
That sounds like a very strange picture: the picture of a horse with a man…
some user
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11
votes
7 answers
Russian idiom for redundancy
In Canada we have the idiom "selling ice to the eskimos" to illustrate someone doing something redundant. What is it in russian that illustrates redundancy? I've looked at lists of idioms but haven't seen any that illustrate redundancy.
Timr
- 359
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11
votes
2 answers
Are there analogous words for words оба, обе for three and more?
I can take two books in the bookshop and say обе to indicate I want to buy both.
Are there any analogous words for three and more items, to indicate that I have all of them in mind?
Stepan Vihor
- 385
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11
votes
4 answers
Why Russians use adjective when speaking about their nation and nouns for the rest of the world?
how come that russian (русский) in context of ethnic group is adjective, but all(?) other ethic groups are called using nouns, американец, серб, эстонец, латыш, казах ...
Are there similar examples in other languages?
Gennadi
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11
votes
3 answers
Particle же vs Particle -то
What is the difference in the meaning between the particles "же" and "-то"?
For example,
Он же не пришёл.
Vs.
Он-то не пришёл.
Barbara
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