155 Comments
I've gathered that there's a few ways of saying "and" in Russian. Can someone please explain them? Thanks.
«И» is used to connect two things into a "list" or a combination (a cat and a dog, "I bought bread, and you, too, bought bread").
«И» is also used to append another sentence that "follows" from what is said before (It was bad, and I knew it).
"А" is used to juxtapose two things that are not the same.
- Это мама, а это папа. = This is mom and that is dad.
- Я ем гамбургер, а Мария ест суши. = I am eating a hamburger and Maria is eating sushi.
- Она химик, а я нет. = She is a chemist and I am not.
- Это гелий, а не неон. = This is helium, not neon.
Just like in the sentence this topic is about. It is also used in "and you?" questions. In colloquial speech questions often start with an "А", which makes them softer and more natural (sort of like "and, by the way.. Let me ask you another thing then..")
I have always thought "a" means more like "but". Thanks for that explanation - I did not understand why my translation was rejected but this clears it up.
it does mean but in a way, look at the sentences Shady_arc used as examples for "a" and notice that you can very easily replace "and" with "but", the thing is that you can't use "a" in Russian everywhere you would use but in English, it's somewhere between,
In Estonia we were taught in school, that "a" means "but", so it confused me too. I'm just guessing that estonians use the word "but" a little differently (more often) than english speakers...
One thing that's really bugging me is that you don't seem to use any equivalent of ¨is/are¨.I already knew cyrillic and my first language is Croatian so i can understand this quite well,but can you explain this? If i translated Eto mama literally it would translate into that/this mom,would it not?
Again,i can understand perfectly,but would probably make a mistake if i were to try speaking in Russian.
«Это мама» cannot mean anything other than "This is mom". This mom would be «эта мама».
Think of English using "-s" to make plurals but NO ending to make singulars. Languages, apparently, can have a contrast between empty space and the space been filled with something, if they wich so.
So you have the following:
- Я был в Америке. = I was in America.
- Я в Америке. = I am in America.
- Я буду в Америке. = I will be in America / I am going to be in America.
Note how Russian switches to zero-verb in the present but English does not.
That's interesting,thank you for explaining,i was doing some research a while back and it seems Croatian and Russian declension among Slavic languages are one of the most similar.
-Ja(Ya) sam bio u Americi = I was in America ,bio can be ˝bil˝ in some dialects,it's astonishing how similar Russian is,despite the historical and geographical distance
-Ja sam u Americi = I am in America -Ja ću biti u Americi = I will be in America
Hope the Croatian translation helps clarify my issue,and if i got that right this is only the case in the present?
Yes, it only works this way in the present and only when you need a copula or a verb stating where something is (or did I forget something?)
What about «Маша и Медведь?» ☺ Remember, when combining two or more items into a "list" it works pretty much the same as in Englush, minus the Oxford comma:
- Маша и Медведь»
- Аня и Маша
- В такси Маша, Вася и Аня.
- Пётр, Василий, Екатерина, Владимир и Александр живут в Нью-Йорке.
This is excellent! Any chance this can be added to the notes for this section? Those are so helpful.
To make it more concise:
In constructions like this "а"="whereas".
Duo shuns "whereas" for some reasons (too highbrow?) and replaces it by "and". So before you translate Duolingo's "and" as "и", ask yourself whether "whereas" would work in its place. If so, translate it to Russian as "а".
Thank you! I did not know any of that! This was very helpful, as I was having a lot of trouble with this subject.
I'm having trouble hearing the words - it sounds like "дом" to me, instead of "Том"...
The voice-over here is far from perfect. I recommend to listen each word separately.
It might depend on your native language. In any case, Russian "T" and "D" are pronounced close to your teeth, and the voices consonants are quite voiced, unlike English or (especially) German.
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I like Russian because my mother language is Spanish and some words sounds like our alphabet. Many of the letters also have an equivalent Still, just in case I make use of Forvo.com for some words.
This has been a bit of a conflicting thing in my limited experience. Some sources say Russian in general is pronounced fronted, even "against the teeth", which would make 'д' like the "th" in "this". But the Russian recordings I've heard, they don't actually speak like that. It's never that fronted.
German is a decent comparison point in some ways, people say it's a "hard" language. It is, but not in the way that a difference between 't' and 'd' wasn't there like some say. And the most frequent stereotype English speakers have about German is that there's a buzzing "ZZZZZZ" everywhere -- a voiced consonant. :)
Some, maybe a lot, of the trouble anyone may have is just because of the speech synth. It isn't perfect, just an approximation.
