Этот трудный русский язык

[gera.livejournal.com]

Dear Russian learners,

what aspects of the Russian language do you find most difficult?

Comments

[kutsuwamushi.livejournal.com]

It's either pronunciation (three years and I still slip up on a lot of the basics) or all of those small idiomatic phrases used to emphasize, compare, or just fill space.

[gera.livejournal.com]

all of those small idiomatic phrases

For example?

[kutsuwamushi.livejournal.com]

Oops, I hit 'enter' before I intended to.

I'm really too confused to even give good examples. Phrases with бы or же in them. The emphatic (I think) и. The difference between также and тоже. Вот. Да, when not used to mean "yes". And a lot of others. It's just so hard to remember all of the little details about these words and when they're used.

Other aspects of the Russina language that people often say are difficult don't give me nearly as much trouble. Imperfective vs. perfective? I think I've got it. Verbs of motion? Complicated, but once you learn the rules, pretty logical...

But these little words just drive me batty.

[gera.livejournal.com]

I would say that также roughly corresponds to also, and тоже to too.

Да which is not yes, means either "and" or "but", depending on context. If you can figure out the context, you are fine.
It's archaic and is only used in proverbs, tales, poems etc.

Бы and же are hard to explain :) I can offer only sympathy there ;)

[kutsuwamushi.livejournal.com]

I would say that также roughly corresponds to also, and тоже to too.

English is somewhat fuzzy in its distinction between "also" and "too", so it's hard for me to remember which to use based on that comparison. Usually, I just have to open up a grammar book each time I want to use one of them.

Бы and же are hard to explain :) I can offer only sympathy there ;)

Some help you are! Seriously, though, that's why they're so hard. When you have rules, no matter how complicated, at least you can memorize them. I've yet to see a set of rules for these particles that make sense.

Someday, someone will figure it out and win the Nobel prize. ;)

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Concerning бы: Anton Chekhov had a dog called Tyotka (Aunt,) which had a habit to look into her master's eyes as long as he would keep the eye contact. He would speak to the dog while it was looking at him, to the great writer's guests' and family's amusement. His usual speech to Tyotka was:
- Дорогая Тётка, вам бы в больницу бы б, полежать бы б, вам бы там бы полегчало бы б.
(Dear Aunt, wish you would go to a hospital, you would spend some time there, you will get well there, something like this.)
Of course he overused бы, which is only needed here once; this made a special comical effect on his listeners.

[noser.livejournal.com]

What's difficult about бы? Just throw in a бы almost anywhere in the sentence, and there you go: you have the subjunctive mood. You can even throw in a few, to increase the "subjunctiveness". :) It's so much more complicated in English...

[tikvi.livejournal.com]

Little words... yes indeed! They add so much in meaning, but are so hard to grasp for non-native speakers. Grmph.