pronouns

[apollotiger.livejournal.com]

When — if ever — is it alright to drop pronouns in Russian? I sort of remember hearing that if you’re using short statements like, ‘I don’t know’, you can just say ‘не знаю’, but how short must a sentence be to merit dropping the pronoun if that's the case?

I ask this because, in Spanish, people who originally spoke English tend to overuse the pronoun ‘I’, making themselves sound incredibly egotistical. I want to avoid a similar problem in Russian. :)

Comments

[ashalynd.livejournal.com]

"Я не знаю" is a "full" sentence, so in some situations it is more preferable to a "short" form which is considered less polite/informal. Also, you can use pronoun even in colloquial speech to stress that it is you who does not know something.

In the sentences starting like: Думаю, что... (I think that...) it is perfectly safe to drop the I, in my opinion.

[branwen.livejournal.com]

Yes, some Russian tapes I had (the only good ones I have found so far) mention this, and show some examples. I'm going to leave it to a Russian speaker to answer your question, though ;)

[oliax.livejournal.com]

you know, I don't feel like someone has rules about this.
It sounds "не знаю" and that's all. "Я не знаю" is more ... er... official.

When 4 example asks me smth I answer "не знаю" is sounds good,
but in case someone asks me how to get somewhere and I don't know I will say
"Извините, я не знаю", but I can also say "не знаю". The 1st variant is more polite as you see.

[oliax.livejournal.com]

When 4 example asks me smth I answer "не знаю" is sounds good,

I missed "my friend" :-)

[apollotiger.livejournal.com]

So, perhaps, you would use «не знаю» with someone with whom you would also use «ты»?

[branwen.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, one [rather silly, if you ask me] example from my tapes is a conversation like this:

Person #1: Вы понимаете по-русски?
Person #2: Да, понимаю.
Person #3: (butting into the conversation, it seems) Я не понимаю по-русски!

(in English)
Person #1: Do you understand Russian?
Person #2: Yes, [I] understand.
Person #3: I don't understand Russian!

So person #2 leaves out "I" ("Я"), because they're giving a short answer, but person #3 emphasizes that he doesn't know Russian. I know it's silly, because if he said that, he at least knows some, but that was the exercise ;)

[sverb.livejournal.com]

Er... Think there aren't any rules about, never heard anything about it, though. It's just not an official sentence, maybe...
It's so usual for any Russian man, that I can't understand, where it should be and where not, and how to explane it...

[oliax.livejournal.com]

yepp,
I suppose this_will be the most suilable answer :))

[welgar.livejournal.com]

Um, I wouldn't say that it's the rule. Just remember that omitting a pronoun makes the sentence sound more informal while saying the full sentence is acceptable in most cases.

The cases when you'd usually drop a pronoun are:
Не знаю. (I don't know.)
Не знаешь, ...? (Don't you know ...?)
Думаю/не думаю... (I think/don't think...)
Short informal questions like "Видишь?" (Can you see it?), "Думаешь?" (You think so?) etc.

[zloizloi.livejournal.com]

Apart from ‘не знаю’ and ‘думаю, что’, ti's normal to drop Я in short sentences with ‘пойду’:
пойду погуляю - I'm going to take a walk
пойду посплю - I'm going to go and take a nap
пойду поем - I'm going to go and get something to eat

[gera.livejournal.com]

Omitting pronouns is ok, when replying to a question which had made it clear who it was about.
- Миша не приходил?
- Не приходил.

Also, it is common when using verbs in the present tense, mostly in the first and the second person, because their form already implies the right person:
- Кушать хочешь?
- Не хочу.

When it's not a question and not a reply to a question you usually won't omit pronouns.

[oryx_and_crake]

The most general rule is probably this one: if there is no loss of information if you drop the pronoun, you can drop it (but you don't have to).

E.g.
- Хочешь завтра пойти в кино? / Ты хочешь завтра пойти в кино? are equivalent.

Вчера [мы, вы, они] ходили в кино - you cannot drop the pronoun here because if you do, the sentence will not be clear enough - who was it that went to the movies?

Another rule is that people tend to drop pronouns more often in the informal speech, as was already mentioned.