The beginning part sounded like, "Yanna" where the two words kinda meshed together, like in french, instead of it being pronounced distinctly from each other. Is this common in Russian, and is it similar to french's liaisons?
«Я» ends in the same sound «Анна» starts from. They will always blend into a long /a/ unless you make a pause there (why would you want to?)
In British English, I'm not sure, but I (an American) would use "and" here if it's an introduction. I would use "but" if it's a clarification. For example, if my name were Tim and another man nearby were Tom and someone walked up to me and said, "Hello, Tom," THEN I would say, "I am Tim, but he is Tom."
I wouldn't use But in any case. And would still be used as clarification. You would simply put emphasis on he's.
I am a native speaker of both (American) English and Russian, and I could see using "but" here. I was graded as incorrect for "but", but I have not suggested that "but" should be marked as correct because the conjunction "and" still glosses better.
I mean if you make someone's acquaintance and introduce your friend Tom, you wouldn't use 'but'. To be quite frank, I can't image a situation where you'd use a 'but' version of this sentence.
I mean you're probably correct. I just always thought the "а" serves a function of comparing, and "и" is for listing things off. I am not a native speaker of English, but "my name's anna, but this person is called tom" makes sense as a situation that would happen in the world. Definitely makes sense in my native language to use the equivalent of "but".
Yeah, it does, in this case it gives the contrast between Anna and her friend Tom. I viewed it as walking into a situation and having to introduce yourself (anna) and your friend tom. The "but" puts the focus much more on Tom whereas "and" has a much more equal feel to it. Im not a native English speaker either, so I understand the struggles why it sometimes does not make sense haha! Then again Im also a novice at Russian 8)
I think it's an Estonian thing as well, we use "a" exclusively to mean "but", and we either adopted it from Russian or it's a shortened version of "aga" (but). Probably a mix of both. Anyway now i automatically interpret it to only mean "but". So i'm gonna unlearn that i guess.
I also put but, but then again I was told 'а' was more like 'but' than 'and' (because of the dissimilar point you made above).
There is an example where you might use but in the above sentence.
If someone asked you if you were Tom, but you were Anna you might say "(No,) I'm Anna, but this is Tom".
In this case and probably makes more sense.
That's what I was wondering it doesn't exactly teach the alphabet it teaches more basic words than the alphabet.
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Is a guttural stop used when speaking Russian? The recording seems like it meshes Я right in the Анна - so it sounds almost like "yana" instead of ya anna. It might just be my speakers or the recording - but I know in Spanish they normally do not do a guttural stop between words - and in German they do - so I just want to know how it is for Russian
I put Ana instead of Anna and mark me wrong. That is the same name, isn't it?
Ana is not the historic English spelling. It's mostly found in Spanish/Portuguese names as well as southern Slavonic names (Bulgarian, Serbian and etc...). Just stick with whatever is in the hints for the word.
Is this "contraction" between Я Анна that I hear on purpose? And if yes, is there similar contraction throughout Russian?
When I listen to it it sounds like 'Я' continues over into "Анна" fluidly, kind of like "Янна". I haven't tried on other computers. But perhaps I just need to train my ears.
Yeah, It is probably that I need to adapt to the flow of Russian to get used to it. Thanks for the help, and for that site! Seems helpful for future words.
my first name is anastasia but everyone calls me ana.............................. What a day!!!
Duolingo ignores your punctuation. We, on the other hand, follow the standard punctuation conventions in our sentences.
What is the "standard punctuation conventions"? I have never heard of such a thing. The english translation is incorrect because the punctuation is incorrect. No comma should be there. In the english language, there is a never a comma placed immediately before or after the word (AND). The english language is slowly being changed and/or dumbed down due to the world becoming smaller (as in, we are so close to each other via the internet) that mistakes in the english language are slowly creeping in, to becoming the norm. You will see in a couple of decades, i bet, the word, "your" being naturalised to mean "you are" when in fact, the correct word is "you're" & even worse, added to english dictionaries. And this is simply because either non native english speakers have learnt it wrongly or what is an ever present problem; native english children leaving school with a poor command of literacy.
I can't believe not one person on this thread has noted the error except for the person who asked a question about it. Does Duolingo use native english speakers proof readers to ensure that translation mistakes are not made? Or even if the people are not native speakers, at least, do they have sufficient english proficiency qualifications?
I believe you're wrong about the comma thing. You use a comma before any conjunction that links two independent clauses. The second use is for when linking the last two items in a series, with the exception that you may skip the final comma if the last two items are clearly distinguished from each other.
I was talking about the comma in Russian. Truth be told, I did not even look at its English translation, which really does not need a comma.
