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- "Она мама."
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The audio very much sounds like it's putting the stress on the first syllable in она, which makes it sound like Анна. At least it is in the normal speed version of the audio. If you play the slowed down audio, then it sounds proper, with the second syllable being stressed, which is how I understand it's supposed to be. Is there any chance that perhaps the audio could be fixed to better represent that она's second syllable is the one that's supposed to be stressed? Unless, of course, it turns out that I'm entirely mistaken, but I'm pretty sure it's the second syllable that should be stressed here.
Yes, I understand that it's supposed to be on the second syllable. I'm trying to say that the audio here on Duolingo is wrong because it sounds distinctly to be putting the stress on the first syllable, which it's not supposed to do.
Sorry if I wasn't clear; that was what I referring to as well. The audio in this course leaves a lot to be desired.
I found it useful and very informative to open google translate when i'm studying from duolingo, i make sure the correct word is inserted in translate and that it results in the correct explanation as well (because google translate isn't always correct). That way i can make sure the pronunciation from both sites are matching.
I know the problem is the audio in duolingo, but since nobody is doing anything about it, i found a solution instead of being mad about the audio.
yeah, it does a little bit. But since the 'o' is read as an 'a', you can be sure it's not stressed
In the full form of Russian writing, an accent mark over the vowel denotes stress. Unfortunately, it seems to be mostly restricted to children's books, as grown ups are expected to be able to infer where they have to be. Then again, English is much, much worse in this respect: it doesn't only does away with stress indicators, but the orthography is all over the place...
That's because English isn't really it's own language? Rather English follows wayward "other languages" down dark alleys… bludgeons them over the head. Then riffels through their pockets for loose verbs and grammar.
You would still say "она мама" Russian does not have explicit articles like "the" or "a" the way English does. This is why you often hear native Russian speakers drop them when they speak English (He is good boy, We have nice couch, etc). In Russian, the article is implied by the word. So "she is a mom" and "she is the mom" is read the same. When you translate to English, using a definite or indefinite article is context dependant, and gets added as you translate. Чем она занимается?/Она мама. "What does she do?/She is a mother" Кто eё мама?/Она мама." "Who is her mother?/She is the mother" If you're trying to say "she is the mom" and want it to be very specifically in relation to a child, you could say "она её мама", which is "she is her mother".
You are right. Just want to add some comments about "Кто eё мама?/Она мама." phrase. Russian don't say so. We will say "Вот её мама" or "вот она" or as you mentioned "она её мама" pointing to her. The last one sounds a little bit weird. Don't forget that in Russian you often can ommit many words required in English. "Вот" or "она" are absolutely correct answers.
That makes so much sense, now I can understand how that stereotypical language style came to be. I can practically hear the accent saying it
Well there are words for "to be" (быть, though only used typically in the past or future tenses or in idiomatic expressions, and являться , which takes the instrumental case but which is typically higher level speech used in... well, speeches, legal cases, technical manuals, contracts, etc.). In everyday speech, for most conversations in the present tense, you won't use a verb to express that something is something or that someone is someone.
Articles like "the" and "a" are typically not necessary since the case structure allows you to express that sentiment without an article, unless it's a demonstrative thing (like you want to say "these books, not those books".)
I typed the translation as "her mom" and it corrected me saying it should be "she's mom"
Hi there, for those of you that thought that it was saying Ana, a little help-> In Russian the name sounds more like Anna, with two well pronounced Ns, something like An-na.
Oops, I thought one was to use an em dash with predicate nominatives. Is this only the case in certain situations (e.g. not with pronouns) or am I just completely confused here?
Usually we don't use an em dash after personal pronouns. Only for a special intonation like 'She is [pause] a [solemnly] mom!' -> 'Она — мама!'
But most of native Russians have problems with punctuation rules, so there are a lot of em dashes in sentences like this. =/
I think that's correct. I read in another comment thread that the dash isn't used with pronouns (at least not following a pronoun).
1574
мама, мать, матушка, мамочка, мамулечка, мамаша, мамка, матуся, маман, матерь, мамуся, маменька и т.д.
I do not understand when the letter "o" is used as "o" and when it is used as "a".
@PSawant97 - When the syllable stress falls on the "O", say it like an "O". If the "O" is not stressed, it sounds exactly like an "A".
If you need help figuring out stress in words, Wiktionary has the stress markers (they look like accent marks above the letters): https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B1%D0%BE%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%82%D1%8C
