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1500 questions
8
votes
3 answers
Why do many military unit types have weird declension?
I mean plural genitive in "отряды драгун, улан, гусар, рейтар, кирасир, партизан, гренадир", but for some reason that doesn't apply to "отряды мушкетёров, юнкеров, сапёров и казаков".
Why does this apply to some unit types, but not the others? It's…
Alexey
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8
votes
3 answers
Russian equivalents of the English idiom "So much for (a peaceful vacation)!"
First ..., and now this!? So much for a peaceful vacation!
In English, you use the expression "so much for X" ironically and dejectedly when something didn't turn out the way you'd hoped. In this specific example, something put a damper on what…
Con-gras-tue-les-chiens
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8
votes
4 answers
Position of "бы" when forming conditional
My learning book for Russian gives the two following example sentences about conditional:
Он сказал бы
Мы бы хотели
My question is: can we put interchangeably "бы" before or after the verb it "qualifies"? Is the meaning anyhow affected by the…
filaton
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8
votes
6 answers
Declension of adjectives in conjunction with the verb "быть"
I want to express that I had a short night.
Night is a feminine noun, so I would decline the adjective accordingly:
Моя ночь была короткая.
I know that short forms exist and can be applied, when used predicatively:
Моя ночь была коротка.
This is…
user1438038
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8
votes
1 answer
Describe a Language Without the Noun for "Language"
In English it is rare to use the noun "language" when describing them. It is most common to name the language as such:
Engl -ish
Span -ish
French
Russi -an
Germ -an
Is it acceptable/common/comfortable to name these without the trailing word…
TomSchober
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8
votes
4 answers
Have your cake and eat it too - Equivalent Expression in Russian
Wikipedia claims that the expression И рыбку съесть, и в воду не лезть is equivalent to "having your cake and eating it too", literally translated to wanting to eat a fish without first catching it from the waters.
It references a footnote however,…
Eddy Boxler
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8
votes
2 answers
Difference between "азбука" and "алфавит"
What's the difference between азбука and алфавит?
My book is constantly using the former, however most of the videos I found use алфавит. Is азбука still used?
Trey
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8
votes
2 answers
8
votes
3 answers
What is Russian translation for "set comprehension"
As I understand from the Wikipedia article, "set comprehension" is an expression like
{ x | x ∈ R, 0
Sergey
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8
votes
3 answers
Difference between "нет" and "не"
What is the difference between «нет» and «не»? They both seem to mean "no". When should each one be used? Are they interchangeable?
ctype.h
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8
votes
1 answer
What is the correct way to transliterate O'Neil or a similar name?
Not sure how to correctly write this - as one word, separate? Do I retain the apostrophe?
amerikashka
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8
votes
3 answers
"Как дела?" and "как у тебя дела?" which one to use?
In my book the meaning of как дела? is given as how are you?
Also the meaning of как у тебя дела? is given as how are you?
So which one should I use?
Sonevol
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8
votes
1 answer
Why is it "девяностОлетний", but "сорокАлетний"?
Why is it "девяностОлетний", but "сорокАлетний"?
Isn't it like the linking vowels in Russian are only "о" and "е"?
brilliant
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8
votes
8 answers
What's the difference between "благодарю" and "спасибо"?
I rarely hear благодарю, so I was wondering under what circumstances would one use it as an expression of gratitude? Are благодарю and спасибо interchangeable?
Trey
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8
votes
1 answer
The infinitive of "уймитесь"?
повернись - повернитесь - повернуться
ложись - ложитесь - ложиться
оглянись - оглянитесь - оглянуться
успокойся - успокойтесь - успокоиться
уймись - уймитесь - ?
brilliant
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