32 Comments
I'm not quite sure why there is a -e after ваш. Ваш, ваша, ваше, ваши... ваше is for neutral nouns?
Yes. This is exactly how it works. Neuter nouns use моё, твоё, ваше, наше.
Just learned такси is a neuter noun. Isn't the rule that most English cognates are masculine?
But is one more correct than the other? Does one sound better over the other? In what scenarios do they differ.
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I am sure you don't need them but I gave you ten lingots anyway. If giving lingots weren't so cumbersome I would give you a lot more.
I really appreciate tips that are sort of obvious when pointed out but really clarify a point of confusion. (for me)
If you are being more formal use ваше. Also if you are referring to a group (you all), use ваше
If the plural form of a noun is the same as the singular, is number not shown in the possessive?
Ok, so if there were 2 taxis, would it be your (two) taxis written вши такси or вше такси? Or a completely different declension of вш-? Apologies if I'm being super obtuse, but you've been helpful so I'm asking you the embarrassing question.
for more than one taxi, it would be ваши такси to indicate the plural (at least that's what "Google translate" claims).
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There are tips and notes for every lesson, but they are only visible in the web app. https://www.duolingo.com/skill/ru/Possessive-Modifiers-1
Tips and notes
POSSESSIVE ENEMY MINE
There isn't much to say about words like "my" or "your" in Russian.
his/her/their do not change: его́, её, их(and they don't get an initial Н after prepositions!)
my/your/our roughly follow an adjectival pattern, i.e. they copy the gender and the case of the noun they describe. Just like этот:
>>мой/твой/наш папа
>>моя́/твоя́/на́ша ма́ма
Unlike English, no distinction is made between my and mine, her and hers etc.
Pronunciation: in «его», as well as in adjective endings and "сегодня" the letter Г is pronounced В. It is a historical spelling.
GRAMMATICAL GENDER
Nouns in Russian belong to one of three genders: feminine, masculine or neuter. If a noun means a person of a certain gender, use that one. For all other nouns look at the end of the word:
(TABLE) ENDING IN NOM; GENDER; EXAMPLES
-а/-я ; feminine ; ма́ма, земля́, Росси́я, маши́на
consonant ; masculine ; сок, ма́льчик, чай, интерне́т, апельси́н
-о/-е ; neuter ; окно́, яйцо́, мо́ре
-ь ; feminine or masculine - consult a dictionary ; ло́шадь, ночь, мать, любо́вь / день, конь, медве́дь, учи́тель
IF THERE'S A SOFT SIGN, IT ISN'T POSSIBLE TO PREDICT THE GENDER, AT LEAST, NOT ACCURATELY. HOWEVER, ABOUT 65-70% OF THE MOST USED NOUNS THAT END IN -Ь ARE FEMININE. ALSO, YOU CAN LEARN THE COMMON SUFFIXES ENDING IN A SOFT SIGN THAT PRODUCE A WORD OF A PREDICTABLE GENDER. THEY ARE:
-ость/-есть, -знь → feminine
-тель, -арь, -ырь → masculine
ALL NOUNS WITH -ЧЬ, ЩЬ, -ШЬ, -ЖЬ AT THE END ARE FEMININE. THE CONVENTION IS TO SPELL FEMININE NOUNS WITH A SOFT SIGN AND MASCULINE ONES WITHOUT ONE: НОЖ, ЛУЧ, МУЖ, ДУШ. IT DOESN'T AFFECT PRONUNCIATION, ANYWAY.
Here you go: http://www.goldrussian.ru/pritjazhatelnye-mestoimenija.html#title. Also take a look at some other links on that page.
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The site is entirely in Russian. If you are feeling the need to get help at this level, the site won't do much for you.
For lack of a better option. It does not look like a feminine or a masculine noun (or neuter, for that matter), and does not have any obvious reason to be specifically masculine or feminine.
in the rules under: https://www.duolingo.com/skill/ru/Possessive-Modifiers-1 there is no mention of wоrds ending on ”и”. Is there a rule for these? or they just exist as "borrowed words" from other languages?
Words ending in -и are mostly or all borrowed from other languages, and aren't necessarily consistent about which gender they belong to. These links have more detailed rules for determining gender:
http://www.study-languages-online.com/russian-masculine-nouns.html
http://www.study-languages-online.com/russian-neuter-nouns.html
http://www.study-languages-online.com/russian-feminine-nouns.html
What is the plural form of Такси? It's already got that -И ending there, so I'm not quite sure how to pluralize it.
It does not change. All forms of такси, кофе, кафе, радио, пюре, Дженни are the same.
Nouns like такси, Дженни or кенгуру do not fit Russian declension patterns, so we use them in their fixed from instead.
Names of females like Джейн, Абигайл, Дженнифер, Элен, Маргарет also do not fit because they look like typical masculine nouns. Words for objects that end in a consonant would be assigned masculine gender and behave normally (cf. интернет, форт, экран, шоколад, барьер, асфальт, шлагбаум).
Кофе or радио could theoretically work as normal neuter nouns (c.f молоко, окно, яйцо) but in reality loanwords ending in -о/-е are indeclinable.
So could you give an example of how you would say "three taxis"? You'd usually use the genitive (singular?) for that number if I'm not mistaken, but you can't, so would it literally just be "три такси"? Also, the verb "стоп". How would one use endings on that as it doesn't follow infinitive guidelines?
Yes, три такси. Russian does not have too many words like that, so it is more logical to analyse it as a constant paradigm. Солдат ("soldier") and some other masculine nouns have an unusual Genitive plural with no ending:
- один солдат / два солдата / пять солдат.
- один турок / два турка / пять турок
It is not a stretch for native speakers to interpret такси, пальто and so on as peculiar words that have ALL their forms the same:
- одно такси, два такси, пять такси
Adjectives that attach to the noun pay no attention to that odd pattern and take the same forms they would if it were a more typical Russian noun
(шкаф is, of course, also a loanword; it is from German)
Стоп is not a verb.
Ваше is an adjective "your" rather than "you".
The reason you have so many - Russian has different cases, depending on how things are used in a sentence. The subject is in nominative case, the object in accusative case, and so forth. Russian, unlike modern English, also distinguishes between singular and plural, thus adding an extra form for every case.
