Question....
Apr. 7th, 2005 10:39 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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learn_russianHow do you say "How?" in Russian. Or does it not exist?
Also, how would you ask someone, "What are you doing?" and "Where are you going?"
Much thanks!
Also, how would you ask someone, "What are you doing?" and "Where are you going?"
Much thanks!
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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What are you doing? = Что ты делаешь?
Where are you going? = Куда ты идёшь?
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Date: 2005-04-07 05:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-07 05:09 pm (UTC)"Kak" for "what"???
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Date: 2005-04-07 05:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-07 05:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-07 06:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-07 06:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-07 11:46 pm (UTC)It is the single best Russian dictionary I've ever used. You'll love it.
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Date: 2005-04-08 07:31 am (UTC)You cannot translate an English phrase into Russian just replacing the English words by Russian ones. The grammar is different, the way people think (and, therefore, construct their phrases) is different, so it's a looong way to go :)
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Date: 2005-04-09 03:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-09 01:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-07 05:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-07 02:45 pm (UTC)What are you doing? = Что ты делаешь?
Where are you going? = Куда ты идешь?
no subject
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Date: 2005-04-07 04:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-07 04:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-08 02:43 pm (UTC)Warning!
Date: 2005-04-07 05:49 pm (UTC)This is grammatically correct. But there are some people who consider asking such question a bad omen (плохая примета). AFAIK, this prejudice comes from hunters and fishermen.
That's why some people think this form is not polite.
To deal with kuda-sensitive people you have to speak in a more roundabout way, such as "В какое место вы идете?" - "Which place are you going to?"
Maybe other participants will propose some better versions.
Mitigating factors:
1) beeng a non-native speaker, you probably will be forgiven for this slight mistake;
2) Kuda-sensitive people are rather seldom.
Note: the word 'kuda' itself doesn't make an offence. You can freely ask, for example, "Куда ты положил эту штуку" - Where did you placed this thing? - or, you may ask, Вы не знаете, куда он ушел? - Do you know where had he go to?"
The problem is only when you ask a person about where is he/she going to go.
Re: Warning!
Date: 2005-04-07 06:01 pm (UTC)Re: Warning!
Date: 2005-04-07 06:18 pm (UTC)Re: Warning!
Date: 2005-04-07 07:54 pm (UTC)Re: Warning!
Date: 2005-04-08 05:18 am (UTC)A former colleague of mine (I believe she was from Siberia) also thought the question "Куда Вы идете?" to be bringing bad luck. She insisted on "Далеко ли Вы идете?" which, unlike "в какое место" has perfectly good grammar and style.
Re: Warning!
Date: 2005-04-08 05:42 am (UTC)Well, it's just an example. There can be other variants.
The real question is, how often do you hear "Куда вы идете"?
When I began noticing it, I found that many people avoid saying these words. Not because of superstition, but in order to be polite.
Of course, there are a lot of people who don't care about this at all.
Re: Warning!
Date: 2005-04-08 07:45 am (UTC)Hmmm - all the time, to be precise :) I've never heard about this kind of superstition being active in our times, and yes, I'm a native speaker AND still live in Russia :))
no subject
Date: 2005-04-08 08:27 am (UTC)Re: Warning!
Date: 2005-04-09 03:34 am (UTC)Is that proper Russian?
Re: Warning!
Date: 2005-04-09 01:50 pm (UTC)More or less. At least, grammatically. Colloquial but correct. Less colloquial: куда вам нужно?
no subject
Date: 2005-04-10 11:40 am (UTC)