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[wolfie-18.livejournal.com]

Congratulate me, everyone, I finally got a hold of Russian fairy tales. I just had a question about the excessive use of "Да." As in these examples...

"Жили-были муж да жена"
"...Марья смотрела в окно на их весёлые забавы, вздыхала да о своём горе думала"
"Выклянуло тут солнце, да такое яркое, что снег в ямках заблестел, словно глаза ожили."

Oh, and what's the - for in the first sentence? Just curious...
And curious as well in "Всё бы хорошо, но счастья у них не было." Is it customary to drop -ло in that first всё бы, or am I off-track? Because now I'm going back to the conditional, such as захотел бы or если б вы знали, and I'm thinking that было had something to do with this.

And another thing... when referring to everything, you say "всё" and any adjectives would be in the neutral, but what about when you refer to everyone, do you say "все" or "всё?" And when you're greeting people, do you say "привет всем" or "привет всём?" Sorry for the nickety-pickety details, but it's itching my brain.

Comments

[merengue.livejournal.com]

Да = и (and) in these examples.

Все = everybody. Привет всем.
Всё = everything. Я знаю все!

[que-tal.livejournal.com]

In that cases "ДА" means "and" ("И"), it's from old style of Russian, a sort of archaism . Now "ДА" means only "yes".
When you refer to everyone, you should say "всем", "все", without using "Ё". "Bсе" - about people, "всё" - about things.
And you may use either "всё бы хорошо" or "всё было бы хорошо", there's no difference

[simonff.livejournal.com]

"Да" in this case is simply an archaic "и", that is, "and". Somehow it makes the sentences flow smoother.

"Жили-были" is an idiom corresponding to "Once upon a time". In old-fashioned texts similar or repeating verbs sometimes are joined with a dash (I am not sure what the correct term for this is). Eg, "жить-поживать", "глядел-глядел, да недоглядел". The dash is also used with other speech parts: "через пень-колоду" ("very haltingly"), "маленький-маленький" ("extremely small") and my absolute favorite, but very archaic "по-над" ("по-над речкой дороженька вьется", "a little path winds along the river")

"Бы" is a conditional particle, not technicall a form of "быть", though that's where it probably came from. "Всё бы хорошо, но счастья у них не было" is not quite the same as "Всё было хорошо, но счастья у них не было". The first phrase does not state that "Everything was well", it states that "Everything was well at the first glance, but was not really, and that's why:".

Все and всё are two different words, meaning "everybody" and "everything" correspondingly. However, dropping the dots over е in "всё" is extremely common in writing, though they are distinctly different when spoken. If you notice that your current text does not use ё at all, you'll have to watch for this ambiguity (I think it's the only one of this type, fortunately).

[nemica.livejournal.com]

1.In some cases да = и (and). You can find the form not so seldom in fairy tales.

2. "Всё (было) бы хорошо, но счастья у них не было" means Everything was OK with their life but still they had no hapiness in it or Their life would have been good but there was no hapiness in it.

3. Всё = everything, все = everybody. And it's only "привет всем", not "всём".

[simonff.livejournal.com]

Note that the poster wondered why he can't say "Все было хорошо", not "Все было бы хорошо".

[psa-98.livejournal.com]

1. what's the - for in the first sentence? Just curious...

"Жили-были" is just traditional begining for Russian fairy tales, like "Once upon a time..."


вздыхала да о своём горе думала|Выглянуло тут солнце, да такое яркое, что снег в ямках заблестел, словно глаза ожили

These "да" mean "and", not "yes", it is legitimate but rare use now.
Usually, "Все" mean "All" (persons, things) or "everyone|everybody", and "Всё" almost always mean "Everything"

Все эти люди ... = All that people ...

Все места заняты = All places are taken.

Они украли всё! = They stole everything!

[nbuwe.livejournal.com]

"Да" is used as adversative conjunction as well. E.g. in the example you quote I would expect "Всё бы хорошо, да счастья у них не было."

[poluzhivago.livejournal.com]

No wonder you have so many questions. Old days Russian fairy tales' language often overloaded by unsusal figures of speech, archaic words, odd methaphors, etc.

For example "жили-были" (meaning some characters were living somewhere) is a traditional beginning for many russian fiary tales like English "once upon a time". "Mуж и жена" means "husband and wife".

Regardig "было". It's past of "есть"-"is", meaning "was". Here it should be translated as "Everything went well but they weren't happy". Literally "was no happiness".