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Pronunciation of interjection "ого"

I've always thought it should be pronounced with the standard Russian voiced velar stop Г [g]. But lately i've been hearing recordings where it's pronounced as voiced glottal fricative [ɦ] like the Ukrainian Г. This pronunciation also represents the…
Баян Купи-ка
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Origin of the phrase “их нравы”

Where and when did the phrase in question originate? Was it the invention of Soviet propaganda, or did authorities themselves adopted the earlier phrase from other literary sources? Could it be used in its disdainful connotation by earlier religious…
theUg
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В чем разница между роптать, сетовать а жаловаться

Прочитав объяснение и примеры приведенные в Викисловаре. Мне кажется жалуется тот, кто просто говорит о том, что ему плохо, у него болит; жаловаться - это нейтральное слово сетовать - мне кажется, что это слово ничем не отличается от слова…
marmistrz
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Velarisation of Russian hard consonants

I often read that Russian consonants are "harder" than English ones--that is, they are velarised. I understand how this affects the consonant when pronounced in isolation--Т, Т, Д, Д--with secondary articulation of the back of the tongue towards the…
VCH250
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Is there a similar proverb to the one about a horse and water?

So I am curious if there is something similar to the proverb that sounds like: You can lead a horse to the water but you can't make it drink.
Trident D'Gao
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Nuances between "что это за серьги" and "что там с этими серьгами"

Care to explain what's the deal with these earrings, why such a fuss? I wanted to express this idea in Russian. How are these two expressions nuanced here? I wonder if "что там с ..." implies that there will surely be some story to be told about…
Con-gras-tue-les-chiens
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Nuances between "распугивать" and "отпугивать"

Вы мне клиентов распугиваете. Вы мне клиентов отпугиваете. Am I correct in assuming that the prefix "от-" simply conveys the idea of someone moving away from a place, whereas the suffix "рас-/раз-" is more about multiple people being scattered in…
Con-gras-tue-les-chiens
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What is the difference between что and чего?

I was taught that the translation of "what" is что, but recently I noticed that people use чего in the same meaning of "what?". Is that useage correct or slang or what is it? n.b. I don't know a language that has more than one translation to…
Influx
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Difference between "бренчать" and "тренькать"

can anyone explain to me the difference between these words, and maybe наматывать as well? I was doing guitar-vocab, and my usual resources seem to be drawing a blank.
user173361
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пятнашки as puzzle name

The Russian Wikipedia page for the 15-puzzle calls it пятнашки, while the Викисловарь page for пятнашки defines it as a children's running game. A native speaker I know, who hasn't lived in Russia for about 20 years, doesn't recall пятнашки being…
KCd
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Position of "Не" before negated word

I'm having a really hard time understating the difference in sentences like— Я был не уверен VS. Я не был уверен Я не жил в Канаде VS. Я жил не в Канаде. What is the difference in sentences such as the above mentioned? Thanks)
VCH250
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"Even-though" in Russian language

What would be the accurate translation for "Even though"? I found "даже если" and "даже когда" and in Cambridge dictionary (English- Russian) "несмотря на то что". So, I am a little bit confused about the term that I have to use. For example:…
Influx
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Why does the noun слепой decline like an adjective?

As shown by the declension table for the noun version of слепой here: https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/слепой this word apparently is a noun (blind person) but declines like an adjective (prepositional case is слепом and not слепое* as I would…
evilfred
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Why use the perfective "доказать", not the imperfective "доказывать", despite "несколько раз" referring to repeated actions?

Я уже несколько раз доказала тебе, что ... {instead of}: Я уже несколько раз доказывала тебе, что ... I was under the impression that you should use an imperfective verb to express the idea of something happening multiple times. I wonder why a…
Con-gras-tue-les-chiens
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Why are some city names, when named after people, given -sk suffix, but others aren't?

Two examples: Yekaterinburg was renamed to Sverdlovsk in 1924, after the man Yakov Sverdlov. Notice the -sk prefix. Orenburg was renamed to Chkalov in 1938, after the man Valery Chkalov. Notice this name doesn't have the -sk suffix. I am wondering…
DrZ214
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