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1500 questions
27
votes
4 answers
What are these Russian characters that aren't in the alphabet in my learning material?
I have this comic book in Russian that uses characters I don't know from my Russian learning materials.
Please see my image. There are:
small m
и with line on top
g
mirrored s
Which 'standard' characters do they represent?
walter
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26
votes
9 answers
Equivalent adjective of 'thirsty' in Russian
When you're hungry, you say
Я голоден.
When you're thirsty you say
Мне хочется пить.
Is there an adjective in Russian that means thirsty? Perhaps derived from жажда (thirst)?
Has there ever been such an adjective in Russian?
Armen Tsirunyan
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26
votes
5 answers
Why does "ебало" mean a face and "ебаться" mean to fuck?
I had been talking with my Russian friend which used such words like "ебало", "ебаться" and "ебнутый". As I understood, this words have completely difference meaning. It is very curious.
St.Antario
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26
votes
6 answers
Mathematical pronunciation of the number 1
I have a question about pronouncing the number 1 in Russian for mathematics.
When the number 1 appears by itself on the right side of an equation (or inequality or congruence or other mathematical relation), it seems from what I've heard in lectures…
KCd
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26
votes
4 answers
How can I understand this puzzling dialogue with "ну я имею в виду вообще"?
My Russian teacher recently had us, his students, listen some audio recordings of what he called "authentic everyday communications of Russians." We had to understand the dialogues and briefly describe them in our own words, explaining possible…
Mitsuko
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25
votes
11 answers
Been learning Russian for 10 years, still can't understand my wife when she talks with her friends, what to do?
I really want to become fluent in Russian. And I've been trying for so many years.
With a risk that this question will be closed, I can't think of a better place to ask this.
My wife is of Russian origin (we don't speak Russian at home, I've been…
Eran Medan
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25
votes
4 answers
Как бы звучало по-русски название медведя *r̥ḱs-os/*r̥ḱt-os, доживи оно до наших дней?
Как известно, слово "медведь" это слово-заменитель табуированного "истинного" имени зверя. Похоже что такие замены происходили неоднократно - старое "истинное" имя забывалось и табу переходило на новое имя и так далее.
Но если бы это имя не было…
Artemix
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25
votes
3 answers
What is the order of adjectival premodifiers?
What are the syntactic and semantic constraints on the order of adjectival premodifiers in Russian?
In English, linguists and nonspecialist users of language alike generally agree that the order of premodifiers in a nominal phrase cannot be varied…
Vitaly
- 353
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25
votes
8 answers
How are short and long form adjectives used differently?
I'm confused by long form adjectives (which seem to be more common) and short form adjectives. For example, from свобода (freedom) there is the long form adjective свободный and the short form adjective свободен. How are these forms used…
Derek Morrison
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25
votes
13 answers
Is the Ukrainian language understandable for the average Russian native speaker?
The Ukrainian language is very similar to the Russian, but is it understandable for the average Russian native speaker, let's say, in Moscow?
Ukrainians understand Russian, but this is mostly because of the high exposure to the Russian language in…
user37
25
votes
6 answers
What is the meaning of: "- Отнеси кота на веранду. - Да уж лежит там."
In a recent test I had to translate the following:
-- Отнеси кота на веранду.
-- Да уж лежит там.
My translation was:
"Bring the cat to the verandah."
"It is already lying there."
My translation was marked as failed, and I got zero points for…
Mitsuko
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- 95
25
votes
11 answers
Usage patterns of "надо" vs. "нужно"
What are the mechanics behind using надо over нужно or vice versa? What governs when they are interchangeable and when not?
To be perfectly clear: I have no problems simply using whichever sounds most natural in a given situation. So providing just…
RegDwight
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24
votes
8 answers
"Left" and "right" in Russian
On a German page about the Russian language, I learned the words
прямо [prjáma] – geradeaus (straight on)
направо [napráwa] – rechts (right)
налево [naléwa] – links (left)
for directions (location plan[*]), for instance:
Идите прямо и потом…
Em1
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24
votes
6 answers
What's the difference between -либо and -нибудь?
The pairs кто-нибудь and кто-либо, когда-нибудь and когда-либо etc. have slight differences in meaning and each particle is used in specific settings, but I can't quite pinpoint what the difference is.
How can it be explained or described?
Vitaly Mijiritsky
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24
votes
5 answers
How come the Russian cognate for the Czech word "čerstvý" (fresh) means entirely the opposite thing (stale)?
In Russian, черствый хлеб (chorstvy khleb) is stale bread.
And to my great surprise, I recently learned that in Czech, čerstvý chléb is precisely the opposite thing: fresh bread.
My question is: What was the evolution of the meaning of черствый in…
Mitsuko
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- 34
- 95