The "would you rather" game

[scifigal.livejournal.com]

can you please tell me how I would say the following:

Would you rather VERB or VERB? I assume in this construction you would use two present tense verbs.

or

Would you prefer X or Y? Is it the same if followed by a verb or by a noun? If a noun, in the nominative case?

Thank you for all your collective insights.

[edited to add:] Thank you, everyone. A common mistake which language learners make (and I provided a STUNNING example) is the desire to exactly translate a phrase, instead of reaching for one that is simpler and expresses the same idea.

That idea: Что лучше - X или Y?

Comments

[cyka-no-iq.livejournal.com]

If literally - вы предпочитаете почитать или поспать?
вы предпочитаете апельсиновый или томатный?

Practically this sentence is very official and usually we're using more simple ones in a person-to-person conversation. Depends on situation:
Waiter to a customer: "Вам принести апельсиновый сок или томатный?"
In a marketing reaserchment: "Вы больше любите апельсиновый сок или томатный?"

[scifigal.livejournal.com]

The game in English is like this:

Would you rather eat a worm or drink mud?
Would you rather have a boyfriend who was really hairy or had no eyebrows?
Would you rather be stung by 10 bees or bitten by 50 mosquitoes.

So what do you think...the more literal one, or something more casual? Because you're not just asking a choice (do you want cake or death pie?) you're setting up two different (usually bad) scenarios.

[airballade.livejournal.com]

"Ты бы лучше червяка съел или грязь выпил?" — colloquial
"Вы бы предпочли съесть червяка или выпить грязь?"
"Ты бы предпочла парня, который был бы очень волосат или который не имел бы бровей?"
"Ты бы лучше был ужален десятью пчёлами или укушен пятьюдесятью комарами?"
"Вы предпочли бы быть ужаленными десятью пчёлами или быть укушенными пятьюдесятью комарами?"

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Except that colloquial, spoken Russian avoids passive constructions at all costs.

[scifigal.livejournal.com]

Would it be better to say something more like:

"Choose one: X or Y"
"Which is better: X or Y"

??

I'm mostly looking to have fun in Russian.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

There's a very colloquial saying which could serve as a model: "Вам что: шашечки или ехать?" ([when you take a taxi, do] you pay for checkers (old taxi cabs in Moscow were checkered) or for a ride?".
I'd use "что лучше: спать или изучать молекулярную физику?" model, though.

[cyka-no-iq.livejournal.com]

Then ot could be "Что лучше - X или Y?" - can be used for all these cases. Translates - What is better for you (literally)

[cyka-no-iq.livejournal.com]

*IT could be)

[scifigal.livejournal.com]

Perfect. Thank you!

You know, as a language teacher I *know* that people want exact translations of things, when 99% of the time, a simpler phrase is the better choice.

I know this, but I know I'll continue to make it overly complicated.

Thanks again!

[scifigal.livejournal.com]

This is precisely what I'm looking for, and I'm a dolt for not having realized it.

DOPE!

[al-r.livejournal.com]

Even strange that nobody mentioned (for me it's the most obvious variant) -
Ты скорее съешь червяка или грязь? (eat worm or mud)
Вы скорее ослепнете или оглохнете? (Would you rather/more quickly be blind or deaf?)
:))

[kunaifusu.livejournal.com]

In Russian it's not that straightforward, it goes from two equally good choices, then to a good and bad and then to two bad and one of them gets fulfilled for example:
Would you rather have an apple or an orange? Orange? Sorry I don't have any on me. But would you rather have an ice cream or a kick in the balls? Sorry again, I fresh out of ice cream. How about this: kick in the balls or kick in the butt? You are in luck, my friend, one kick in the butt coming up!

[oryx_and_crake]

"Вы скорее ослепнете или оглохнете?" for me certainly does not sound like an equivalent of "what would you rather do?" In 100% I would understand this construction as "Will you go deaf or blind first?"