36 Comments
Correct scientific socialist analysis - this joke is the logical culmination of Gorbachevist гла́сность и перестройка!
At the box, meaning the apples are hitting the box but not falling into it? Yes, this can also be the meaning, but the first thing a native speaker would think of when hearing "Я бросаю яблоки в коробку" is that they are thrown into the box.
How would it be made clear that they are being thrown at the box? (context?)
Context, yes. You'd have to add an explanation that you are throwing the apples not into the box, but at the box. You can also say "Я кидаю яблоками по коробке" - that would definitely mean throwing them at the box.
1369
I was wrong for using "toss" instead of "throw" and am curious about the difference.
- 1108
Not really. It has more to do with the force and speed with which an object is thrown - less force, less speed, and it's "tossed". It's just easier to throw something overhand, and toss something underhand, but watch a softball game which the ball is pitched underhand, and you'll see that balls can be thrown very hard underhand. And watch me try to throw a baseball, and you'll see that balls can be tossed overhand. I never did get the method for throwing a baseball, which for an American boy growing up in the 1950-60's meant there was something wrong with you.
When the noun ends in "у" for example: "в коробку" it means "to the box" and wheb the noun ends in "е" for example: "в коробке" it means "in the box" Am I right?
Pretty much, although the exact word endings for the different cases will depend on the word. It isn't always -у versus -e.
There are also a few exceptions (the "locative case" covered in the "Around You" lesson) where a stressed -у ending is used for saying that something happened "at/in" a place. The example in the notes is Мы в аэропорту́. = We are at the airport (https://www.duolingo.com/skill/ru/Around-you)
How can you tell when to use prepositional (в коробке) or accusative? Do you only use prepositional is state a location, and accusative for a destination?
In this particular case it is rather easy.
Location is where action takes place. With в and на you use Prepositional (a.k.a. Locative) for the location.
Direction is the place where action goes (though it starts somewhere else). With в and it requires Accusative.
- there are a tricky borderline cases with verbs of "putting" that allow two interpretations (to "move" the object from somewhere to a place X or to "leave" the object at a position X). Return to the topic a few months later :)
неверное произношение. Правильно говорить "в корОбку", ударение на вторую "о"
could this mean to throw apples around whilst standing inside a giant box? if not, then the English translation should state 'into' the box
- 1108
Doing this will guarantee a box of rotten apples. You don't throw or toss apples into anything. It bruises them, and they start rotting immediately.
Careful. Wrong pronunciation here. Correct stress should be like this: "в корОбку" instead of "в коробкУ"
The pronounciation is sometimes (many times!) awful! The wrong accenting makes a very bad result, it is just as awful as it was in English language by mixing up the srtesses. It is correct just as you mentioned: в корОбку
Could this also be 'drop'? When you want someone to stop asking you something, you can say брось. Also, брось сумки?
Yes, "chuck it" = "drop the subject".
But is Paula156676 correct in saying that брось can be used in this way?
Might seem stupid for asking a question about Google Translate, but when using the plural яблоки, google translate says "бросать", and when using singular яблоко it says "бросаю"... why?
Well, statistical translations has its drawbacks. It tries to learn from myriads of parallel texts it was fed, looking into patterns and matching pieces to make a guess at what the sentence might mean. Imagine a person that does not know the language all that well but has a lot of books translated sentence by sentence and a dictionary.
For me, it translates I am tossing apples into the box as «Я бросая яблоки в поле» (lit. "I am while tossing apples in the field").
It is better with "I toss", though: the engine does not think that "tossing" means doing something else while throwing apples.
Wrong accent for box. КорОбку. In the audio they have the accent on the last vowel (у) instead of the second (О)
