(no subject)

[xswt-cherryx.livejournal.com]

hey,

so I was wondering is there a general way to answer a question that is asked using 'как' ?

the question I have is:
как жил кот перед тем как он поехал в дядей фёдором в деревню?

I always get confused when I answer questions using как,
I want to say:
Кот перед жил как плохо

But Im not sure if как needs to be in there... would I just omit it or replace it with так?

thanks everyone once again!

Comments

[dekarmi.livejournal.com]

Кот жил плохо перед тем, как он поехал с дядей Федором в деревню.

[yurka-spb.livejournal.com]

The grammatically correct answer (and question) are
Как жил кот, перед тем как он поехал с Дядей Фёдором в деревню?
Перед тем как он поехал с Дядей Фёдором в деревню, кот жил плохо.

In the question you use как 2 times. The first one is the word used to ask question. The second is a part of перед тем как construction, which is translated as "before". The first one is used only in the question, so it disappears in the answer. The second is not related to question so it is kept in the answer.

More simple example is
Как тебя зовут?
Меня зовут Юра
where как is used only to ask a question, and is not used in answer at all.

[archaicos.livejournal.com]

как for the most part is your how. You either answer in short with an adverb or with a full sentence:

1.Плохо.
2.Кот жил плохо до встречи с дядей Фёдором.

I don't know exactly why you think как or так should be in the answer. They can be there because of the information contained in the answer, but aren't required just because it's the answer.
Examples:

1.Так плохо, что чуть с голоду не помер = He lived so bad/poorly, he almost died of hunger.
2.Как бомж = He lived as though he was a hobo.
3.Как-то не очень = so-so
etc

[liludalas.livejournal.com]

1st как stands for how

"перед тем как" is one, meaning "before"

1st "как" stands for how and you won't repeat how in reply
replying to the questions starting with how, when, why, what, which etc you normally replace these words with something that has a meaning. At the same time you put this meaningful word in its right place in the sentence according to the word order.


In fact there are 2 sentences there:
1 - как жил кот
2 - он поехал с дядей федором в деревню

they are connected by the "перед тем, как" and you also should put a comma there

so answering this question you should either omit the second sentence with the "перед тем, как", or include it completely

making it either:
кот жил плохо
or

кот жил плохо перед тем, как он поехал с дядей федором в деревню

[anusoida.livejournal.com]

До этого/перед этим кот жил плохо.

[zeqfreed.livejournal.com]

As 'как' is the question adverbs answer to, you should respond with an adverb, replacing it for 'как' and placing other words in gramatically correct order to form a declarative sentence.

[oryx_and_crake]

Just one correction

Перед тем, как кот поехал с дядей Федором в деревню, он жил плохо.

[yurka-spb.livejournal.com]

Absolutely. It's my mistake.

One correction: you should not place comma in the compound conjunction перед тем как. (I'm not sure in the grammatical term)

[satanjesus.livejournal.com]

I'm a beginner Russian student, and I do enjoy keeping up with this community-- but sometimes the lack of English translation leaves me without closure for these extremely helpful little lessons. Is this one all about finding out where a cat lives?

[pinky-the-cow.livejournal.com]

There is a general way of working your way around questions starting with "Как…".

Как жил кот перед тем, как он поехал с дядей Фёдором в деревню?

Кот жил так: бродил по помойкам, ездил на тонированной "шестёрке" и посещал спа-салоны не чаще двух раз в месяц.

The question is how something was/is/will be? The answer may pretty fine begin with "That's how!" and continue with ordinary narration.