(no subject)

[wolfie-18.livejournal.com]

Can someone tell me how to decline all sorts of Russian names (that resemble adjectives)? Because when I did buy Бриллиантовая Рука, I also wanted to buy something by Толстой (in their book section). So I told her "У вас есть что-то Толстоя?" Which, I'm guessing, is really wrong because she just gave me THE LOOK of death. Well, I guess it would be insulting to assume that they didn't have something of Tolstoy, but STILL. Oy. And I become so entangled with what I'm going to say because Russians are intimidating/impatient (at least the ones from that store are). So yeah, names like Толстой, Дмитрий, Достоевский, и т.д.

Comments

[hope1972.livejournal.com]

Кого? (Whom? By whom?) Толстого, Дмитрия, Достоевского, Алексея, Александра, Беляева, Тургенева, Льва and so on... must look pretty unsorted for a foreigner I guess.

[wolfie-18.livejournal.com]

Oy. That's what I thought at first about Толстой, but since the actual adjective is толстый, I made something crazy up and now I feel stupid. Oy.

[ars-longa.livejournal.com]

It was rude of her to give you the look. I'd have made an issue out of this. Really.

[wolfie-18.livejournal.com]

Oy, when it comes to being a foreigner, I'm one of those really wussy, passive speakers, although when there's an oppurtunity to speak Russian, I do so. The passiveness kicks in when I say something incorrectly and they get confused and I go "omg what am I supposed to do now!?" to myself. But seriously, that lady had no patience. She was like

"Будете (rent) или купить DVD?"
*Me stressing because I didn't know what (rent) was (I actually forgot the word for it by now)*
"КУПИТЬ? BUY?" As if I was deaf...

She didn't even give me the time to think! You know what, next time, I'm going to... shake my finger in a very aggressive manner.

[ars-longa.livejournal.com]

Next time just tell her you want to speak to her начальник. That should work...

Yeah, I know the feeling. I felt about the same first two years here in US. But people around for the most part were very patient with me...

[sventhelost.livejournal.com]

They decline like adjectives, so instead of Толстоя, it should be Толстого.

[simonff.livejournal.com]

Incidentally, your question meant something like: "Do you have any fat body parts?"

[oryx_and_crake]

Yes, indeed - if you emphasize the first syllable, it sounds quite funny. It was not so funny for the poor sales assistant, I am afraid :-)

[wolfie-18.livejournal.com]

Well, she was skinny anyway. Oh wait, would that be bad too?

[oryx_and_crake]

Well, how should I know - maybe she had an inferiority complex about her figure anyway ;-)

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

>if you emphasize the first syllable

...which English speakers normally do..... :))))

[wolfie-18.livejournal.com]

OOOOOOOOOOOOOH...


*smacks self in face*

[simonff.livejournal.com]

Don't worry about it. Even better, next time try asking for anything by Tolstoevsky.

[marzchik263.livejournal.com]

ahahhaaa!

[oryx_and_crake]

By the way, you can find all kinds of Russian books, including classics, here http://www.lib.ru - it is Maxim Moshkov's library, and it is the best online library I know.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

BTW this was an ongoing issue with my students here in Moscow. They were taught at the high school to sign their papers like "Ивановой Анны," so I always had a lot of trouble to make them switch to "Анна Иванова." The explanation I gave to them that worked the best was:

- Когда вы покупаете книгу, что написано на ее обложке: "Толстого Льва"? Нет, там написано "Лев Толстой".
(When you buy a book, what is written on its cover: "Tolstoy Leo's?" No. It is "Leo Tolstoy.")

[suku-vse.livejournal.com]

Once I asked my friends, if they'd like to have (eat) some sliced peers. (Instead of pears.)

Have this sale assistant speak English and enjoy!

[ars-longa.livejournal.com]

I still don't know what is the difference in prononciation between these two...

[nadyezhda.livejournal.com]

peer= like "here" or "dear" or "near"; pear, like English "pair" or "bear" or "share".

If those don't work I'll try to think of some Russian equivalents for those sounds. :)

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

If a surname ends with "ий" and "ой" - thou it's quite rare - (masculine) or "ая"(feminine), you decline 'em like adjective - e.g., you decline толстой like тонкий (thin): толстой-толстым-толстому-толстого-толстым-толстом (тонкий-тонким-тонкому-тонкого-тонким-тонком). in fact, толстой is very similar to толстый (fat). besides there's a modern woman writer татьяна толстая (emphathis on the 2nd syllable).
when a surname ends sound simillar to nouns (e.g. - тургенев, тургенева), so they decline like nouns.

but if it's all about names, these rules doesn't work: e.g. дмитрий declines also like a noun: дмитрий-дмитрия-дмитрию-дмитрия-дмитрием-дмитрии.

[liza-now.livejournal.com]

not толстой (adjective) but толстый
and Толстой as a name

feminine: толстая стена, говорить о толстой стене

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

yeap, i said, that Толстой is declining like толстый but with different emphathiz. i just rarely use capital letters in lj

[idealforcolors.livejournal.com]

thanks!

[udarnitsa.livejournal.com]

What about surnames that look like genitive plurals, like «Добрых»?