(no subject)

[upthera44.livejournal.com]

There are a couple of conversational phrases in Russian that I hear very often, but hesitate to use because I don't completely understand them. I was hoping you might verify that these are correct and explain them a bit and hopefully I'll be able to use them in the future!

1. Often when discussing plans or giving someone instructions people will say something like-- "Если что, позвони" -- to mean "If there IS A PROBLEM call me". Is this what this means? How does "что" translate as "a problem"? I always am too afraid to use this phrase (which it seems everyone uses) and instead end up saying something unnatural sounding like "Если будет проблема, позвони мне".


2. There is a phrase, something like"Что-то не то?" which seems to be a way of asking "Is something wrong?" or "Is everything ok?" Also I believe there are some similar phrases that use "не так" as well. Again I never use these seemingly rather conversational phrases because I don't understand completely-- how не так and  не то can translate into something wrong or a problem. Any explanations and examples on this would be great, thanks!

Comments

[technocrator.livejournal.com]

"Что-то не то?"="Is something wrong?"

[no-access.livejournal.com]

The first phrase is brief "Если что (случится,) позвони". It is like "пока" (bye), which is "(будь в добром здравии,) пока (мы не увидимся вновь)"

Yeah, there is the similar phrase to the second with "не так" at the end. Theese phrases can be shortering, too. "(Случилость) что-то не то, (что должно было случиться?)", "Что-то (идет) не так, (как должно идти?)"

[mr-uef.livejournal.com]

literal translations (кальки) often help me get the feeling of foreing expressions
see if it helps you as well:

"Если что, позвони" = "If SOMETHING [implied: arises, not necessarily going wrong], call me"
"Что-то НЕ ТАК?" = "Something's NOT SO [implied: as it should be]?"

[natha1ie.livejournal.com]

You understand both sentenses quite correct.
"Если что, позвони" also can mean If there's smth interesting or smth has changed, call me. Usually
people say so right after or before saying "goodbue".

Что-то не то? and Что-то не так? are pretty the same thing IMHO (I'm a native Russian speaker).

[kandinsky-rina.livejournal.com]

"если что" = you need to call if something changes. It is not a problem. And you dont need to translate every word in frase. Only know common meaning.

что-то не то=что-то не так
it means that something has changed yet. And you feel it but cant understand what exactly has changed.

[v-drug.livejournal.com]

"Что-то не так?" is used much more often than "Что-то не то?" and I think is a more correct way of saying "Is something wrong?". It's a quite common expression, so don't be hesitant about using it :)

As for "Если что, позвони" - it's a really tricky one. It can have different sub-meanings. One of them is that, having said it, one shows that he would prefer the person to whom it has been addressed* not to call.

*if I wrote that in Russian I would use the word собеседник, but I don't know how to say it in English. Do you know?

[khathi.livejournal.com]

Again, we have a problem with understanding ellipsis here. It's quite possible in Russian to skip somr parts of a sentence, if there's enough context to imply them. For example "если что" is a contraction of "если что[-нибудь (плохое) случится]", which is, in fact, a double ellipsis, as "что-то произошло/случилось" ALWAYS imply that something is wrong -- cp. "what's happened". About "не то/не так" -- in Russian there's a tacit implication that good outcome is a natural course of things. So if some proplem appears it's a disruption in a some grand scheme of things -- something that is "не так [как должно быть]" -- kust another ellipsis.

PS: And Russian, mind you, is very frugal with ellipsis. In Japanese you can imply even predicates!

[freedomcry.livejournal.com]

не + demonstrative pronoun is the idiomatic Russian way of expressing wrongness (where the existence of a "right" counterpart is implied).

они постучали не в ту дверь – they knocked at the wrong door
он указал не туда – he pointed in the wrong direction
я не там вышел – I exited at the wrong place
у тебя к звуковой карте драйвер не тот – you've got the wrong sound card driver

thoughts

[merindada.livejournal.com]

I'd add that the phrase "Если что, звони" means smth like "I'll be there for you"(if there smth happens - good or bad).
"Что-то не то?" sometimes means that the speaker is affraid to have been bad or too rude or too impudent to a person. Smth like: "Am i doing/saying smth wrong?"
Hope that will help :)

[pzrk.livejournal.com]

These are reduced forms:

"если что [случится], позвони"
"[произошло] что-то не то [, что ожидалось]"

[kalaus.livejournal.com]

In most situations, "Если что, (по)звони" means simply "Don't hesitate to call me (if there's anything you need)". Doesn't have to be a problem ("problem", by the way, very often sounds stronger than the Russian "проблема").

[eugenetersky.livejournal.com]

or you can translate it as "feel free to call me", which is slightly different from "если что, звони" though. I mean, it can't be used in any situation: "feel free/don't hesitate to open the window" != "если что, открой окно" (put this way, it might sound like if it gets really stuffy here or even in case of fire:)

"что" implies something wrong anyhow

[kalaus.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I didn't mean to say that "don't hesitate to..." can be used in any situation, I was trying to give closest Russian equivalent to the specific phrase "Если что, звони". Feel free to call is also just fine, of course.

> "что" implies something wrong anyhow.
===
Not necessarily. I can means "if you have a question", "if you feel bored", "if you need an adivice" -- depending on the situation.

[eugenetersky.livejournal.com]

That's pretty much what I meant with "something wrong". Question, need of advice, boredom. :)

[malim-praedari.livejournal.com]

+1. This is exactly the principle. Another useful example:

"Вы не туда́ попа́ли" = "You have the wrong number" (literally, "You got the wrong place").

[kunaifusu.livejournal.com]

+1 to the ellipsis

[zauberer.livejournal.com]

Sometimes "звони, если что" could be used by somebody to express the wish to hear somebody else (addressé) calling without any apparent reason. A polite and humble way to say "It would be great to hear you on the phone".