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- "Мы привыкли много работать в…
"Мы привыкли много работать весной."
Translation:We are used to working a lot in spring.
27 Comments
And this: ''we are used to work a lot in the spring'' ?(English is not my native language so sometimes I make mistakes in the English translation too -_-)
As a native English speaker I can assure you "are used to work a lot" is wrong." 'are used to [verb]' just needs the ing on the end or else it just sounds weird and wrong.
There are to very different expressions that use "used to," which you've combined. (I used to teach English, so i know it's difficult.)
I used to do something= In the past I did something regularly, but not now. This is French imparfait. Used to is the unchanging helping verb. I used to get up at 6 every morning
I am used to doing something=I am accustomed to doing something. It's my habit to do it. Notice that this is always used with the helping verb to be. Americans aren't used to eating with their fork in their left hand.
You can say this in different tenses by changing the am. I think you could even say I used to be used to doing that, but not any more.
I can't edit this from my phone. It should start, "There are TWO very…"
I agree that past tense would also work here. However, it would be a lot more natural to say "We got used to working a lot in spring".
I meant the answer given ("We are used to working a lot in spring") is somewhat ambiguous in terms of tense. Your response is indeed past tense.
"We got used to working a lot…" means We became (got) accustomed to working (used to working…). Which means:
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To my native English ear, your solution is ungrammatical. I was marked wrong for "We got used to a lot of work ....", which I think fixes your English sentence. But as I think about it, I like this better: "We got used to -having- a lot of work..."
You say in a post below that Russian always requires the infinitive after "Мы привыкли". I was going to say that English requires a gerund, but that isn't right - I can get used to a thing: "We got used to the dog."
Is my variant totally ungrammatical or just not less probable, but still possible? As I thought about it, I didn't find any grammatical mistake, but since you are a native speaker, your decision is the one, that matters, thank you for your comment.
In my post below I wrote about using verbs after "привыкли", as you can see. Though you're right, it is possible to get used to a thing in Russian too, of course.
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The problem is the modifier "a lot". "We used to work a lot" is fine, but "We got used to work a lot" is different. "We got used to work in the spring." is correct, but "a lot" can't modify "work" here because it is a noun. "We got used to a lot -of- work" makes better sense.
These all sound fine to me: "We got used to having a lot of work..." ("having" is optional) "We got used to having to work a lot..." "We got used to working a lot..."
I see your variants, they are nice, thank you. When I wrote my variant, I thought, that "work" in "We got used to work a lot in spring" is a verb. But since yoiu say it's a noun, I see, that would be strange to use a noun in this construction, that would sound really weird. So now I'm up to a different question, will it be correct with some other verb, say, "eat"? Is "We got used to eat a lot in spring" possible or not?
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"We got used to -eating- a lot in the spring" - "-ing" here is absolutely necessary. English is my first language, I am university educated, and I read a great deal, so I have a very good idea of what is right and wrong - but not always a good idea WHY it is right or wrong, so I am not going to be able to give you a sound, technical reason. I think the verb here is acting as a noun - "We got used to -the act of eating-"
Thank you, AndrewZart, I'll keep in mind this construction, it is very interesting. Thanks a lot!
"A lot of work" is only vaguely the same as "working a lot" definitively... but they are not the same grammatically. Your response uses "work" as a noun while the Russian in this excersise uses "work" as an infinitive verb.
Why is the infinitive «работать» used here? Also, since «привыкли» is past tense, shouldn't the translation be more like "we were used to" or "we got used to"?
After "привыкли" you can use only infinitive, there is no other form of a verb possible in this construction. About "are used to" — the construction "привыкли работать" means "several last weeks/months/years we worked a lot every day, worked and worked and worked, and now our mind has changed, so now we are used to do it". Despite of the past tense of "привыкли" we say "Я привык что-то делать" meaning our present condition and attitude to the action we speak about. I'm sorry I can't explain it less vaguely, I hope, that helps you a bit — or somebody will answer better.
can someone please give the infinitive forms of привыкли and it's....imperfective(?) counterpart?
The infinitive form of "привыкли" is "привыкнуть". And its counterpart is "привыкали - привыкать". Oh, and theirs stressed vowels are "привЫкли"-"привЫкнуть" and "привыкАли"-"привыкАть", just in case.
The suggested translation suggests "working hard in Spring" is something "we" continue "to be used to".... is there a way to restructure this sentence in Russian to suggest that in the past "we GOT used to working hard" but now is now no longer the case (for whatever reason)?
It seems to me that "привык" has lost its grammatical function of past tense, and gained a descriptive expression of a present state, much like "устал", in essence the same occurring in English
So I assume that привыкли means that we do it every spring, so we are accustomed/used to doing it. I assume the Russian past tense is because your getting accustomed to doing something started in the past and you are still accustomed to it.
