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9
votes
7 answers
Pronunciation of 'Сегодня'
According to the spelling of the word, I would think it would be pronounced
Seguhdnya - Сегодня
However, i've seen several lessons in Russian where it would be pronounced
SeVuhdnya - (but spelled Сегодня)
Is there a reason why it's pronounced…
ddavison
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9
votes
8 answers
Difference between "истина" and "правда"?
Is there a way to describe the difference in meaning between инстина and правда? Is the difference more or less significant in colloquial speech, in comparison to more formal or legal writing? I often see правда translated to 'true' in the sense of…
interpolack
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9
votes
1 answer
What's the reason for the change from "-аго" to "-oго"?
Таяніе снѣга въ сѣверной части Ладожскаго бассейна...
This sentence is taken from a book published in 1908. I understand that the spelling reform of 1917 simplified things by reducing the number of letters and signs used to write the language,…
grandtout
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9
votes
7 answers
What are the meaning and etymology of "выпендриваться"?
I am very much puzzled by the frequently used Russian verb выпендриваться and cannot understand it. Dictionaries and Reverso Context give a variety of translations, but I feel that none of them hits the bull's eye. Perhaps the most common English…
Mitsuko
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9
votes
3 answers
What is the precise meaning of "подсел на мак"?
Some months ago I saw a Russian gomokunarabe player saying in an online chat to his compatriot,
А я подсел на мак.
I cannot recall the context. I can only recall that their chat looked highly colloquial and was hard to understand. They did not…
Mitsuko
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9
votes
2 answers
What should I do with non-Russian proper names that sound like Russian swear words?
Let's suppose I am writing a serious article in Russian about a person, a business, or a geographic object whose proper name sounds in the original language like a Russian swear or obscene word.
Of course, if that person, business, or geographic…
Mitsuko
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9
votes
4 answers
When to use и or а as “and”?
This has already been asked but the answer doesn't seem to be quite right as it states that "a" is supposed to be used as an "adversative conjunctive" for two parts of a sentence in opposition with each other.
However, on Duolingo I am shown an…
Timmy Grozier
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9
votes
3 answers
Can someone tell whether this Russian swear word derives from German?
Лох is a word that I heard among Russians and Ukrainians who never visited Germany. So it’s not quite clear whether the German language is the origin. Can anyone shed any light on the origin of this word?
My guess would be it derives from the German…
0xC0000022L
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9
votes
1 answer
How to decline North Rhein-Westphalia (Северный Рейн-Вестфалия)
I am not certain how to decline it. Wikipedia has no problem with that, and declines all three words independently: в Северном Рейне-Вестфалии. However, intuitively Рейн-Вестфалия seems to be a composite noun. Due to this, I believe I've heard in…
texnic
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9
votes
2 answers
Meaning of word егоза
I was reading the following blog https://ru-abandoned.livejournal.com/1501621.html and couldn't find a translation of the word "ягоза" that made sense from the context. According to the dictionary, "ягоза" is a "fidgety person". A quick search on…
JMP
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9
votes
7 answers
Why do you need to use Я with verbs in the present tense?
The first person singular verb conjugation in the present tense is always different from other verb conjugations, so why the need to use "Я" at all in those cases?
For example, can't you just say "Занимаюсь" instead of "Я занимаюсь"?
chubbycantorset
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9
votes
3 answers
Why use the perfective "поесть" here? – from a Russian proficiency test
В холодильнике ничего не осталось (поесть)?
I've recently took a national Russian proficiency test held in my country, and this comes from one of the grammar-related questions in the most advanced level.
The point of the question was whether to…
Con-gras-tue-les-chiens
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9
votes
3 answers
Answering negative questions with one word (да/нет) - are there rules?
If the question is formulated with negation to the verb, and it is answered with one word: да or нет, what is the rule of how to understand it:
Imagine that the question is a logical expression (no matter does
it have negation or not in it);…
farfareast
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9
votes
5 answers
How to express the contrasting "still others", as in "some people do X, others do Y, still others do Z"?
In English, you say "some ..., while others ...", when comparing just two groups of people. And when the third group is thrown into the mix, you add "still" or "yet" to "others":
Some people do X, others do Y, still/yet others do Z.
The same…
Con-gras-tue-les-chiens
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9
votes
4 answers
Any way to trace when «учёный» became a noun?
I need to know the approximate time учёный was substantivised.
Dahl has no separate entry for the word as either noun or adjective, but he does use it as a noun when defining other terms (e.g. «учоный, этимъ предметомъ занимающійся»).
The Russian…
Nikolay Ershov
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