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- Topic: Russian >
- "Мне кажется, они не здесь."
39 Comments
can you translate "мне кажется" as "I think" in general ? I know "I think" is "я думаю" but is it possible?
Yes, but I personally prefer the following:
- it seems - кажется, похоже, по-видимому
- it seems to me - мне кажется
- I think - я думаю
- I consider - я считаю
What is wrong with the answer 'To me it seems they are not here'?
Since we don't know where "здесь" is, and it's a rather abstract location without any other context, I think "in here" turns out to be too specific.
It seems "to someone" - the person that it is seeming to is in dative case (mne, tebe, emu, ej, etc.). The next clause can basically be treated as an independent statement.
каза́ться (kazátʹsja) [kɐˈzat͡sːə] impf (perfective показа́ться) "to seem, to appear, to look" From каза́ть (kazátʹ) + -ся (-sja, reflexive suffix). Cognate with Sanskrit काशते (kā́śate, “it seems”).
my answer was "i don't think they're here" and it corrected to "it seems to me, they're not here" shouldn't mine be correct too?
I do not think so. I think your answer should be translated as: "Мне не кажется,...". ;-)
For one thing, "нет" would kick "они" into the genetive case: "их". I would change the last part to either 1) "они не здесь" or 2) "их (здесь) нет".
So a direct translation would be "me think, they not here". I read this and my brain translated that as "I don't think they are here", which is probably how that would be translated on cable tv. While I get that the point is to learn Russian and not translate to English, like a captionist, I think in fluid English. It makes me wonder; are there any Russian phrases that don't sound so stiff?
@Mantrid_Brizon - I mean, a literal translation would be more like "to me it appears they (are) not here".
Not sure about the rest of your question though. As you practice and become more comfortable you'll find that Russian doesn't sound stiff at all.
As far as how it would be translated into captions for a show, that's a bit of a loaded question. There are probably at least a dozen different ways this phrase could be translated (some better and more grammatically correct in English than others).
What is (gramatically) кажется ? Maybe a verb ? What person (it would seem 3 plur) ?
@guido506552 - It is a verb. The infinitive is казаться (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%B0%D1%82%D1%8C%D1%81%D1%8F)
It is conjugated for third person singular ("it" seems).
This phrase would be needed every episode on a Russian remake of "House MD".
Can you translate "мне кажется, они не здесь" as "It seems to me that they're not here"?
