- Forum >
- Topic: Russian >
- "My sister is cooking soup an…
"My sister is cooking soup and rice."
Translation:Сестра готовит суп и рис.
17 Comments
1530
I found something which will possibly help understand. I'm quoting at length from https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/frequent-omission-of-the-possessive-pronoun-in-russian.2324331/
The discussion still doesn't explain why it's so obvious the сестра means "my sister", which I don't find to be obvious or logical at all. If it's not an error, then it has to be an idiom, where сестра by itself is simply accepted as "my/our sister".
The discussion makes it obvious that, like other languages which drop pronouns when they're essentially redundant, Russian sometimes does the same, but the discussion suggests that there is more an element of logic to it than necessarily redundancy, e.g., "I have pencil in hand" rather than "I have a pencil in my hand", because it's logically impossible for me to have a pencil in your hand. Thus, my is logically redundant.
It should be obvious that subject pronouns aren't really necessary in Russian, because of the verb conjugations, but try to leave one out and you get marked wrong. Anyway, here's the discussion:
<pre>Hello,
I keep coming across Russian sentences in which a pronoun has been omitted in a position where it would necessarily be used in English.
I was wondering if, among native Russian speakers, it is considered grammatically or stylisticaly inferior to say "Я дал в моей душе обет небу", or "Не беспокойся! Ты пытался по мере твоих способностей!"?
</pre>
Let me try to explain.
What you call "omission of the possessive pronoun" is just how you see it from your perspective.
From my (native Russian) perspective, nothing is "omitted" in phrases "Я дал в душе обет небу", or "Не беспокойся! Ты пытался по мере способностей!"
Quite opposite, when Russians learn English, they are likely to say something like "I have a pen in a hand" or "He has black shoes on the feet" etc.
This is a matter of how you are accustomed to use the possessive pronouns.
In English, every noun is considered as definite or indefinite. And the corresponding articles (the / a) are used to reflect that. When it is known, WHOSE noun is, you always put a possessive pronoun to replace the definite article (the): I have a pen in my hand. He has black shoes on his feet. Raise your hands, please! Take your hands out of your pockets! etc.
In Russian, no articles (the / a) are used. And possessive pronouns are mostly used when they conduct some useful information. If it is obvious, WHOSE noun is, there is no need to use an additional word (as a possessive pronoun). Let's examine the examples above:
Я дал в душе обет небу. - It is very clear, that I gave it in MY soul (I could not do it in YOUR soul, or in someone else's soul) - so, it is obvious. No need to indicate it explicitly.
Ты пытался по мере способностей! - It is obvious that you tried according to the measure of YOUR abilities (not MY abilities, of course)! - so, the word "твоих" does not provide any new information. In this particular sentence, it would be also OK to say: Ты пытался по мере (твоих or своих) способностей! It is just optional here.
I have a pen in my hand. = У меня в руке ручка. (У меня в моей руке ручка is redundant - I cannot have a pen in YOUR hand or in HIS hand :) ) He has black shoes on his feet. = У него на ногах чёрные туфли. (У него на его ногах чёрные туфли sounds funny for me, since it implies it were possible if HE had black shoes on someone else's feet!) Raise your hands, please! = Поднимите руки, пожалуйста! (It is clear I am not asking to raise MY hands:) ) Take your hands out of your pockets! = Вынь руки из карманов! (It is obvious I am asking you to take YOUR hands (not MY hands) out of YOUR pockets)
Note: if their were a thief who had put HIS hands into MY pockets, I would add "свои" (I am addressing to you) and "моих" to make the sentence clear: Вынь свои руки из моих карманов!
Does that mean "Моя сестра готовит" is an incorrect or odd usage? I think that the fact that it is my sister would deserve clarification, as it could very well be someone else's.
The suggested translation leaves out "Моя" (though it does accept it as correct). Since it should be "My sister", I don't understand how leaving it out could be right. Could someone explain this to me?
This seems to be a cultural thing. In English it's not common to leave out "my".
Little confused. Why is "Моя сестра готовит супа и риса," wrong? I know "Ты хочешь молока?" means "Do you want milk?" -> (Do you have a need of what = Чего? Genitive case requires o->a). The genitive case also requires if a word ends with a consonant, -a must be added. "My sister is cooking what and what?"
I believe it's supposed to be the accusative case (since soup and rice are the direct objects). In singular present, accusative is the same as nominal for neuter/masculine nouns.
You're using the genitive here, but that is incorrect!
Приготовить is a perfective verb so it implies a future action. Here it is present tense, which would be готовить. This can be confusing because, in English, in as sentence like "I need to cook soup", the infinitive is used, which looks like the present, but it is essentially a future action so the perfective verb is used in Russian.
My sister is cooking soup and rice. The answer should be also good if we put Моя сестра. I don't understand why it is wrong
The reason the "my" is omitted is because you wouldn't call anyone else but your own sister "sister". If i were speaking of your sister, the sentence would be "твоя сестра". The pronoun, though used as a matter of course to English speakers, wouldn't have to be used in a language that uses pronouns relatively sparingly, like Russian. I could say in English "Sister is cooking soup and rice" and you probably wouldn't question that I was speaking of my own sister, even without the "my" preceeding it. It's not an ideal translation, like many duolingo translations, but it does make sense.
