"You are a boy."
Translation:Ты мальчик.
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In the "Tips and Notes" thing at the top, there is a link to a tutorial page on how to get a phonetic keyboard for it
When they say "soft", they mean palatalized: http://therusblog.com/2012/02/18/palatalization-in-russian/
when you pronounce ь it makes the previous part end with your whole (correct if im wrong) tongue on the roof of your mouth
Example: мальчик would sound like "mall" then you finish the mall part then "cheek" but мальчик would just sound like mallsheek if ь wasnt there
It's the other way round: ты is informal, Вы is formal.
Since you're adressing a child (and «мальчик» is generally used for children), you can use the informal variant.
In Russian language When you talk to someone you don't know him you ought to talk to the individual in plural Just Respectfully!
What is the difference between "ь" and "ы"? I know that ь is soft sign, so what does it differ from ы?
It's a vowel. See for example: http://masterrussian.com/blpron.shtml, near the end of the list (before the combined ones)
It's like the sound и, but it doesn't make the previous consonant palatalized.
Some people say that ы is the the sound people make when they are hit in the stomach :D
Тьl мальчиу. I keep puting this anwser, it keeps saying I spelt the first word wrong. What do I do?
The second letter in "ты" is this one: "ы". That's a single letter, and it's a vowel. What you're typing is the "soft sign ь", followed by... an l?
Also, it's мальчик, not мальчиу.
I scrolled a bit and I don't see this asked anywhere. When I type my answers I haven't been using a dash, but when I type the wrong letters for the word I see that duolingo uses the dash in the correct answer given. Am I doing it wrong if I don't use the dash? ie: Ты - мальчик vs. Ты мальчик
When would i use a dash versus words? I said " Ты это мальчик" which in my mind says you are a biy, and even if i was wrong there should be a word between ты а мальчик but theres just a dash. Help?
They dont use the verb to be in the present tense. Sometimes a dash and sometimes nothing. So it would be equivalent to "you boy".
Bryan174962 - Thanks, that was my question! I was wondering about the "dash".
This my sound like a stupid question (issue) but because my computer doesn't allow me to type Russian, how do I do so phonetically? Or is there an option where I can select words from the boxes instead?
Install a Russian keyboard on your phone or use an on screen Russian keyboard for desktop
I can not figure out how to get the Cyrillic alphabet working---any suggestions?
I do not have the Cyrillic keyboard and have been really frustrated trying to figure out how to get it---and have not been able to get it ----finally I figured out how to cut and paste the Russian words from the questions but it is time consuming. Oh well----That's life.
Are you using the mobile app, or you are using in the computer? Either way, you can download a virtual keyboard for any language you want in the language settings.
If you are using mobile, after installing the new keyboard, it will show up as a globe beside the spacebar, where you can switch between the languages.
On Windows 10, after downloading the virtual keyboard, you can switch between them by using WindowsKey+SpaceBar. On the taskbar there is the language bar. There you can find a virtual keyboard in case you can't memorize the position for each cyrillic letter on your latin physical keyboard.
In case you are using an older Windows version or Mac or Linux, I'm not sure how to do it within the OS settings, but you can always look for a virtual keyboard add-on for your browser. I know for sure that Chrome and Firefox have multiple options.
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Someone wrote in another answer that "вы" is the formal version, whereas "ты" is informal. When addressing a child, you'd use the informal version.
