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1500 questions
7
votes
2 answers
Strange, Possibly Idiomatic Sentence and the Adverb лишь
What is the meaning of the following sentence:
будь жена хоть коза, лишь бы золотые рога
I understand all the words in the sentence, and I've roughly translated it as: "Whether a wife be a she-goat, if only the golden horn" This is a confusing and…
студент001
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нечего vs. ничего
Up until I started reading through Russian Review Grammar by Marianna Bogojavlensky I had only seen ничего offered as a translation for the English "nothing." Bogojavlensky's text, however, often uses нечего in its example dialogues as in the…
студент001
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7
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2 answers
When is it more appropriate to use "преподаватель" rather than "учитель"?
As far as I understand, both of these mean more or less the same thing. Duolingo, that introduced me to the Russian language seems to prefer учитель, but Russian Pod 101 prefers преподаватель.
Is преподаватель just more formal, or is there something…
Christina Leuci
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5 answers
"Красная" Площадь
It seems to be relatively common knowledge that the name "Красная Площадь," while translated in English as "Red Square," does not actually mean "Red Square" in Russian, but rather "Beautiful Square." However, I saw this:
The name Red Square does…
SAH
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7
votes
1 answer
To say someone is 'spread thin'
'Spread thin' is a phrase commonly used in reference to a person who has too many responsibilities. For example: "Between his job at the factory, being a dedicated father, and taking university classes online, Tom is spread pretty thin."
What are…
Конрад
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7
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3 answers
В каких контекстах употребляются слова "человеки", "человекам", и т. д.?
Обычно, слово "человек" в множественном числе будет "люди", "людей", "людям" и т.д. Но иногда встречается со словами "человеки", "человекам" и т.д. В каких контекстах они употребляются?
Peter Olson
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7
votes
2 answers
A construction with double "бы"-s
This sentence apparently means "I would like to sleep till April":
Заснуть бы до апреля бы.
But I can't understand the use of "бы" here. Could someone give examples of other sentences using this double-бы construction? For instance, if I…
Jack M
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7
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3 answers
which form of the verb should be used in this particular case: 'работает' or 'рабо́тают'
в нашей компании работает 25 сотрудников
I have come accross this sentence and I have two question about this sentence.
first, I think the subject of the sentence is:
25 сотрудников
since, it is plural 3rd person, the verb sould be рабо́тают…
karfkars
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7
votes
2 answers
Что значит слово ‹‹есмя››?
В контексте ‹‹Жаловать есмя своих холопов вольны, а и казнити вольны же››
Спасибо
Дау
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7
votes
3 answers
Meaning of вся подноготная
In the following sentence and in general, does вся подноготная refer to the truth or to the totality of information?
Статья рассказывает обо всей подноготной.
I was informed that this expression means basically everything, including all the…
CocoPop
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7
votes
1 answer
Declension after decimal numbers
By integer numbers the rule is more or less clear:
1,21,.. год,
2,3,4,22,...года,
5,6,...,19...лет.
How about decimal numbers? does one easily take the integer part of the number before the noun and decline accordingly? or do the decimal…
c.p.
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7
votes
3 answers
Etymology of the phrase "Пряничные ворота"
I understand the phrase as metaphoric gates you want to enter but cannot:
Б. Гребенщиков, "Дуй":
Сколько ни стучись у этих пряничных ворот...
I cannot find an origin of the phrase
user507
6
votes
4 answers
Preposition to quote: из or от (or none of them)
Suppose one wishes to quote a Russian text, say, the following well-known one:
«Наука же говорит: возлюби, прежде всех, одного себя, ибо все на свете на личном интересе основано»
Which way of the following (if any) would be correct to quote the…
c.p.
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6
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3 answers
Чем отличаются "пере-" и "об-" "рабатывающий"?
То есть, почему один завод называется "нефтеперерабатывающим", а другой- "деревообрабатывающим". Может быть, просто от благозвучности? Есть ли конкретная разница между "перерабатывать" и "обрабатывать"?
Честно говоря, я знаю, что процессы на таких…
JohnS
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6
votes
2 answers
Оплата, уплата, платеж, платежка - в чем разница?
Какая разница между словами: "оплата", "уплата", "платеж" и "платежка"?
Спасибо!
Sonja Kalaba
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