Question....

[battersby.livejournal.com]

How 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!

Comments

[mithgol.livejournal.com]

How? = Как?

What are you doing? = Что ты делаешь?

Where are you going? = Куда ты идёшь?

[loriet.livejournal.com]

how? = как?
What are you doing? = Что ты делаешь?
Where are you going? = Куда ты идешь?

[mithgol.livejournal.com]

ты точки над „ё“ забыл

[loriet.livejournal.com]

дазнт мэттэ

[mithgol.livejournal.com]

Вообще-то зарубежным читателям, не особенно хорошо знающим язык, наличие точек над „ё“ сильно помогает правильно прочитать слово.

[othila-dagaz.livejournal.com]

I thought Kak was only for what, but it makes sense for how too. Thanks!

[med99.livejournal.com]

Just when I thought you couldn't impress me more.

"Kak" for "what"???

Warning!

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

> Where are you going? = Куда ты идёшь?

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.

[othila-dagaz.livejournal.com]

yeah, in this one russian-english dictionary I have, it says to use Kak for what. (and used Kak деал as an example) it confused me though, because I thought Что mean what. it's not my fault I'm given incorrect information.

[battersby.livejournal.com]

thank you

[othila-dagaz.livejournal.com]

typo: Kak делa

[med99.livejournal.com]

OMG, so did they translate "dela" as "up"?

Re: Warning!

[battersby.livejournal.com]

wow. that's a lot to take in. but informative nonetheless. thank you!

[othila-dagaz.livejournal.com]

no! that would be bad. but no, it was...strange. is translated the text as what do you do, but I thought it would be better to use здравствулте for that. that's what I get for borrowing a no-name dictionary, eh? I better stick with Berlitz or Langenscheidt.

Re: Warning!

[zloizloi.livejournal.com]

wow! Never heard of that. It must be some local tradition. I never heard someone who used the phrase "В какое место вы идете?" as well. (and yes, I'm a native speaker).

Re: Warning!

[carminagitana.livejournal.com]

My grandmother always says "Не закудыкивай дорогу!" and insists on using "Где вы идёте?", incorrect as that is :)

[justaduck.livejournal.com]

Do yourself a favor. Go to a book store and look for a big red Russian-English/English-Russian dictionary. (Author: Kenneth Katzner)
It is the single best Russian dictionary I've ever used. You'll love it.

Re: Warning!

[oryx_and_crake]

"В какое место вы идете" sounds very suggestive and outright rude.

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!

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

> I never heard someone who used the phrase "В какое место вы идете?" as well.

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.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

no way. Unfortunately, English and Russian (and most of other languages, too) do not nicely translate into each other word-by-word. If you go word-by-word, как дела? is "how business?" -- which is a nonsense in English, but this is exactly what Russian say in the circumstances when English speakers say "what's up."

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 :)

Re: Warning!

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

>The real question is, how often do you hear "Куда вы идете"?

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 :))

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

Lucky you!

[katenok.livejournal.com]

О! Шушпанчик!

[quem98.livejournal.com]

You can say "How are things?" which is perfectly acceptable english.

Re: Warning!

[quem98.livejournal.com]

I also remember hearing "вам куда?" or "Вам куда надо?"

Is that proper Russian?

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

The question was if "дела" meant "up." I said it didn't. Дела are doings, business, deeds, but no way "things" - "things" are вещи. What one can say in English I know (more or less :)) -- but we are discussing Russian here, aren't we? ;-)))

Re: Warning!

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

>Is that proper Russian?

More or less. At least, grammatically. Colloquial but correct. Less colloquial: куда вам нужно?

[satrov.livejournal.com]

interesno vsem slova i vse prostui abzad vuise