[identity profile] wolfie-18.livejournal.com posting in [community profile] learn_russian
Just a little inkling of a question. When would it be appropriate to use impersonal construction "Мне..." as opposed to just "Я..." For example, "Я хочу спать" as opposed to "Мне хочется спать." I'm pretty sure I've heard the latter before.

Also, would it be possible to say "I'm bored" without saying "Мне скучно?"

And I know this sounds weird, but would "Тебе неправилно" ever be used?

Date: 2005-01-01 11:15 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] holyschist.livejournal.com
Mne basically means "to me" -- "It is pleasing to me," for example. Mne is used in what would be in English passive constructions.

Ya means "I" -- "I want to sleep/I am going to the store/I love horses." Ya is used in active constructions.

Date: 2005-01-01 11:15 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] simonff.livejournal.com
Constructions with "Мне" are less strong than those with "Я". (Think "I'd like" versus "I want"). By dropping "мне" you'll get even weaker phrases like "Спать хочется".

You can say "Я скучаю", but this usually means "I miss somebody". ("Я скучаю без кого-то.") Though "Я заскучал" means "I got bored."

"Тебе неправильно" is practically never used. There is an expression "тебе не идёт" ("it does not fit you"), but I am not sure if that's what you meant.

Date: 2005-01-01 11:26 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] poluzhivago.livejournal.com
In some cases these two grammar construction are basically eqiuvalent to each other and interchangable. Like your example Я хочу спать - Мне хочется спать. Not always though. Like your I'm bored example. You can't use Я to say I'm 20. You should say Мне 20 лет.
About тебе неправильно - it's inappropriate expression. What exactly do you want to say?

Date: 2005-01-01 11:27 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] inetman.livejournal.com
1. Always =) There is a very little difference. The second way just a bit more polite.

2. Yes. "Я скучаю".

3. No way - at least in literary language. As far as I ever can imagine/remember, it sometimes using in colloquial language in a sentences like "Тебе неправильно сообщили (рассказали, посчитали etc)" in the meaning of providing the wrong information, but it's really sounds (at least for me) weird.

Date: 2005-01-01 11:28 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] madrumos.livejournal.com
like it was said before, the mne softens the expression, yielding "i'd like to", which is less catagorical and more polite in some situations. "ya xochu pit'" could be overly brusque, depending on the circumstance, but "mne xochetsya pit'" is a bit nicer.

in russian it is standard to use impersonal dative constructions for describing states using adverbs (i.e. mne skuchno). therefore, that is the best option for saying "i'm bored". similarly "mne xolodno" is "i'm cold" and "tebe interesno" is "you are interested".

in this last case, however, a dative impersonal construction is not used. "ty ne prav" is what you are looking for if you want to say "you're wrong". as far as i know, nepravilno can not be used to refer to people directly.

Date: 2005-01-02 11:38 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wolk-off.livejournal.com
Well, я скучал just means "I was bored," if it makes any sense. Что ты делал вчера весь день? - Я скучал (what were you dioing all day yesterday? - I was just bored.)

There is plenty of "impersonal mood terms" which you can use even without using я or мне: "скучно" (I'm bored,) "грустно" (I'm sad,) "весело" (I'm having fun) etc., but, as [livejournal.com profile] simonff notes before, they make quite weak phrases being used "standalone" -- being a quite natural choice in quick everyday conversation, though.
Как дела? - Скучно.
or:
Как дела? - Скучаю.

Sounds very informal and colloquial, yet it's pretty good "normative" Russian.

Date: 2005-01-02 11:40 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wolk-off.livejournal.com
It sounds weird and it is weird :)

Date: 2005-01-02 11:53 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wolk-off.livejournal.com
Ah, now I get the question. "You're wrong!!!" -- this weird "тебе неправильно" was so far from this that I simply couldn't figure out what this might mean :))) "You're wrong" is ты неправ / ты неправа (the latter being female.) You may also say "неправильно", "неверно", but these are again the "impersonals" which make good phrases when used standalone only in quick conversation. You may also answer "это не так" (this is not so.)

Date: 2005-01-02 11:17 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] simonff.livejournal.com
"I'm bored" is not really in the past, it's simply using past particilple for passive voice. The tense is indicated by "am".

Date: 2005-01-03 12:59 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] yms.livejournal.com
Also, when you say "мне...", it sounds like it doesn't depend on you. "It happened so that I'm bored."
Sometimes (especially it was in the Soviet times) you can hear officials say "мне думается" - as if it came to your head without your will. Saying "я думаю" implied more responsibility for your thoughts :)

Date: 2005-01-04 10:01 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wolk-off.livejournal.com
yup.... this is from a Soviet-time satire aimed on those who use thise "impersonal" forms:
"когда автору перестает представляться или чувствоваться, ему начинает думаться" (when it stops seeming or feeling to the author, it starts to occuring to his mind" -- this "it" being treated as something with its own will and personality.
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