- Forum >
- Topic: Russian >
- "Щи — это суп."
54 Comments
1099
How many people have ever heard about Shchi before? In my opinion, they should accept more spellings in the English translation.
I guess that there are problems with your suggestion, in that there is no agreed method of turning a Russian word into English by sounds.....you can translate, but to get the sound is a different problem.
- 277
I've had Russian lessons so I know it's a common Russian soup, usually made with cabbage. We called щ "the cabbage soup s."
However, I don't think I can remember how to write щи in English (I had words for making the sentence this time) so I hope they will accept when I answer "Cabbage soup is a soup" when the time comes.
I've been spelling it schi... every time I get this question, my computer autocorrects that to "schizophrenia" which is definitely not a soup
It’s absent from many keyboard layouts. So many people are forced to use hyphen (-) or double hyphen (--) instead.
if you use a macro (like from AHK), you can set it up keyboard combinations that create special letters like that; for instance, i have -- changing to –, and -__ changing to —
wait I'm confused, is this line actually a part of russian writing or is it there just help us understand the formation of sentences better? cuz i put "Shchi is that soup" and it was wrong so I guess it changes the sentence structure yeah?
This question was asked before and a native speaker said it is a part of the language and it is used in Russian books a lot . I took his word for it and It makes sense to me now .
You would use этот rather than это for your sentence. Это here means something like 'it is'.
if _ replaces "is" and "eto" means "this" why is the answer " shchi this is a soup" considered wrong by Duolingo ? I agree that it doesn't sound very English ( and my mother-tongue is NOT english) but many of these sentences do not sound very english either.
This is a sentence where trying to translate each word separately produces unnatural English - it's a common enough one that you should probably just learn that 'x - это y' means 'x is y'. It feels weird seeing это there but not adding a word because many similar sentences don't include it - 'I am a Brit' would be 'я британец' or 'я - бртианец'.
Doesn't shchi also mean cabbage? I think this translation is awkward, because at best it seems to say that cabbage soup is a soup.
Doesn't shchi also mean cabbage?
No, I don't think it can mean just cabbage. It means a kind of green soup, usually made with cabbage, but sometimes with sorrel (although I'd normally call a sorrel soup зелёный борщ, but many people call it щи), or with other green plants.
because at best it seems to say that cabbage soup is a soup.
Well, but 'щи' doesn't include the word 'суп' in its name, so this sentence sound OK.
Does the sentence "Scouse is a stew" sound awkward to you? Basically, it says that a lamb or beef stew is a stew, and it's similar to structure to «Щи — это суп».
OK, thanks. I think I was confusing it with the Polish - kapusta, which seems to refer to cabbage by itself, and to cabbage soup. And - really? There is a Russian green borscht? I have only met the red variety in Russia and the white in Polish households (never been to Poland). Now I think that Duolingo needs a cultural addendum somewhere where we can talk recipes!
Not really, because you're talking about shchi in general, not a particular bowl of shchi, so "the" is not needed. It would be like saying "The coffee is a beverage" vs "Coffee is a beverage", the second one refers to coffee in general.
You just need it in this sentence, along with 'я - это он' ('I am he/him'). Some similar sentences don't need it - 'я британец' mightn't even bother with the - pause.
Why is "это" replaced by "a" instead "this soup"? Are there any rules at all?
'Это' here means something like 'this is'. You could omit it, but I'm not sure sure how you'd emphasise the pause that is Russian for 'is'… 'This soup' would be 'этоТ суп'.
щ is sometimes said like sh-ch, like the sound in the middle of "fresh cheese". Sometimes it's just said like a long sh, but with the lips flatter, less pursed.
This question would be very easy to explain if you're a Mandarin speaker (because those 2 sounds exist in Mandarin). Assuming you're not, ш is a retroflex fricative. The simplest explanation I can give to you is: An 'R-coloured sound'. Щ is an alveolo-palatal fricative. Basically, your tongue touches your hard palate while sounding out the 'sh' sound. If you do speak Mandarin: ш is the same as pinyin 'sh' while щ is the same as pinyin 'x'.
Check a little bit lower in this thread. There's a really good description of this.
I know sometimes they add это in sentences like these, but in what situation would you add the это and in what situation would you omit it? For example: Москва — это город. Is there a difference as opposed to just Москва — город? Like, are the nuances different?
I think it's confusing to introduce shchi, since no one expects a soup to be in plural form, and it is an exception.
That moment when you think "who the hell spelled щи as shchi first?"
I mean... You can't even read it and try to say it properly by first sight. Should be something like "shi" in my point of view...
The pronuntiation of Щ has changed in 20th century. In the past, it was pronounced like a combination of шч. Now, the main pronunciation is like a soft variant of ш.
Back when the rules for writing Russian borrowings in English appeared, шч was still the main way of pronouncing щ.
- 211
Can't read the dash. Should I say something to replace it so the computer understands?
Really?? Shchi? I never heard of that before, and that's not what came here to learn :/
If you really want to learn a foreign language, a foreign culture is involved. Expect to be surprised by what comes up. And the less you fight it, the faster you'll learn.
The ето seems redundant here. Shouldn't it be either "щи ето сур" or "щи — сур"? Having both seems odd.
