Questions...

[lahalla-koala.livejournal.com]

We are having an exam in my Russian class next week, and part of the review is translating a passage from English to Russian. I just have a few sentences I'm confused about:

This room is mine.

I've read Anna Karenina by Tolstoy in Russian and now I can read it in in English too.

What case should "is mine" be in? I'm not sure how to say "by Tolstoy" or how to properly the structure the second half of of that statement.

Thanks in advance for any help provided!

Comments

[trepang.livejournal.com]

1. Это моя комната (mine - моя, Nominative case)

2. Two possible translations:
Я прочел "Анну Каренину" Толстого по-русски и теперь могу прочесть ее по-английски.
Я прочел "Анну Каренину" Толстого на русском и теперь могу прочесть ее на английском.

Also note that "I can read" can be translated in two ways, too: "могу прочесть" ("прочитать") and "могу читать". Прочесть/прочитать means perfective aspect and читать is imperfective.

[lahalla-koala.livejournal.com]

Thanks a bunch!

[constpd.livejournal.com]

“Это моя комната” is translated like “This is my room”
“This room is mine” would be more likely “Эта комната – моя” (still Nominative).

The above translation of the second sentence is absolutly accurate considering the English original, but in Russian it's not very natural to say “«Анну Каренину» Толстого”. “Я прочел роман Толстого «Анна Каренина» по-русски и теперь могу прочесть ее по-английски.” sounds better though it's further from the provided original. All the variations from the previous comment still apply.

[serialcondition.livejournal.com]

I'm curious is it ее because of "book" being feminine? I thought it would be его because of "novel" being masculine -- can you please explain
thanks

[constpd.livejournal.com]

Oops, my mistake:
Я прочел роман Толстого «Анна Каренина» по-русски и теперь могу прочесть его по-английски. (meaning его=роман)

[khathi.livejournal.com]

No, it's because book is named after the woman. It is indeed implied gender, but in case the book name is known, it takes precedence. If the name of the book hasn't been stated/neuter, the phrase would be in masculine, because "novel" (implied subject) is masculine.

[upthera44.livejournal.com]

Why do you use прочел and not прочитал? I've never heard прочел before... is that more conversational or does it have a different connotation than прочитал?

[ceiteach.livejournal.com]

What's innatural in "Анну Каренину" Толстого? Who will say "Я прочёл роман Толстого "Анна Каренина"" if not making some report, in normal speech (I mean non-official)?

[ceiteach.livejournal.com]

Both are possible here. I don't see any difference in meaning... I usually say прочитала, and прочла - very rarely.

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

+1

Sounds much more natural without "роман".

[trepang.livejournal.com]

no, it's because "Анна Каренина" is feminine ;) you're right, novel is masculine, but in colloquial speech we usually refer to the title itself. E.g., "Have you read "The Gypsies"? - "Yes, I have" - Ты читал "Цыган"? - Да, я их (them) читал.