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- Topic: Russian >
- "Где туалет?"
39 Comments
It it easy to understand a person's needs when they suddenly find themselves in a foreign country—yet man's porcelain best friend is nowhere to be seen.
That's why we chose to have this sentence :)
Is this a polite way to say it?
I mean like: "where is the restroom/lady's room?" is better than "bathroom" or "toilet"
Is it acceptable to ask the question like this?
I lived in Russia, and I always asked it like this and no one seemed to think it was rude :)
I guess, because you are looking for the toilet/restroom/bathroom in the same restaurant/flat, so particular one, not just any toilet. For sure, when you are looking for toilet you don't care who is owner of it, but my neigborhood will be surprised if my guests will start to use his toilet). I may be wrong, but hope that folks will figure me out.
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My british friend once told me I was rude for telling her I was just going to the toilet. She preferred 'bathroom'. She's from the north of England though.
I will ask "where is the bathroom?" only when being in single room flat, where is a toilet and bath in the same room.
I wouldn't ask "where is the bathroom?" in the restaurant or any other public place.
Why not? What would you say? Because I've heard Russians use this phrase when asking where the toilet is at a bar or restaurant and this is one of the few questions I ask in Russia which people don't look at me weird for
I always asking "Где туалет?" regardless where I'm in the restaurant or at the friend's home. I may ask "Где ванная?" because there I know I can wash my hands, but not because I'm looking for toilet
I can definitely get behind that use. I wanted to be polite in English speaking company once and asked where the bathroom was - they had a separate toilet so I had to come back and ask where THAT was... Now I'd just rather ask for the specific thing I need even if I might sound less polite.
For French speakers, there is a word "Сорти́р" (Sortir) In Russian which is a slang name for toilet. Don't be confused:)
Also, if you think to ask for "туалет" is impolite, you can use "Убо́рная".
Why does туалет sound like toilet in english, or toilette in french and german?? Is it because they both descend from the indoeuropean language??
It is because the word comes from French "toilette". As English, German, and Russian borrowed this word from the same language only a few centuries ago, it still sounds quite close to the original.
why, for the french fries sake is not correct " where is the restroom? ? "
i feel ofended ! explain . . .
"Restroom" seems an accurate translation of "туалет" to me, so I see no reason why it shouldn't be accepted.
And there's certainly no need to be offended just because your suggested translation wasn't accepted. That does by no means necessarily mean that it's incorrect, often it simply hasn't been added yet. Some people don't seem to realize that a human being has to add the translation, it doesn't just happen by magic...
In reference to the first part of your responce: that's right ! it is exactly what i was thinking, attending to the second part; i didn't know that the system is the same as Chelsea Handler thought that Shazam works :) ... don't get angry, it's a joke! Maybe i over reacted ? ? perhaps, but you have to understand, this is not the first time it happens. Finally and after all, thanks for answering my comment, Grod
So is туалет the way to say it in public places like restaurants? Or is that rude?
I answered with "Where is a toilet?" but it was wrong. I thought <<туалет>> was nominative, not accusative. How do I know which article to use?
"Туалет" is used both as the nominative and the accusative form (in this sentence it's in the nominative), but I don't know why you bring that up, as it's got nothing to do with the choice of article in the English translation.
To answer your question: It's all about context. Since we don't really have any context here, it could theoretically mean "Where is a toilet?", so I suppose it should have been accepted. But, honestly, have you ever said that in real life? Think of it like this: If a Russian not very proficient in English asked you "Where toilet?", how would you understand that?
So... My answer "Where is the bathroom" is wrong but the right translation is "Where is the bathroom" what am I doing wrong?
No, "туалеть" is a misspelling; the correct form is "туалет", which means restroom, bathroom, lavatory, toilet, WC or whatever you want to call it.
Uh... As far as I can see, туалете is an inflected form (the prepositional) of туалет itself.
I keep making the mistake of pressing y on my keyboard in phonetic mode and getting a ы instead of a у.
