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- Topic: Russian >
- "Рыба — на столе."
39 Comments
1657
Using the singular verb "is" requires an article (a, the) before "fish" - "the fish is on the table" (which could mean one fish or a mass noun group of several fish.) If you don't use the article, then you'd have to say "Fish are on the table".
405
General American can use it as a mass noun, too: "You have your choice: Chicken is on the counter, beef is on the stove, and fish is on the table."
2142
So is there a difference between one fish and multiple fish? "The fish are on the table" was marked wrong. So would "The fish are on the table" be "Рыби - на столе"?
1987
Yes, there is a difference:
if you can count it - one fish - "рыба", from two to four - "рыбы", five and more - "рыб". For example -fifteen fish - "пятнадцать рыб", give me three fish - дай мне три рыбы.
If a lot of fish, you may say - много рыбы (a lot of fish). If you want to say "many fish" (many types of fish) - много рыб.
But if you can't count the fish (or you don't want to count) - correctly to use in the singular. For example: Рыбаки пошли ловить рыбу сетями - the fishermen went to net fish.
So "The fish are on the table" would be the same as one fish - "Рыба на столе". Next time press report -> my answer should be accepted.
1987
You are right - "there is/are fish on the table" would be "на столе рыба", it also means "рыба на столе", because in Russian language you can change the words in some places without losing the sense of the sentence.
1987
These are two different sentences:
In the sentence from the task one tell - "where is/are the fish lying". In your choice you just say - here's a kitchen, there is a table on the kitchen, there is/are fish on the table, there is a window next to the table
367
I think столе is in the prepositional case (because it's preceded by на). Since стол doesn't end in -и, or -ия, or -ий, or -ие, its prepositional form gets an -e added to it :D
454
How am I supposed to pronounce Рыба? I know it's spelt Ryba but I hear it like the Spanish word arriba
Ы is a specific Russian vowel. You can look it up on https://forvo.com/search/%D1%80%D1%8B%D0%B1%D0%B0/ to listen to pronunciations
1521
It's not really a Russian oddity, the same vowel exists in a whole bunch of other languages. Polish, Portuguese, Korean, Estonian to name just a few.
1521
It's close enough. Just drop the initial "a" and make "r" a really short trill, one tongue tap at the alveolar ridge is enough (unless you want to be really emphatic)
1521
It depends on the dialect, your ear, and, if Spanish is not the speaker's native language, his or her first language.