Most Popular
1500 questions
8
votes
3 answers
Why do Russians refer to the war in Ukraine as "всем известные события"?
At the university I attend, when they have to make a reference to the war in Ukraine, the staff always say "всем известные события..." "... научная конференция не состоится".
It was interesting for me that everybody was using that phrase, as if they…
Maroon Racoon
- 415
- 2
- 9
8
votes
7 answers
"У меня оба часов/обеи часы/обои часы сломались"?
У меня оба часов/обеи часы/обои часы сломались.
What' s the correct way of stating the fact that both of my watches are not functioning?
brilliant
- 5,752
- 1
- 15
- 32
8
votes
2 answers
Do Russian use the Cyrillic Thousands Sign (“҂” U+0482)?
In English (at least in North America, don't know about other English area) you see things like 10k as an abbreviation of 10000. I'm wondering if Russian does something similar, particularly regarding this ҂ symbol I came across in Unicode's…
L.Z.
- 81
- 2
8
votes
1 answer
What did President Putin mean by "Кто в лавке-то останется? Кто работать будет?"
In one of his interviews, President Putin used the expression "Кто в лавке-то останется? Кто работать будет?", apparently alluding to some well-known joke, but I can't find any reference to the original.
Is this expression idiomatic? What does it…
Trident D'Gao
- 4,252
- 27
- 45
8
votes
1 answer
Numbers ending in 1
Quoting this article on Russian plurals:
If the number is 1, or the number ends in the word “один” (example: 1, 21, 61) (but not 11), then you should use the case (singular) that is suitable for the position in the sentence. The number one declines…
Traxex1909
- 183
- 3
8
votes
5 answers
How would you say 'one raspberry' or 'two raspberries' in Russian?
I checked on Wiktionary and apparently 'малина' means:
1 (uncountable, collectively) raspberries (fruit)
2 (uncountable) raspberry (plant)
If both forms are uncountable, then surely you can't change them according to number... so saying 'one' or…
ermatveit
- 641
- 3
- 10
8
votes
2 answers
Значение слова кощун в средние века
Современные словари определяют слово кощун как "насмешник, богохульник".
Однако в "Материалах для словаря древнерусского языка" Срезневского напротив слов кощуна, коштяна, коштюна написано "μύθος, λήρος, басня, вздоръ":
.
Так что же означало это…
Artemix
- 11,331
- 3
- 40
- 84
8
votes
2 answers
Why "их" instead of "его" in Dostoevsky's Adolescent?
In this passage from Dostoevsky's Adolescent, Arkady is getting worked up about a mistake his sister is supposedly making in Russian. I was wondering what plural их for singular его is about in the following excerpt:
« — Лиза, я сегодня видел…
grandtout
- 517
- 2
- 9
8
votes
2 answers
Is there a word or phrase that is comparable to "legalese" in Russian?
In English (at least American English), we have the term "legalese", which Wikipedia defines as:
Legal writing that is very difficult for laymen to read and understand, the implication being that this abstruseness is deliberate for excluding the…
Александр
- 753
- 1
- 7
- 25
8
votes
2 answers
What is the difference between "число" and "количество"?
In the newspaper Izvestia I have seen the phrase
число случаев
and
количество случаев
For example:
В мире число случаев заражения коронавирусом превысило 10,3 млн.
In the world, the number of cases of coronavirus infection has exceeded 10.3…
Lisa Beck
- 2,215
- 13
- 28
8
votes
3 answers
Это русская пословица? "The church is near, but the road is icy. The bar is far, but we will walk carefully."
The church is near, but the road is icy.
The bar is far, but we will walk carefully.
Is this really an original Russian proverb and how sounds the Russian original version? Are there corresponding sayings in other languages?
The English text was…
granular_bastard
- 183
- 4
8
votes
1 answer
Живут или живёт?
I have come across this sentence where the verb жить is declined for the third person singular:
Там живёт около 500 человек.
Shouldn't живут be grammatically correct since we're talking about more than 2 people?
Steve
- 420
- 2
- 6
8
votes
3 answers
If Spider-Man is Человек-Паук, what would make a good Russian name for Batman?
In Russian translations of stories about Spider-Man, the name of that superhero is translated as Человек-Паук (Chelovek-Pauk), which is a composition of the Russian words for man and spider, but you can't find an analogous Russian name for Batman in…
Mitsuko
- 11,281
- 3
- 34
- 95
8
votes
2 answers
How to translate the word "cени" to English
In other words how to translate this line:
Ласточка с весною в сени к нам летит?
Vlad
- 189
- 3
8
votes
5 answers
Russian equivalent of expression "you know"
Sometimes I feel the need to fill a gap, while conversing, with something that in English would be filled with "you know" in the sense described by thefreedictionary.com:
Used parenthetically in conversation, as to fill pauses or educe the…
c.p.
- 3,093
- 3
- 22
- 42