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Nov. 26th, 2005 03:38 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
superslayer18.livejournal.comMostly for Native speakers, but I'm sure anyone else can answer:
If you heard the phrase "я не скажу ни слова", would you immediately think (NOT which is the correct form grammatically):
1) I don't say a word
2) I'm not saying a word
3) I won't say a word
or
4) I haven't said a word
or something else?
ETA: General consensus seems to fall with the third option, but why is that? It was my first reaction too I guess, but that's only because I was thinking about it from an English-speaking point of view and no one would ever really say 1 or 2 (they might, but even in the present tense the third would be more natural). So now it becomes a question of tense: Unless I'm mistaken (which I probably am, so please let me know) skazhit' is a present tense verb... so why would it be translated into the future tense?
If you heard the phrase "я не скажу ни слова", would you immediately think (NOT which is the correct form grammatically):
1) I don't say a word
2) I'm not saying a word
3) I won't say a word
or
4) I haven't said a word
or something else?
ETA: General consensus seems to fall with the third option, but why is that? It was my first reaction too I guess, but that's only because I was thinking about it from an English-speaking point of view and no one would ever really say 1 or 2 (they might, but even in the present tense the third would be more natural). So now it becomes a question of tense: Unless I'm mistaken (which I probably am, so please let me know) skazhit' is a present tense verb... so why would it be translated into the future tense?
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