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- "Give me some onions, please."
"Give me some onions, please."
Translation:Дайте лука, пожалуйста.
159 Comments
1545
Yes and no. Adding -а only works for most masculine nouns. With neuter nouns, in most cases you replace "о" or "е" with "а", and feminine nouns usually replace "а" with "ы" and "я" with "и" (except after velar and retroflex consonants). If the noun ends in "ь", a different rule is applied, and if it ends in "и" or "у", it is indeclinable (and usually a loan word).
Hi there. My theory, which is absolutely unconfirmed, is that it depends on the audio quality, which may result from the internet connection, or perhaps the device we are using.
I usually complain more about strange audios when I'm listening with earphones on my mobile.
Through my experience, I found that better audio quality is achieved when listening from a desktop computer, with normal loud speakers.
Again, I could be totally, or perhaps partially wrong. This is just my experience.
734
I my experience it happens aswell. Also, it doesn't work well on my phone with earphones but partially well without. From a desktop the audio is better.
673
In my native language - Slovak (relatively similar to Russian) you also can use genitive to express "some" amount of something but it's used only in literature. It's interesting that some things we wouldn't use in everyday Slovak are common in Russian. :)
Обжёгшись на других заданиях перевёл дословно "Дай мне несколько луковиц, пожалуйста". Я бы так сказал в магазине, или, например другу при закваске шашлыков. Хотя, если подумать, то "несколько луковиц" скорее "a few onions".
Хотя вот из книжек: Onions and Garlic: A Global History - Google Books Result https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1780236204 Martha Jay - 2016 - Cooking Wash and pare some potatoes, and cut them in slices, peel some onions, cut them in slices, pare some apples and slice them, make a good crust, cover your ...
Тут явно речь о "нескольких луковицах".
В английском языке Onion — countable (т.к. можно посчитать — one onion, two onions). Поэтому в английском же языке some onions схоже с some apples и some potatoes. Исчислимость/неисчислимость в разных языках может быть разной, в русском лук — неисчислимое, а луковица — исчислимое. А в английском onions — исчислимое. Some может применяться и с исчислимыми, и с неисчислимыми, так что, например, утверждение "some onions = немного лука, a few onions = несколько луковиц" не пройдёт.
В примере, который я привел: "Pare some potatoes, and cut them in slices, peel some onions, cut them in slices, pare some apples and slice them" — "очистите несколько картофелин, пошинкуйте их, очистите несколько луковиц, пошинкуйте их, очистите несколько яблок, пошинкуйте их". Художественный приём.
Собственно, мы в сторону ушли. Я изначально и писал о том что "some onions" можно переводить как "немного лука" и как "несколько луковиц". Оба варианта подходят.
Your sentence, несколько луковиц, is literally asking for several onions themselves, [plural, countable noun] like the way they are stacked in a supermarket. The DL sentence is asking for some onion [uncountable noun], like at the dinner table. You can still use the plural "onions" here, even if they're uncountable, like a bunch of cut-up onions in a bowl.
"Some" is the best match you have (in English) for this use of the Genitive case. It expresses some certain yet unspecified (by the speaker) amount.
English does not quite have this distinction but you can use "some":
- Я хочу воду. = I want water/ I want the water.
- Я хочу воды. = I want (some) water.
- Купи, пожалуйста, хлеб. = Buy bread, please.
- Купи, пожалуйста, хлеба. = Buy (some) bread, please.
It is not one to one correspondence, so we accept translations with or without "some".
(in Russian, "onions", "potatoes" and "carrots" work like "water", "bread" or "rice", i.e., they do not really have plurals)
397
I'am native russian speaker. The phase "дайте мне несколько луков, пожалуйста" is not correct. You may say "дайте мне несколько луковиц, пожалуйста" instead.
When you use несколько ("several") the word that follows must be in the genitive case ("several of something") лука. However, лук is an uncountable noun, like water, so you cannot say "several of water." When you talk about onions as a countable noun, like whole onions, that's луковицы, so several of them would be несколько луковиц.
Also you wouldn't say мне дайте in the imperative tense. It must be дайте or дайте мне.
It's hard to learn Russian and communicate about it using the English alphabet. Switching to the Russian alphabet is highly recommended.
"some" is not a direct translation in this exercise. The genitive case "лука" means "of onion(s)," which in Russian "some quantity of onions" is implied. In English, "Give me of onion(s)," doesn't work so the word "some" is used somewhat like a placeholder as well. "Give me some [quantity of] onions."
Какой-то kakoy-to does mean "some" in Russian but pertaining to some type of something, not some quantity. Дайте какой-то лук Daite kakoy-to luk [nominative case] means "Give some type of onion." Дайте какого-то лука Daite kakogo-to luka [genitive case] means "give me some quantity of some type of onion."
1545
It is wrong because "ми" is not the 1st person singular dative personal pronoun in Russian. The pronoun is "мне". Perhaps you also learned Bulgarian and/or Polish, where the pronoun is "ми"/"mi", respectively?
349
Yes, but even uncountable nouns have plural forms (waters of the planet)
Can’t you say in Russian:
“Onions of the world have many flavors and colors”
using ”лук”?
349
Thanks
I get that it is strange and has nothing to do with the DL sentences
But I guess it works when we talk about different varieties of onions.
349
This would be:
"Луки всего мира, соединяйтесь!" (???)
BTW, just yesterday I heard on the NPR (National Public Radio in US) one of the American astronauts talking about trading things and services on the International Space Station, and he said that once in 3 months or so they are getting deliveries in which are included fresh fruits and veggies (just very few of them).
He said that Russian astronauts like to trade oranges for onions.
They clearly know what's better for your health, I think!
1545
That would mean "You give me", as present tense. What's used in this sentence is imperative, which is a mood used for commands and such (give me!) :)
Немного* means "a few," or "a little," not "some." The reason why the word "some" is used in the translation is because the Russian word лука is in the genitive case, which translates literally as "of onions." This implies that the sentence is asking for SOME quantity "of onions." If the word was лук in the accusative case, then the translation would be, "Give me THE onion(s), please." Or "Give me onions, please."
430
I'm clearly not understanding мне versus меня. Why is дайте меня лук пожалуйста marked incorrect?
430
Спасибо va-diim for the explanation. My native language, like English, has lost the distinction between accusative and dative so I often get tripped up on the distiction.
153
1) лук - оружие (bow) Нет луков. 2) лук - овощ (onion, bulb) Не осталось нисколько лука или луковиц (bulbs).
349
This would be incorrect, as немного means ”a little”/“not much”
which would change the meaning of the sentence
734
So несколько means "some amount" ? I thought несколько and немного were the same thing except for несколько is for numerable things like onions for example...
So, when I should omit несколько / немного ? coz the answer is omitting it
Несколько луковиц would be "several onions," referring to the whole uncut onions. Дай немного лука is "give me a little [bit of] onion" [singular, massive noun), not the whole onion but some cut-up or cooked pieces in a bowl. The confusion is with the English word "some" here. It's not directly translating. It's just casual conversation. You're sitting at dinner and asking for some onions. In Russian, you're also asking for some onion but the word "some" is implied, not voiced.
613
A bad English translation. "Some" is not in the Russian sentence, but in the English translation. Both languages don't say "Gjve me some apples please," though both could in odd situations.
507
This is the partitive in Russian: genitive is used. Дайте воду= give water. Дайте воды= give some water. Similarly for молоко, молока, лук, лука, etc