(no subject)

[wolfie-18.livejournal.com]

To what case does "чем" alter the following word? As in, using "чем" for "than." I.e. "Русский лучше чем французский." Does французский change or does it stay like that? And if I'm using лучше incorrectly, please inform me.

Comments

[ex-qnn171.livejournal.com]

when you use "чем" to compare two things, second one should be in the same form as first. "чем" itself does not alter anything

[ex-qnn171.livejournal.com]

oh yeah, you are using "лучше" incorrectly
Русский is no way better then французский, because it is impractical to compare languages like that. it can be more difficult, less popular etc, but not лучше -)

[solito.livejournal.com]

Where did you get the word "languages" from? May be wolfie_18 means something else - say "хлеб", "вариант" or whatever. So "лучше" is absolutely fine here.

[ex-qnn171.livejournal.com]

oh yeah =)
you are right!
in russian, if we say adjectives "russian" or "english" or "japanese" without any noun, we usually mean language (languages and nations begin from a small letter)
i forgot that here the word did not begin from a capital letter

my excuses to all who read that -)

[oryx_and_crake]

By the way, it is "русский лучше, чем французский", but "русский лучше французского". These phrases are equivalent.

[solito.livejournal.com]

It's nominative case.

I remembered old pun

[sibir-muzhyk.livejournal.com]

-Ереван лучше чем Тбилиси!!!
-Чем лучше?
-Чем Тбилиси!!!

Unfortunately, I can not give appropriate translation :-( Sorry

Re: I remembered old pun

[oryx_and_crake]

- Erevan is better than Tbilisi.
- Exactly how is it better?
- Exactly better than Tbilisi!

:-)

Re: I remembered old pun

[http://users.livejournal.com/celsium_/]

Супер))) Я пол часа промудохался пытаясь это перевести)))
Cool))) I spent a half an hour agonizing while trying to translate it)))

Re: I remembered old pun

[oryx_and_crake]

Why, thank you.

However, if I were you, I would be more careful with my word choice :-)
промудохался is a very nice equivalent of agonizing, indeed, but ... er... rather informal, and, dear Russian-studying friends, I would not recommend using it in front of little old ladies and your Russian friends' moms...

Re: I remembered old pun

[oryx_and_crake]

Besides, I think it would be nice of you to explain what are Erevan and Tbilisi and why one of them is (or is not) better than the other one. I know, but most people here do not, and most of the humour is lost that way.

Re: I remembered old pun

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Well, I thought you wouldn't die explaining that those were the capitals of, respectively, Armenia (Yerevan, not Erevan!) and Georgia, and that there always was a strong rivalry between Armenians and Georgians :)))
Remember that Soviet time joke from the Armenian Radio series:
Армянское радио спрашивают:
- Почему нельзя запускать в космос армянского космонавта?
- Потому что тогда все армяне умрут от гордости, все грузины - от зависти, и тогда весь Кавказ достанется азербайджанцам.
(They asked Armenian Radio: "Why can't they send an Armenian astronaut into space?" -- "Because then all Armenians would die of being too proud, all Georgians -- of envy, and the whole Caucasus would go to Azerbaijani.")

heheh. yay for old Soviet jokes

[kart.livejournal.com]

- Мікола!
- Га?
- Москали в космос полетели!
- Что, все?!
- Нет, один - Гагарин.
- Так чему же ты радуешься?

(Mikola! / Huh? / The Russians have flown into space! / All of them? / No, just one, Gagarin. / Then why are you bothering me?)