(no subject)

[wolfie-18.livejournal.com]

Just how liberal is the word order then? If I were to say "Не говорите мне," is that as legitimate as "не мне говорите?"

Comments

[shellesie.livejournal.com]

These phrases are both correct, but they have different meanings. "Не говорите мне" means "Don't say it to me" (Don't tell me about it) and "Не мне говорите" means "Say it to anybody else " (Tell it not me). "Не мне говорите" = "Говорите не мне".

i.e. Что курить вредно, не мне говорите, а курильщикам - That the smoking is harmful, tell not me but the smokers.

[mooze.livejournal.com]

Rather

Не говорите мне - don't tell me that, or sometimes You don't say! when expressing amusement or surprise
не мне говорите - you shouldn't be telling [it] to me

[avysk]

Не мне говорите is not "you shouldn't be telling it to me". It is "it is useless to tell it to me, I cannot do anything, tell to another person". Мне не говорите - "You should not tell it to me" (because it is dangerous, for example)

[constpd.livejournal.com]

Не говорите мне = Don't tell me
Не мне говорите = Tell not to me (but it sounds rather overdramatized)

[noser.livejournal.com]

And the bottom line is: it does matter which word follows "не". That particular word gets negated.

In brief

[cema.livejournal.com]

(Не говорите) мне = мне (не говорите); говорите (не мне) = (не мне) говорите.

Re: In brief

[avysk]

Yes, but emotionally they are different. мне не говорите and не мне говорите are slightly more strong in emotional sense than не говорите мне and говорите не мне.

[mooze.livejournal.com]

Generally, word order is quite liberal in Russian, but sometimes changing the words around in a sentence may cause this sentence to change its meaning entirely or somewhat. What's the rule of thumb? Dunno, I guess you just need to continue learning...