"мои столы"
Translation:my tables
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1375
This is still quite simplified though. Vanya etc are masculine, soft sign usually means feminine etc
1020
What do you mean? The difference between стол and столы is quite massive. Ы is a vowel, and in this word it is stressed, so is especially easy to hear.
519
Why does the stress here move to the last syllable? Most other plurals I've seen in this skill so far have the stress on the same syllable as the singular. Is there any rule about the stress? Or is this one irregular?
That can happen. Newly acquired words typically get a fixed stress but that can change. As for the established words, you have to memorise the stresses with the word. Fortunately, the number of possible schemes is finite. Zaliznyak has classified all Russian nouns into 6 main stress patterns:
- A: stem stressed everywhere (e.g., мама, актёр)
- B: ending-stressed everywhere, provided there IS a non-zero ending (e.g., стол)
- C: like A in the singular, like B in the plural (e.g., город)
- D: B in the singular, A in the plural (e.g., звезда)
- E: like C but the Nominative plural is also stem-stressed. (e.g., мышь)
- F: like B but the Nominative plural is stem-stressed. (e.g., волна)
D and F have some variation, with the Accusative singular also stem-stressed (e.g., река, рука, доска)
The system is fairly stable. For example, the standard recommendation is to use ве́ктор as a fixed-stress noun with the plural ве́кторы (pattern A), but I prefer вектора́ (and thus a stressed ending in all plural forms, pattern C).
I thought "Ы" was one of the "silent" Russian letters (I could be wrong about that), and yet here it clearly makes a sound. Can you explain this please? Also, "Ы" sounds more like the English letter "i" in "this" or "it," or even better, ther French verb "est" ("to be" verb in the 3rd person singular), not "ee." Thoughts?
The simplest way to learn to produce a reasonably good ы sound is as follows:
Step 1: move your jaw forward as far as you can without having to call for a doctor to bring it back.
Step 2: while holding your jaw in that position, try to say "ee" like in "tee."
Step 3: remember that sound and try to reproduce it with your mimics remaining socially acceptable.
No, ы is not silent letter (you might be confusing it with ъ or ь). And it sounds much deeper and thicker than English i in it. There is no identical sound in languages like English, French, German, Spanish and all learners should take time time practicing it. You will have to use it quite frequently: in some Russian personal pronouns (мы ты вы), while forming plural (with some nouns) and in some singular adjectives in masculine gender (красивый). If you do not say this sound properly not only you will have a rather bad accent but also you can be misunderstood. I was born in Russia and lived there for some 25 years....:), so I know what I am talking about. Good luck!
1020
"Mine tables" does not make sense in English. The word "mine" can never be followed by a noun, while "my" is always followed by a noun. This is because "mine" is a possessive pronoun, while "my" is a possessive determiner.
You could say "the tables are mine", which would translate to "столы — мои", I believe.
1236
Is it right that the pronunciation of стол is like 'stol', and of столы like 'stali'? Or am I wrong
1020
Yes, correct. The stress shifts to the second syllable.
If you're ever unsure about the pronunciations on Duolingo (admittedly, the voice on here DOES make mistakes fairly frequently), I find Wiktionary to be very useful for checking pronunciation guides to see where the stress falls. (E.G. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/столы )
They are not interchangeable in English. A desk is used for work or study and usually has drawers. A table is a much broader term, but it's usually not used for work and usually doesn't have drawers. It's just that Russian doesn't differentiate between them and uses the word "стол" for both. That's why Duo allows both as the translation for "стол".