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- "Этот мальчик ест."
79 Comments
when you wanna say: This boy/girl/apple ( boy masculine/girl feminine/apple neutral) , you use Этот мальчик/Эта девочка/это яблоко ... but when you want to say: This is a(n) boy/girl/apple , you would say Это мальчик/Это девочка/Это яблоко... This is the difference.
In other words, это is a demonstrative pronoun whereas этот is a demonstrative adjective.
Thanks, that was much clearer! Thnx for using specific terminology.
You are almost there. When using a demonstrative adjective/determiner, the word (этот/это/эта/эти) would need to agree with the associated noub in gender and number. When using a demonstrative pronoun, on the other hand, there is only one form -- это. So, это can be either a demonstrative adjective or a demonstrative pronoun.
I believe it has to do with the gender: этот is masculine, это is neuter, эта is feminine, and эти is plural for the nominative case.
это can also be uses to say this non specifc thing is something where as (этот эта это...) mean this specifc thing is something.
Зтот Я́блоко is nutritious, да or не. I dont know what зто(is), да or не. Я feel like all this Russian is flying over my head.
Could I just have some clarification on why we don't say "мальчик ест"? I'm guessing that the sentence has "этот" to say that we are talking about a specific boy, but I don't know for sure...
You're right, there shouldn't be "этот" here. It's a mistake, report it.
This is correct. Мальчик ест means The boy is eating or The boy eats. Этот adds word 'This' to be specific who is eating.
I thought этот мальчик ест would be "The/This boy eats.", and мальчик ест would be "A boy eats.". If мальчик ест is "The boy eats.", then how do you say "A boy eats."?
Also, Duo gives "The boy eats." as the preferred translation for этот мальчик ест.
In which situation you can say "a boy eats"? Don't you always meen some specific boy if you say that boy eats? In some cases you can say "один мальчик" (one boy) or "какой-то мальчик" (some boy).
Russian doesn't technically have actual articles, so by using "Этот мальчик ест" you mean "THIS boy eats", and not necessarily "THE boy eats".
I'm very new to this but based upon observation, the case seems to be that "ем" (yem) is conjugated to "я" (ya, first person "I" in English) while "ест" (est) is conjugated to "Он/Она/Оно" (On, Ona, Ono) because it conjugates to the subject, "Том" (Tom) in a third-person conjugation
For further reference, here is the conjugation pattern (I saw another user comment this elsewhere): infinitive есть / я ем / ты ешь / он (она) ест / мы ед'им / вы ед'ите / они ед'ят
Since Russian verbs are being introduced, I would like to know. How does an infinitive look like? Is there a pattern that can be applied? [Yes, I understand that irregular verbs may have exceptions.]
Spanish (infinitives end in "-ar", "-ir" and "-er") Saber (Infinitive of "to know") I know - Yo se, You know - Tu sabes, He/She knows - El/Ella sabe, We know - Nos sabemos, They know - Ellos/Ellas saben
French (infinitives end in "-er", "-ir" and "-re") Manger (Infinitive of "to eat") I eat - Je mange, You eat - Tu manges, He/She eats - Il/Elle mange We eat - Nous mangons, They eat - Ils/Elles mangent
German Haben (Infinitive of "to have") I have - Ich habe, You have - Du hast, He/She has - Er/Sie hat We have - Wir haben, They have - Sie haben
3) I looked up the verb conjugations for common Russian verbs. What are the infinitive ending(s) for Russian verbs? When is Вы or Ты used?
Know | I know - Я знаю, You know - Вы знаете, He/She knows - Он/Она знает, We know - Мы знаем, They know - Они знают
Eat | I eat - Я ем, You eat - Ты ешь, He/She eats - Он/Она ест We eat - Мы едим, They eat - Они едят
Russian verbs have three common infinitive endings: "-ть", "-ти", "-чь" Examples: "-ть" (есть - to eat, знать - to know) - the most popular ending "-ти" (идти - to go, нести - to carry) "-чь" (печь - to bake)
Also, there are reflexive verbs (verbs whose direct object is the same as its subject). One adds additional "-сь" to the standard endings using such verbs, e.g.:
мыть - мыться (to wash - to wash oneself) стричь - стричься (to cut hair - to cut one's hair)
Вы - is the plural form of "you" (also used as "polite" singular) Ты - is the singular informal form of "you"
These pronouns are very close to "vous" and "tu" In french
Thank you. Do you say Russian verbs by themselves without having to say the pronoun?
e.g., Spanish (I have) - You can say "Yo tengo" or "Tengo" interchangeably.
Yes, such using of verbs is very common, e.g.:
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Что делаешь? (What are you doing? - the same meaning as "Что ты делаешь?")
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Читаю книгу. (I am reading a book - the same as "Я читаю книгу")
Also: if we were to say "A boy eats," would then we not use 'etot' or any pointing word at all? So it would just be "mal'chik est"?
I can't quite make out what's happening with the pronunciation of мальчик, does the silent ь not affect the pronunciation at all? Like, it's just pronounced ma-l-chik, yet I hear ma-iy-chik, with no l-sound. is that how natives pronounce it?
No, there is 'l' sound. Natives pronounce it "mal'chick" (with palatalized l) same as it is spelled.
From what I understand, Russian does NOT have articles like 'a' and 'the', so wouldn't the translation for 'The boy eats' be 'Мальчик ест', and 'Этот мальчик ест' would translate as 'THIS boy eats' in English?
1903
Just to be sure..."This boy is eating" would a fairly literal, but correct, translation?
I agree. It is WAY too fast, and there is no way to slow it down, like in the German program. When you are in the beginning levels, especially, it is important to hear each word.
What the difference betw. Это и этот !? And when это is like " be "in english , why it translated here to " the" !!???
If "Этот мальчик ест. " means The boy eats, Why " Этот мальчик " means This Boy ...??
it's quastion don't right because "The boys eats" it's Мальчик ест . This boy eat or This is boy eat. This is right translation
- 21
It should be accepted as in Russian there is no difference in continuous and simple forms of verbs. Thanks God:)