а is also often translated as and, since in English you wouldn't say "but this is Tom" normally.
No, it's like "ah". The "a" and the "ehto" are runnin' together here though.
I keep getting it wrong. I put in I am Anna and This is Tom. Please expain why this is wrong.
I'm lucky that there are many words pretty similar with ones in croatian (since my mother tongue is croatian) but still, I have some problems with spelling because of the difference in alphabet
I believe this answer is inadequate because it is really really wrong. I don't mind if you ban my account but please take into consideration this ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ answer is incorrect
What's the difference in using a Я instead of a У. My mind tells me to use У which is obviously wrong.
Я means I and you use the nominative form of the name. У (Анны) means either at someone's place, or "Anna has" and it puts the modified words into genitive case. They also don't sound the same at all. Я = Ya. У = "oo" (like in the word "boo". It does not sound like a U in English which has that glide in the front of the sound).
Duolingo doesn't care about punctuation. You could put a comma between each word and it would still work.
I faced this question again and typing "I am anna, and this is tom" another time did work
I can see you're just starting out - don't get frustrated, take your time and keep an open mind.
DL's text-to-speech is ... alright at best, so I recommend checking out www.forvo.com if you ever have questions on how words are pronounced. When you get in to how words change, you might check out regular old Wiktionary - they have declension and conjugation charts there. If you're on the website (maybe it's on mobile, too), make sure to read the lesson introductions to get the background and grammar rules for the exercises you're about to do.
Also don't be afraid to read the discussions page for an exercise if you have questions - A lot of the more common questions ("why does this end in -a and not -o?") have already been answered, so I recommend reading through what's already been posted first, but if you don't find the answer, just ask and people will answer!
DuoLingo is a great resource to get your feet wet in the language but you'll probably want to also use traditional resources (a plain dictionary will go a long way, and there are specialized books like 501 Russian Verbs that also explain a lot). This will help you increase your vocabulary a lot (DL is rather limited in this respect).
Welcome!
I feel I got another "false incorrect" with this one :) There was another almost identical task and on the forums a 15+ graded poster said that although 'i' is not the preferred form, it is NOT "incorrect" and CAN in fact be used instead of 'a'. As far as I understood it there, the difference is minute and has to do with a sort of distancing or "contrast". Kind of like two people standing together vs. referring to a car and a truck on the other side of the market square.
It would be appreciated if a couple of things could be properly clarified. One being: Who or what are the authorities deciding what's wrong? And the other: what IS the actual logic behind accepting/rejecting the answers? Because of the languages structure, this one could also be expressed as "Ja Anna, eto Tom." without changing the semantics (correct me if I'm wrong there). Would that then be accepted, an answer completely disregarding the particle?
It means "and", but in English we sometimes can use 'but' or 'while' instead because that sounds/works better.
а - used when contrasting two ideas. E.g., "I want to go to the beach, and he wants to go to the store." or "I want to go to the beach, while/but he wants to go to the store."
и - used when supporting the same idea. It never means 'but'. E.g, 'I like apples and oranges.'
https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/18299822/Difference-between-using-a-and-%D0%B8
Я слышу: Яна а это том, событие=(человек показывает пальцем на людей) но при замедлении всё сразу понятно. Я Анна а это том
"Я́на — женское имя, поздняя западнославянская транскрипция имени Иоанна"
I wrote exactly the correct answer, exactly as you have it, and you say it is wrong!!!
The recording thought I forgot to say the 'а' but I literally said it like how it did in the playback; blended... It recognized I blended the the sound for 'Я Анна' but not 'а это'
"me" is an object of a verb or preposition ("give me that", "they saw me", etc.). It is not the right form of the pronoun "I" (you want to just use "I" in cases like this)
I can y type it in English letters but it demands Russian ones. How do I do that?
The course does accept transliterated Russian, so if you're not 100% sure why it's not accepting your answer you can post it for people to explain where the mistake is.
Otherwise, if you're on a computer you can search for "online russian keyboard" and type in a box online and copy and paste; or download a keyboard layout you like (winrus has a few options); or enable the Russian keyboard through your computer options (you'll be stuck with one or two similar layouts).
On mobile you might have to download an extra app to enable the keyboard, or you might be able to go to your device's language settings and enable Russian there.
Hi. Where can i find Russian letters to choose from when I shall write answers. I can understand correctly, but when i shall write with latin alphabet i get Wrong. In Spanish there are special letters to choose from underneath the Box we Write in. That would have been helpful in Russian too.
