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- "Ты на работе?"
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I notice the О in работе sounds (to me) almost like У or Ö, perhaps that's an effect of stress or just how this recording turned out. Otherwise I'd imagine it pronounced Ruh-BO-Tje.
The на can be translated as "at" or "on" but that depends ok on the word that follows... Like на баре means "on the bar" so to ask to be seated at the bar its actually a differebt word like saying "near the bar"
1357
Usually the choice of use of the basically identical terms has to do with how much Latin influence there was in the teacher's language education. Latin influence = locative. English language simplified term = prepositional.
Deep into some languages there might be some circumstance that produces a difference in the way the terms are used but definitely not at the level Duo gets to.
Is there a reason why (the Russian) "на" is pronounced like (the English) "la" in this sentence?
Can't confirm. I hear "na" here. Maybe there is some reduction here that sounds unusual.
It's not a recording at all. It's a computer-generated voice. Impossible to get weirder than that.
Basically, на means on, в means in.
For more abstract places that are characterized more as processes rather than physical locations with enclosed boundaries, you'd say На. Examples - Work (работа), Meeting (собрание), Concert (концерт), Hearings (слушания), etc.
There are also just some places that historically were wide open space, so even though in modern understanding you'd be "in" them, you'd still say "на" (post office, stadium, bus stops, etc.).
Is this related to the same root of "robot?" I know that comes from Czech but they're both slavic
If "на" can be translated to on and "работе" can be translated to "job" then shouldn't "Are you on the job?" be an acceptable answer?
рабо́та (rabóta) [rɐˈbotə] "work; labor; assignment; occupation": From Old East Slavic робота (robota) with an Old Church Slavonic spelling, from Proto-Slavic *orbòta. From Proto-Slavic *orbъ ("servant, slave") + *-ota. From Proto-Indo-European *h₃órbʰos (“orphan”). Apparently cognate with Ancient Greek ὀρφανός (orphanós, “orphaned”), Latin orbus (“orphaned”), Old Armenian որբ (orb, “orphan; orphaned”) and Sanskrit अर्भ (árbha, “small”). It also appears to be related to Proto-Germanic *arbaidiz (“labour; hardship”) [German Arbeid, "work"], but with a different suffix.
It does, but for some places it means at or in. For instance, Почта - post office. You say На почте to say "at the post office", even though in modern days it's a building that you go inside. Стадион and Остановка are also good examples - these are typically open places that you stand at/on.
Non-physical/abstract places that you can be at (Meetings, demonstrations, court hearings, work, etc.) also take На if you are saying that you were there or that something happened there, and they can take В if you want to say you participated in them directly (though then you have to use the verb участвовать specifically to denote that).
- 1357
It is left over from Soviet times.
The government pretended to pay the workers and the workers pretended to work.
Sort of like in America except most people don't work for the government there. Another difference is those Americans who do work for the government do get really, really, really paid if you total up the pay and benefits. However, the government workers still have the pretending to work part down pat.
For some reason I mixed up работе with собака and tried to think is the question about being in, on or at the dog.
Why is there a Дома indicating an adverb location "at home" but not a Работа indicating an adverb location "at work"?
It's the same in English. You can say "home" as an adverb (I am home) but not most other words.
How would you say, 'Are you in work' as in are you employed or do you have a job?
@jCOCj - It would be easier to just use the verb - ты работаешь сейчас? You can also literally say "Do you have a job?" - "Ты имеешь работу?"
