Confusion...

[lurid-me.livejournal.com]

If I want to say "I usually eat breakfast...", would I say "Я обычно завтракаю..." оr "Я завтракаю обычно..."

I am confused as to when a modifier should come before a main word in a sentance and when it should come after... :/

Comments

[spazzling21.livejournal.com]

I was always taught that adverbs come before verbs, but I may not be right.

[ars-longa.livejournal.com]

It doesn't matter in this case, actually. The first one is slightly more proper, but the second one is correct too. You can even say Обычно я завтракаю в... It depends more on the rhythmical pattern of a sentence or a speech than on some rule.

[moon-aka-sun.livejournal.com]

And I'm always confused with English modifiers :)
What do you want to say and what do you want to emphasis? What does your elipsis mean? It all can change the word order.
Вы завтракаете? (Do you have breakfast?)
- Да, я обычно завтракаю. (Yes, I do)
- Да, обычно я завтракаю. (Yes, I usually do (but today we have a special suituation etc))
- Да, я завтракаю обычно. (Yes, I do (but it doesn't matter now), kind of implies ellipsis at the end)
Когда вы завтракаете?
- Я обычно завтракаю в 8. (Just a fact of the routine, a very neutral answer)
- Я завтракаю обычно в 8. (Usually at 8. The time is emphasised a bit)
- Обычно я завтракаю в 8. (Again, I guess it means more like today we can have some special breakfast or none at all :))
- Я завтракаю в 8 обычно. (Hm, quite unusual word order. Some kind of preveous case 3, also kind a poetic, romantic mood... maybe)
Also обычно can serve as a present indefinite attribute (vs present continuous):
Я обычно завтракаю - I have breakfast
Я сейчас завтракаю - I'm having breakfast
Etc etc etc :)))

[padruka1988.livejournal.com]

Very rarely in Russian do you have "always" rules... The nice thing about Russian is that it has cases, and thus word order doesn't "matter" (I put it in quotes because it *usually* only depends on which part of the sentence you want to emphasize). So even though this sentence doesn't rely on cases, it's still covered. So yeah, like ars_longa said, it can go either way.

Не завтракаю обычно. :)))

[cema.livejournal.com]

All six (!) combinations are grammatically correct.

Я обычно завтракаю...
Я завтракаю обычно...
Обычно я завтракаю...
Обычно завтракаю я...
Завтракаю я обычно...
Завтракаю обычно я...

You would come across some of these combinations more often than others, that's true.

[oryx_and_crake]

In this case, yes. But if you want to stress the meaning conveyed by the adverb (and there is no other complements then you can put the adverb after the verb.
Compare:
Я быстро побежал в магазин (I quickly ran to the store)
and
Я побежал быстро. (I ran quickly)

[spazzling21.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes. I think I knew that. Thanks for the reminder! :-)

[ob-ivan.livejournal.com]

you can use обычно to emphasize what is usual in your sentence.

I usually have breakfast in the morning(s) =
1) По утрам я обычно завтракаю. - Here the usual thing is to have breakfast, intending that sometimes i don't
2) Я завтракаю обычно по утрам. - Here the usual thing is to do it in the morning, but sometimes i do after noon, or in the evening etc.

In both cases you could bring обычно in the beginning of the sentence, then the emphasized will be the last word.
1') Обычно по утрам я завтракаю ~ What i do usually in the mornings is having breakfast (and not dinner)
2') Обычно я завтракаю по утрам ~ Usual time to have breakfast is morning (and not evening)

There's also version to emphasize я:
3) По утрам завтракаю обычно я. - It's me who usually have breakfast in the morning, and not my mom.
3') Обычно по утрам завтракаю я. - the same.

[cyka-no-iq.livejournal.com]

я обычно завтракаю ( чем?) кашей
better - я обычно ем на завтрак (что?) кашу