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- "Скажи, что это за сыр?"
75 Comments
I don't understand the meaning of что ... за in this sentence. Does it have the same meaning as какой?
1999
Yes, it has this meaning - "какой". Don't translate it literally.
Generally, the meaning of "что это за" depends on the context: "what kind(/sort) of", "what is it made of", "what is it".
Can что это за be used with people, in a relevant context ? ^^ Like if you see someone you know walking barefeet on the street, and you walk up to him and say "What kind of a man are you ?" to joke. If so, how would it be phrased in Russian ?
- 1999
Yes. If you would ask somebody about another man - "что это за человек?" - it means "tell me about this man, what does he do, where he works? etc."
You can use it as well for the question "Что ты за человек?" with the same meaning - "tell me about you", but it is rarely used question, more widely-used "Расскажи мне о себе".
If you would use it with the statement that is pronounced with angry intonation - "Что ты (/он/она) за человек!" - it means "you are (he/she) worst!"
When you ask "что ты за человек?" can it also mean "what kind of man are you" in the meaning "how could you do that" or "what kind of man would do such a thing".
- 575
Предложение на русском- скажи, что это за сыр. Где тут слово МНЕ? Английский перевод Tell ME, what kind of cheese is this? Но при всем этом вариант без МНЕ не предусмотрен. Почему не скажи им, скажи ей, ему и тд тогда? По вашей логике любое местоимение можно запихнуть. Вот реально припарило делать ошибки не из за грамматики и правописания, а из за того, что у вас "свой" вариант ответа и ни шагу влево, вправо.
- 73
"Tell" - это сказать кому-то, после этого всегда нужно указывать получателя. Если нужно сказать не кому-то, а что-то, или просто сказать (без местоимения), то используется "say". Судя по комментам, say принимает в качестве альтернативы.
I think , the first i need good English skill :) because as i see i dont have almost no mistake from Russian side... usually my mistake "english grammer mistakes".
There is no Turkish option yet right?
"Что ето за ..." ı kabaca "ne tür bir ... / ne biçim bir ... " olarak çevirebilirsin. Türkçe'de olduğu gibi olumlu veya kaba anlamda kullanılıyor
It just told me that the answer should be "tell me, what kind if cheese it's?" ???what?
I accidentally wrote ето instead of это here and was accepted without any typo error - minor bug?
- 518
Not sure but duolingo accepts "englishification" of Russian words for people who don't have a Russian keyboard. So for example instead of typing "брат" you could type "brat". It's likely "eto" is the englishification of это. "Though I'm not sure that Latin and Cyrillic character maps share letters that way.
"What kind of cheese it's" is just plain wrong. In any case English also uses implied words and 90% of the time an American would say: "Tell me, what kind of cheese it it. Or is this.
You're visiting somewhere and someone puts some unfamiliar cheese on your plate....
"tell me what kind of cheese is this?"
"That's called Stinking Bishop. It's a delicacy around here"
The fun part about this question is that we haven't learned any kinds of cheese or mushrooms yet so the answer would be some jibberjabber to our ears. Another one of these very helpful phrases of duolingo
- 340
In russian a lot of cheeses have the same names as in English, like Edam (Эдам) or cheddar (чеддар) and gouda (Гауда). You just have to sound out the name on the packaging and it will ring a bell ;)
For the same reason you can ask, "Say, what kind of cheese is this?" It's not a literal translation, but a phrase cue to indicate what the speaker will be asking.
If you were to say "Tell me, what kind of cheese is this?" in English, you'd sound either pretentious, or like an old-movie villain (which is the same thing, I suppose.)
It is like: 'What is this for cheese?' - It is logical and makes perfect sense, except in English, but that is why translation is a wonderful way to understand the same thing expressed differently!
Why tell mevand not tell... Rather than tell me, it could be tell us then..
Why not "что это сыр?"? What does "за" add to the sentence if это already means "this is"?
I'll follow this up, when there is что за in a sentence it is asking what is the type of something (bread, cheese, tea, film etc)
"Excuse me" and "Tell me" in this context have the same idiomatic meaning. You should accept "excuse me, what kind of cheese is this" as a correct answer
Simple answer is duolingo is a bot and hasn't been programmed for non-standard answers.
More complex is that this is not grammatically correct English. In English, we'd say "What kind of cheese is this?"
- 838
That depends what verb is used. You can say “Say, what kind of cheese is it?”, but if you use tell (like in the primary English version here) then you have to say “Tell me…” — you wouldn’t just say “Tell, what kind of cheese is it?” in standard English.
- 178
Would be ok if i change the order of the question a little but and i write " что за сыр это? " ?? In the original way i read it like " what is this kind of cheese? " i know its practically the same, just asking
I don't understand why the translation 'Tell us, what kind of cheese is this?' is wrong. Скажи is an imperative is it not?
Could it also mean, "Tell me, what is this cheese for?"
As in, is it for sandwiches? Are we putting it in a salad? On the pasta? ...etc?
Best answer in english "i don't know, but it sure is gouda"....couldn't resist....love puns
сыр (syr) [sɨr] m inan (genitive сы́ра, nominative plural сыры́, genitive plural сыро́в) "cheese" From Proto-Slavic *syrъ (“cheese”), from Proto-Balto-Slavic *sū́ˀras ("salty, bitter"), from Proto-Indo-European *suHrós (“sour, salty, bitter”), whence English sour.
Source: Wiktionary (look into links for more info)
Shouldn't it be tell, what kind of cheese is this and not tell me whta kind of cheese is this
I put "Tell me what kind is this cheese?". As it directs the words into an actual question, unlike the answer being more like a demanding statement.
Am I the only one that doesn't see this as a question? "Tell me what kind of cheese this is" isn't a question. It's more like imperative statement. "You!" Tell me what kind of cheese is this...."now!"(implied). I'm going to report it, as it doesn't reflect the qualities of an interrogative sentence. Anybody else possibly see this as a problem?
- 1999
I see "tell me what kind of cheese is this?" in the answer of this task, not this is. It seems like question to me =/
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