57 Comments
1737
а is typically used to connect parts of a complex sentence that are opposed to each other. Ia uchitel, a ona vrach (Я учитель, а она врач) - I am a teacher, and she is a doctor. i (и) is used to list a set of words (nouns like in this example, verbs, adjectives or adverbs), or to connect parts of a complex sentence that correspond to each other or "help" each other in some sense. Ia uchitel, i ona uchitel (Я учитель, и она учитель) - I am a teacher and she is a teacher. Ia skazal privet, i ona ulybnulas' (Я сказал привет, и она улыбнулась) - I said hello and she smiled.
Could you also say that 'и' often means 'and' and 'a' often translates to but? That's how I learnt to tell 'm apart.
- 1737
I guess you could. In Russian there is a difference between но ("but") and а. Но is used when there is an active contradiction between two parts. For instance, you can't say Я учитель, но она врач without implying that me being a teacher somehow gets in the way of her being a doctor. Can you say "I am a teacher, but she is a doctor", and does it mean the same as "I am a teacher, and she is a doctor"?
Just remember language learners that it's not that same kind of 'and' that's in English. Well that's how I look at it anyways.
coffee is great with everything. pizza is great with everything. why not coffee and pizza?
Someone already answered this so I'll just copy and paste "а is typically used to connect parts of a complex sentence that are opposed to each other. Ia uchitel, a ona vrach (Я учитель, а она врач) - I am a teacher, and she is a doctor. i (и) is used to list a set of words (nouns like in this example, verbs, adjectives or adverbs), or to connect parts of a complex sentence that correspond to each other or "help" each other in some sense. Ia uchitel, i ona uchitel (Я учитель, и она учитель) - I am a teacher and she is a teacher. Ia skazal privet, i ona ulybnulas' (Я сказал привет, и она улыбнулась) - I said hello and she smiled." -slycelote
What kind of mutant eats coffee and pizza?
... oh wait actually I like both too.
Am I the only person who thinks the male Russian narrator sounds like he has a New York accent?
Is there not glottal stop between the е and и? If so, does this happen every time е ends a syllable and the next syllable begins with a vowel?
I can't explain this to you, but I admire that you are another human being that knows what a glottal stop is.
The text-to-speech mangles the pronunciation sometimes. There should be a stop between them. The и should be pronounced as separate word (unlike в and с, which connect with the word that comes after them.)
Just to clarify, so в shouldn't be pronounced, or should it be pronounced as part of the second word?
It's spelt пицца because it comes from the Italian pizza. If it were пица, then it would just have a shorter ц sound (/ˈpʲit͡sːə/ vs. /ˈpʲit͡sə/).
[2019/04/07]
I believe coffee and pizza makes sense. But when и is used which relates to and. How come it is showing a pizza as there is no seperate word for a?
Either "pizza" or "a pizza" is fine. An equivalent of the English word "a" doesn't really exist in Russian, other than один (one).
[2019/04/07]
Why is "кафе" sometimes "coffee" but sometimes its "café," when can you tell the difference??
Duo told us in an earlier lesson that café is translated to кафе, not кафэ. Is this maybe a regional difference or was it a mistake?
- 36
Yes, sorry, you're right, the correct spelling is кафе. I was spelling it phonetically, as that's how it's pronounced. The ф in кафе is hard, and the е is pronounced like э, whereas in кофе the ф is soft. Also, кафе is stressed on the second syllable, and кофе on the first, just like in English.
Why it don't accept "café" on the answer? There's another exercise that don't accept "coffee". I don't know why. Maybe a glitch?
As in кофе, when does 'ф' change to sound almost like spanish 'j' (Actually I think it sounds more like Swedish sj-sound)?
- 528
I am a native Spanish speaker and I hear a clear "f" sound here, under no circumstances a Spanish "j" (which would be Russian "Х").