I wish for kyrillisk alphabet under the Box we Write text in. Thanks. Regards Unn
I put a comma after Anna, which is the correct punctuation in English, but the app says my answer is incorrect. (Everything else about my answer is exactly the same as the "correct" answer.)
What's the difference between и and а? I thought "и" was "and" and "а" was "to".
They both mean "and", but "i" expressed similarity ("I am at work and you are at work") while "a" expressed contrast ("I am at work and you are at home").
You might be thinking of the preposition "na" which means "at; on; to" depending on context.
The pronunciation provided here has "я Анна" sound to me like it's one word, as though it was spelled "яана". Am I hearing properly? If so, is that that the standard pronunciation? Would it be incorrect to pronounce it as two separate words?
I clicked on the button to say it but i meant to click the button to say it out for me and it auto conpleted it for me
Give me the OPTION to "give up for now" after 3 failed attempts. Maybe I'm close. Maybe I'm married to a Russian speaker who can help me improve pronunciation, and I want to keep trying!!! WTF?
I have typed this i tom instead of this is tom so i forgot the s in is and got the question wrong
I need help please. I seem to have pronounciation issues with the sentence "Я Анна, а это Том." How do I pronounce the part "Я Анна" correctly, the app always tells me that I do it wrong? Thanks for the help in advance.
How do i pronounce "Я Анна" correctly? App always tells me that I do it wrong
Is there anyway I can redo the question? I made a dumb mistake by putting Tim instead of Tom.
I just realized how similar "Tom" and "Dom" sound. If I had to translate just the audio without any written text, I would have extreme difficulties.
I wish it wouldn't erase my answer every time I switch between the Cyrillic and Latin alphabet. I'm trying little-by-little to learn the letters in Cyrillic but when my answer is erased in the phonetic spelling it just makes it harder. Does anyone know if that can be fixed?
So why did they pronounced the Я along with AHHa like '' ЯAHHa '' and not '' Я AHHa '' ?
Just wondering the timing to pronounce a sentence in Russian, do they 'stick' all the work together . Will Russian stop after one word?
I wish this program would let be translate word for word, or the litteral translation. I Anna and this tom would help me understand the grammar better.
Literal translation works sometimes, but your example would be extremely inappropriate. The Russian given is a complete sentence, but "I Anna and this Tom" is not a complete English sentence.
Okay so, I can here what there saying but as I looked at the keyboard(its in Russian) its kinda hard for me to spell the words when i can bearly read the keyboard... its kind kf hard to explain....
I just wish they wouldnt use Anna as a sample name. Anna sounds very similar to она , but im a complete noob to russian
I have a "problem" with translating "a" as "and". I'd like to translate it as "but" because I'm used to it. (What are English speakers in Russia taught to translate "but" as then?") I decided to consult a few dictionaries. The first was Wordreference and for "a" the first two results it gave were "but" and only then "and". "But" always means contrast anyway. (Too much contrast for Russians?) Then I used an Estonian-Russian dictionary (so you won't have much use of it if I gave you a link although there are example sentences) and typed "aga" ("but") and found 3 entries. The first one of them was the most useful. It said that there are contrasting "а, но, же, однако" and interrogative "а". Then I typed "ja" ("and") and learnt that there really can again be both joining (и, да) and contrasting type (а, но, однако) under one entry. As the probable situation around this sentence can be understood many ways (maybe Anna and Tom are babies or dogs), I suggest making both answers correct. As "but" means contrast anyway, I think that you are making things a bit too messy and complicated by introducing something as "contrasting "and"". At the same time it was nice to learn new things. But you are right that for native English speakers "and" might sound a lot more natural under some circumstances.
It's always harder with those who have some (stubborn) previous knowledge. .... Maybe you could explain me/us why "Я Анна и это Том" would be wrong, instead.
«И» is used to combine items into a list (a bag and a box) or to join sentences that follow the same idea (Snow is melting, and trees are growing buds). It is also used as an implied "so" when the second part of e sentence follows logically from the first (I was late, so I missed the beginning of his speech). It is used as a sentence-starting "so".
Sentences like "I am Alice and he is Bob" can only use «а», so there is really no choice here.
A full-fledged "but" also exists in Russian. It is «но».
a in russian means but not and. и means and i have known this basic thing since i was 10
When you switch alphabets, one sounds as "Ee" and the other "Ee ya". What is happening with that?
Having a hard time remembering this. I was switching between the Roman and Cyrillic alphabet. I think I was looking for я but was unable to find it on the keyboard. I am using a phonetic keyboard, so д is where d is on my English keyboard.
I think it was the Cyrillic one that pronounced Ee while the Roman one pronounced it as Ee ya.
It may be the other way around.
