"Отойди от окна и подойди ко мне."
Translation:Back away from the window and come to me.
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I typed отойди as 'go away' in another exercise and it was marked wrong :( but it should be right
just right in the vein of my "step back from the window and come to me" which was still not accepted 5 years after your comment...
I think "Step back from the window and come over to me" should be accepted.
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«(...) ...and approach me». Does it sound weird in English?
approach (əˈprəʊtʃ) vb 1. to come nearer in position, time, quality, character, etc, to (someone or something)
Yeah, kind of. Approach isn't used all that often for people unless you're asking them a question or something. Or in court.
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I think "approach me" sounds fine. It might sound a bit formal to some people. I can imagine someone in a position of authority saying "approach me", which is pretty much the context I imagine for this sentence. I don't think I'd use "approach me" casually or with friends. Either way, I think this whole sentence is strange for casual conversation.
This is not a casual conversation. Someone is trying to "talk down" a Duolingo user who has been unable to figure out aspects of prefixed verbs of motion. )))
Approach is reasonable in English (I am a native English speaker).. Further, the prefix под in Russian is translated as "approach." I believe the notes for this lesson indicated that and the website at the link below also translates под it as "approach." So I believe approach rather than "come to" is a better answer.
http://learnrussian.rt.com/grammar-tables/verbs-of-motion-with-the-prefixes-pod-ot/,
The prefix here is подо-, which is the variation of под- . With verbs of motion it has the shade of "up to".
До- expresses the idea of reaching destination, thus completing the trip (the one that was in progress or interrupted).
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I get that, but is дойди also correct/acceptable? User above said that imperative should be perfective, but I don't remember seeing that anywhere.
There is no particular reason why a simple command should be perfective. Both are used depending on circumstances (imperfectives are associated with carrying out an "expected", obvious action, do it immediately, and typically focus on the initial phase.)
"Дойди до меня" is a very odd thing to say, precisely due to the meaning of дойти.
"Дойди до меня" is used sometimes in the sense, "now that you've made it to my neighborhood / that you've walked upstairs all the way to my floor why don't you come to see me". In other words, it means, "walk all the way to me". And the expression is not that uncommon, although it is a bit of a slang.
Why is "от окна" genitive while "ко мне" is dative? Is this just how от к work?
Yep, prepositions more or less determine the case used. Some prepositions pair with several different cases depending on the meaning (e.g. за 2 доллара "for $2" / за шкафом "behind the wardrobe").
I even made a chart once, while still working on the earlier stages of the course. Russian has a number of derived prepositional phrases (like "according to", "in spite of") but a finite number of simple prepositions.
It means «иди ко мне» / «иди в мою сторону» and, unlike «подойди ко мне» does not mean “come [all the way] to me”.
Aha, that's interesting - I've just been wondering about that. Does подойдти always means "right up to" (e.g. «подойди к кассу» means close enough to do business), or does it sometimes just mean "approach"?
Отойти and подойти are two perfective verbs with the opposite meanings. Their imperative forms are отойди and подойди, respectively. The от(о)- prefix indicates movement away from the verb’s object and the под(о)- one — movement all the way or pretty close to the object of the verb. So I guess it may mean “approach” too. The Russian for “walk up to the register” or “walk up to the box office” is therefore «подойди к кассе» (not к кассУ, since the dative case of nouns like касса — a register or box office — ends in -е). The opposite will be «отойди от кассы» where «отойди» means “step back” or “step aside”. Now, for the negative imperative Russian used imperfective counterparts of the above-mentioned verbs. Thus, we say «не отходи от» and «не подходи к» for “stay near” and “stay clear of”, respectively (the infinitives are отходить and подходить). Prefixes у- and при- form another pair of opposites (уйти - прийти, уходить - приходить). In verbs of movement, у- renders the idea of going away, leaving or taking something away, whereas при- renders the idea of coming from a relatively far place.
Oops, sorry, total brain lapse - I was preoccupied. I meant подойти in my example. I'm going to fix it so I feel a bit less of an idiot. )) I'll leave the other mistake as that was a straight-up error. Thanks for the comprehensive explanation - despite my clanger, it was still helpful in clarifying the issue.
Wouldn't "leave the window and come to me" be the same thing? Can "oтойди" be translated as "leave?"
Отойди literally means 'detach yourself by walking off to a reasonable distance'. Judge for yourself whether it can be translated as 'leave' or not
'Get away from the window ...', 'Come away from the window ...' and 'move away from the window ...' all sound natural to me (British), and I am sure I will have said all of them many times.
'Back away from the window' is something I can only imagine being said if the safety or well-being of the person at the window was at risk if they didn't do exactly what they were told.
I wonder about strange wording in this lesson and that before.... I want to learn russian and not a military slang... Suggestion: Please go away from the window and come to me!
"Back away" is more police than military usage, but your point is valid. However, I'd suggest "get away from the window" would be more normal usage than "go away" - see discussion with @Dmitry_arch in this thread. Your suggestion would correspond more closely to уйди, i.e. "leave".
the proposed english solution "back away from.." is crap. If anything in that direction, it should be "step back from .."
I agree with your point, but try being less offensive: people will listen to you more. Remember you're addressing volunteer contributors and moderators, who are not paid to listen to this kind of um, thing.
I agree. If someone 'backs away', I picture them walking backwards, which I doubt is the intended meaning in the Russian sentence.
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"Back" away is unnecessarily specific, indicating HOW you will move away from the window.
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"Come to me" is connotative. Dracula to a victim? DonJuan to a new conquest? Suicidal stock broker?
"Move away from the window and come towards me." Not accepted, but Google Translate converts it exactly as shown here.
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Come away from the window and up to me. Repeating come with up isn't necessary. The problem here is a literal translation just isn't going to sound natural. Back away, in my opinion, is too specific for отойди. My answer was not accepted, but I believe that it is correct. Oh well, ёлки палки, such is Duolingo.
Using 'come' twice is the most natural English: 'Come back from the window and come over to me', but 'Step back' is also good.
No other dictionary gives ‘back away’ as the translation here. Go and look up other dictionaries. Also, you should know that ‘come up to me ‘ is a much more likely expression here.
"Get away" (one of the suggested answers) and my translation "leave" are fundamentally equivalent in English.
I respectfully disagree - there's a difference in nuance. The first means increasing the distance, the second means completely exiting a place or situation. See also an excellent comment by @Dmitry_Arch above (probably the first one as you search).
The implication of the given Russian sentence is “Stop looking out of the window and come over here”.
Well if that's the implication, back away ... is completely the wrong English translation IMO. I can't imagine an English speaker ever saying back away in that context.
Move away ..., come away ... OR get away ... are much more appropriate.
To back away means to move backwards, without turning around.
Does отойди really imply that?
I don't think so. Surely, in this sentence, it simply means move' or get away from the window?
Thanks, that's helpful.
Would we still use отойди in this sentence if the person by the window was facing away from the window, rather than towards it (which would better translate into English as move away from the window rather than back away from the window)?