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- "Вы едите яблоки?"
49 Comments
1613
why is яблоки the plural for Accusative яблоко?
The rules as I've learned them so far say that, for inanimate objects, we use the Nominative Neuter Plural ending, which is -а for neuter words ending in -о. So, the plural should be яблока, not яблоки.
Of course, яблока sounds exactly like яблоко when it is pronounced.
1613
Спасибо!
I have been asking this question for a couple weeks at different places, you're the first to answer, so please, enjoy a lingot.
1613
Or "Вы едите яблоки?" said to a group of people, "Are you [all] eating apples [at the moment]?"
NB: I never translate formal "you" in any language as "you all" because Duo will invariably reject it. Duo gets to use it, to make clear that it wants the 2nd person plural of "you", but we users don't get to use it.
621
Real hard to hear the pronounciation of eat in this sentance. Can someone try to explain the sound?
1613
Вы also is the polite form of singular "you", so for that "you all" would be wrong.
1613
ест is 3rd person singular "he/she eats". Look at a conjugation table to see the different conjugations for each person.
1613
You mean definite "article", as in "the apples" - but with Russian, there's no definite article, so without some other context, it's impossible to say whether this sentence is talking about "apples" or "the apples" - although I suspect that there is a way of making this difference clear in Russian. So far, it seems that using some form of это would be the way, but I'm sure there are more.
403
If you were doing a literary translation, perhaps. This is a language course for beginners, some of whom might need to ask their Russophone acquaintances which fruits are in accord with their food allergies.
1613
The obverse of my point exactly. It's not about "liking" or "not liking" apples, it's about whether or not you eat them.
In other words, it's not correct to translate едите as "do you like" .