"There is a bear in the park."
Translation:В парке медведь.
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It is a list or it is an answer. Yes or no? Has the park a bear? Да. Есть медведь. The zoo has seventy animals. Есть медведь, есть лиса… есть кролик. "Есть" Most often, we put in front of the interrogative sentence . Есть в зоопарке медведь? Есть в зоопарке кролик? Forgive me for my mistakes.
Медведь в парке = The bear is in the park.
Unfortunately, I haven’t seen a good explanation of word order in Russian. Probably they exist somewhere, but I haven’t found them. So I’ll explain it based on my understanding as a native speaker.
The word order depends on what is the new information and what is already known (linguistically speaking, it depends on what's a topic and what's a comment). English uses articles for that (and marks new information with 'a', known information with 'the'), whereas Russian employs word order and intonation for that.
Russian generally places the new information in the end of the sentence.
So, in «Медве́дь в па́рке», «медведь» is the known piece of information: the speakers already knows there's some bear (therefore we translate it with «the bear»). And «в парке» is the new info you want to tell about the bear: the fact it's in the park.
In «В парке медведь» it's vice versa. «В парке» is something the speaker knows, and «медведь» is the new information: you want to tell some new information about what's in the park, and the information is that there's a bear.
However, this is not a strict rule, because you can use intonation to mark the new information. So if you emphasise «Медведь в парке», it will still be understood as «There's a bear in the park». But since intonation is not usually marked, we tend to avoid such word order in writing.
So if you were running for your life screaming "There's a bear in the park!" would you be more likely to say "Медведь в парке!" rather than "В парке медведь", or would the translation here still be the normal way to say it?
I hope I never need to know this, but I want to be prepared just in case... :-)
Probably the former. although most likely is will be just "Медведь!!!"
Thanks. Now I'm prepared just in case one of szeraja_zhaba's pet bears gets loose after having too much vodka :-)
In such a situation one might also use the phrase "АААААААААААААААААААААХХХХХХХ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
В is used when you can inside something, на is used when you go on the surface of something. So, в школе (because you can actually go into the school's building), but на пля́же (because you don't go inside the beach, you're on its surface).
This gets more complicated with парк because there is no roof, but since trees are tall, we somehow consider that we can go 'inside' the park. That's why we use «в» and not «на». This sentence sounds strange with «на», as if the bear is threading over the tree-tops or something.
does у парки есть медведь translate to the park has a bear? is it gramatically correct?
Omg omg omg omg, i didn't "know" what the right word sequence for this sentence would be, so i just let myself "say" it, like i would say it out loud, and i was correct! This means my "tongue" is finally learning Russian. Fluency, can be no more than ten years away!! ;) Yaay!!!
If we wanted to say "There are bears in the park.", would the correct answer be "В парке есть медведи"?
Okay then why in the singular case do we say "В парке медведь" instead of "В парке есть медведь"?
It is not about plural vs. singular. We use "есть" to inform the listener about the existence of something and we drop it otherwise.
"В парке есть медведи" would be a perfectly normal warning to the visitors of some National Park. Somehow it would make much less since with singular "bear": are we certain there is just one in existence there? In some contexts it might work, of course, but it's not as natural.
"В парке медведь" would be a normal warning/scream following a sighting of a bear. Not sure why you would normally skip "есть" in this situation; seemingly we state the existence of said bear. Perhaps because you are expected to be less verbose in this situation. In general, the rules for using or omitting "есть" are more guidelines than strict rules. Both answers (with and without "есть") are acceptable.
What if I have a friend who owns a bear as a pet? Since most people don't own bears and I want to let others know of the existence of my friend's pet bear, would I say "у него есть медведь" or just " у него медведь"?
Presumably you would say "у него есть медведь" because you are talking about his one bear, not one of his bears.
So is the last name Medvedev derived from the word for Bear? Pretty cool name then
why we do not use там, as to me russian translation goes like 'a bear in the park'
Because in the English sentence "there" isn't really talking about location, it's just there because the sentence "is a bear in the park" needs something at the beginning. "There is X" just means "X exists". Because Russian works differently that word "there" isn't needed and just disappears in the translation.
Just to add to what others have said:
Logic notwithstanding, the use of "в" vs "на" for describing locations is sometimes random in Russian. In this example it is actually quite logical: в лесу (in the forest), в саду (in the garden), hence "в парке" is to be expected. But then it's "на лугу"= "in the meadow" but "в степи"="in the steppe". And then there is both "в поле"="in the field" and "на поле"="on the pitch/field", with the latter referring to sports fields. Notice, however, that English has the same "confusion" regarding in/on the field.
The park is defined by its trees, and you’re among them, not on them, so you use «в». Compare «в лесу» ‘in the forest’, «в парке» ‘in the park’, «в городе» ‘in the city’.
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your sentence corresponds to "Is there a bear here in a park". Shifting в парке to the end puts introductory emphasis on it, hence 'a park' instead of 'the park'. Thus the sentence makes the park sound like some kind of enclosed container with a bear in it, and one is asking if such an item is present.
Primarily because that's not the sentence you were asked to give. I believe that would mean something more like "There is, indeed (in case you doubted), a bear in the park, here". Both more specific and emphatic than "в парке медведь".
Because "Медведь находится в парке"="The bear is in the park"
The information that is conveyed by articles in English is often conveyed by the word order in Russian. There is a good explanation from a [deactivated user]
why "Медведь в парке"="The bear is in the park". Your addition of "находится" does not change it. If anything, it makes your sentence more complete and hence unambiguous.
In general, I suggest you try reading this guide to the Russian word order.
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Это is used to refer to something (this) this bear is in the park -> is the translation of what you have written
Just Curious: If I were to write, "В парке ест медведь", would that mean "A bear is eating in the park"? Just want to know because I'm a bit mixed up with ест and есть, and when it's talking about eating, or having. Thanks!
If I were to write, "В парке ест медведь", would that mean "A bear is eating in the park"?
Yes.
Russian doesn't have articles, so definite versus indefinite is expressed by word order instead.
Former exercise в парке тоже эта лошадь not accepted. Difficult to understand the difference.
В парке тоже эта лошадь is not a sentence in this course. It would mean something like "There is this horse too in the park."
Russian doesn't have articles, so definite versus indefinite is expressed by word order instead.
