"У меня для тебя хорошая новость."

Translation:I have good news for you.

November 15, 2015

49 Comments
This discussion is locked.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Gkeller

to me it seems like a more proper arrangement of the words would be "У меня хорошая новость для тебя", would this work in an actual conversation with a Russian person?

Also, why is there no есть in this sentence?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/olimo

"У меня хорошая новость для тебя" sounds less natural.

You don't say "есть" because the main point is not that you have news, but that your news are good.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Gkeller

English (and Hebrew, my language) would still use 'have' (or 'yesh' in Hebrew) even if it's not the point... I guess that's what makes it so much harder to learn Russian - It takes a whole other point of view to actually understand it and not just memorise it.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/olimo

You are absolutely right, English and Russian are very different. Believe me, Russians have exactly the same difficulties with "wrapping their heads" around English. Articles? Auxiliary verbs? And tenses - who on earth needs so many tenses instead of just past, present, and future? :-) You need time to get used to thinking in another language. Don't get discouraged!


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Gkeller

Actually, I have to say that the fact that I also know Hebrew helps me here because it's appearently closer to Russian than English and much more than I thought, and it helps me understand and get along with some of the rules in Russians that also exist in Hebrew but not in English. for example, there's no concept of "am/is/are" in Hebrew and I have no problem getting along without them in this course thanks to that. Anyway you have no reason to worry, this course is a course I intend to finish :)


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/NikolaRadjenovic

I am Serbian and I find this Russian very easy to learn! 80% of words that I learned in Russian are almost the same or have the same base. Привет из Сербии! :) But of course, it's because of the slavic origins...


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Adriyanowicz

Portuguese and spanish have several tenses.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/LidiaLita

Просто обратитесь к хорошим учителям. Дуо не учит, дуо тренирует.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Dore.m

Only Для is for person? can I use на instead?

And is this the general word order when to phrase such things? It has to be "a subject for somebody have sth."?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/SergejKos

You can be not say "есть", and you also can say "есть". "У меня есть для тебя хорошая новость" звучит лучше по ритму и так же правильно по построению.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Carpenter1975

You are right. Everything that you write here is usual russian sentences. All of them. I am a native speaker.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/pogotc

Are there any guides or rules that lead to this kind of word order? It seems very hard to predict (for me at least).


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/olimo

I can't think of any rule or guide. Seems that you have to observe Russian usage for a long time to grasp the essence of word order...


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/zebby.mann

Would you pronounce "для" like "dl-ya" or like "dla"


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Simon_JDS

I was wondering about this as well. The normal pronunciation seems to completely disappear in this sentence


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/JanetGidle

dla. Soon they will tell you in speaking exercises that's it's not right if you say di-la or di- ya. It should sound like 1 syllable.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/russianduo

Why is news singular instead of plural like I see it used on the Russian websites?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/olimo

Because it is "one piece of news" :-) There is also a very common phrase: У меня для тебя две новости - хорошая и плохая. С какой начать? - I have two pieces of news for you - a good and a bad one. Which one shall I start with?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Andrew359786

In fact English is the odd language here - our "news" is always plural. We never give anyone a single "new", even if we only have one piece of information to impart. Perhaps we should!


[deactivated user]

    I was so concentrating on everthing else in the sentence that I didn' t even catch that "news" was singular! Thanks for pointing that out. And Olimo's response about it being only "one piece of news" is interesting. It sorta makes sense when worded like that.


    [deactivated user]

      If there was more than one "good news" to report at one time, like, your dog has been found AND your bike is done being fixed, would it then be plural?


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/olimo

      Yes, that would be "У меня для тебя хорошие новости". You can even emphasize there are two good pieces of news: У меня для тебя две хорошие новости".


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/GreenAntGamma

      I wrote "I have for you good news". How would that sentence be said in Russian?


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/TrevorQuip

      i break it down easily, to literal, Me for you, good news... to me it makes sense somehow and it helps to think in the Russian way


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Anhigen

      how does для тебя interact with this sentence? I can see that it's the genetive of ты, which I thought would be used here, but when do we stop using the genetive case in this sentence? Is the feeling closer to passing news between two people. "I have good news for you (to have)"?


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Levi_Rezende

      I understand from previous lessons and comments that with для you always use genitive, as a necessary part of a structure.


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/JanetGidle

      Yes! Для is like for your benefit or when you give someone a present. A gift or news for you.


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/CFqb12
      • 1719

      Why I must not use an article "a" before "good news" (хорошая новость) in this sentence?


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/KVinayak1

      I have the same question


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/JanetGidle

      We don't have a good news. News is both singular and plural in English.. We can say some good news, or as Olimo said, a piece of good news. A little bit or a lot of good news but never a good news! Sometimes we can say a good report, but that would be rare and not as general.


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/WquDT
      • 1532

      isn't news masculine


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Kundoo

      No, it's feminine.


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/WquDT
      • 1532

      thank you. i went to a russian translation site and punched in I have good news and it replied .y MeHR ecTb xopowNe HoBocTN so i was confused. I thought words that ended in OCT were usually masculine. (sorry I don't have a russian keyboard.)


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Kundoo

      "Хорошие новости" is plural.

      I thought words that ended in OCT were usually masculine.

      On the contrary, almost all of them are feminine. The only exception I can think of from the top of my head is "гость" ("guest").


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/WquDT
      • 1532

      thank you


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/JanetGidle

      Новость. (F)


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Ian970931

      "I have for you good news" is not accepted? i feel like it should be since russian follows old english (proper) grammar..


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Good0job0smile

      I have (a) good news for you. Does the (a) wrong to use for English grammar


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/JanetGidle

      See several posts above on this. A is wrong .


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Bence408094

      is "тебе" instead of "для тебя" also correct?


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/E-chan.

      No, you can't use it here.


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/JanetGidle

      Csn a native soeaker please tell me if для shiund be pronounced дя withouth even a trace of л?


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/E-chan.

      No, it should sound as [dlʲa]. You can listen to how this word is pronounced on https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/для or https://forvo.com/word/для/#ru


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/mako855777

      It seems like I learn more English than russian in this lesson


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/JanetGidle

      Very true! As long as they're learning. I've enjoyed the positive comments!


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/NovemberCoyote

      I've learned that "gospel" means good news, as in "Spread the gospel (good news)!" How would that be usef?


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/JanetGidle

      They usually say preach or declare the good news. "Woe to me if I don't declare (preach) the good news!. (Paul). 1 Corinthians 9:16. " И горе мне, если не возвещаю благую весть!" Also Matthew 24:14 And this good news of the Kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth..... "эта благая весть о царсиве будет проповедана по всей обитаемой земле..... I copied these from my Russian bible.


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/mako855777

      Thanks for teaching me english

      Learn Russian in just 5 minutes a day. For free.