w00t

[theminion.livejournal.com]

I'd like to thank everyone today.
Remember the poem I asked for and about last week? Wonder cat?
Well, I've fully learned and memorized it a week ahead of schedule.
THANKS! :D

~Ryan

Comments

[midianin.livejournal.com]

Congratulations!

[kragoth.livejournal.com]

Молодец! :-) Я догадаюсь, что это не было простой.

[jerom.livejournal.com]

Молодец! :-) Я догад, что это or
это не было просто or
это не было простой задачей.

[kragoth.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the correction! I've been saying dogadayus' since day one, and it's good that I've been corrected, because as far I (was) concerned, I was using present tense. Stupid me! You use adverb form when a noun is not present, I presume?

And I'm not sure what задачей means. Does it mean something amongst the lines of task, or action?

-Post scriptum: Nice icon.

[jerom.livejournal.com]

догадаюсь is future, догадываюсь is present tense.

задача из task or problem here.

PS: This icon even better.

[kragoth.livejournal.com]

The icon kind of creeps me out. Nevertheless, it's still wicked. What is it from?

[oryx_and_crake]

adverbs modify verbs: to move fast - двигаться быстро
adjectives modify nouns: a fast service - быстрое обслуживание

however, in this case, I think, просто is not an adverb but a short form of an adjective простой. Compare:

это было непросто (it was not easy)
задача была непроста (the task was not easy)

[kragoth.livejournal.com]

Gosh, I've never used a short form adjective in my life.

[oryx_and_crake]

Well, if you learn Russian, you'll have to.
(I don't think they exist in English.)

For the beginning, you can try to memorise some proverbs.

Хороша Маша, да не наша. (Masha is nice but she is not ours/does not belong to us.)
Дорога ложка к обеду. (The spoon is valuable [when you have it on time] for dinner.)

or the beginning of a song
Широка страна моя родная... (My motherland is a vast country)

[kragoth.livejournal.com]

My book says that they're used to say something like ,"The spoon was beautiful, but isn't now".

[oryx_and_crake]

Either you misunderstood the book or it is no good at all.
If the spoon was beautiful, you would say "Ложка БЫЛА хороша" (and this would not say anything about its state now).

[kragoth.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Then what's the difference between long and short form?

[oryx_and_crake]

It can act as a verb in a sentence (the long form can do that too, though, sometimes). It is difficult for me to explain the difference. It is mainly stylistical and probably the best explanation will be by the way of examples. E.g. in Pushkin's "Poltava":

Выходит Петр. Его глаза
сияют. Лик его ужасен,
Движенья быстры. Он прекрасен.

- here you will not be able to substitute the long forms "ужасный" and "прекрасный" - it will sound wrong.

Or in the song "Широка страна моя родная" - If you say Широкая страна моя родная, the sentence would look incomplete and require a verb.

On the other hand you can equally well say "Погода (была) хорошая." and "Погода (была) хороша."

Here's the link (in Russian) - hopefully it will explain something.
http://traktat.com/language/book/prilag/pol.php

[kragoth.livejournal.com]

Íå ïîíàìàþ ýòîò ðóññêèé. ß íîâè÷îê. :-/

[oryx_and_crake]

Sorry, I cannot read it. The encoding appears to be screwed up.

[kragoth.livejournal.com]

Oh. Well, I said ,"I don't understand that russian. I'm still a novice."

[oryx_and_crake]

I see. Unfortunately I am not in a state fit to translate it at the moment. But I solemnly swear that whenever you decide to use a short form of adjective in your Russian, you can bring it to this community and I will tell you whether your usage is correct.
:-)

[kragoth.livejournal.com]

Will do, thanks. Are you a native speaker?

[oryx_and_crake]

Sure - can't you tell by my English?

[kragoth.livejournal.com]

Actually, I couldn't really tell too much by your english. Typically when I read messages, even if a letter's missing or a grammatical element is missing, I still substitute that stuff subconsciously while reading and never notice your mistakes. There was one message I think you left where I understood nothing of it though. Your english is pretty good.