"Молодец!"
Translation:Good job!
67 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
1614
Мододец is only for man. For instance добрый мОлодец. A woman may be умница (умничка) only.
It is not insulting, just a bit patronizing. So you will use it toward friends and your subordinates but not towards people you are not qualified to judge. For example, if a famous writer writes a very good book or a singer you love performs really well, it would feel out of place to praise them with «Молодец».
By the way, feel free to suggest other options. Obviously, it is impractical include hundreds of different options but right now "Good job!"/"Well done!"/"Atta(boy/girl)" are the only ones that come to my mind.
By the way, feel free to suggest other options.
Oh I meant to reply to this but forgot about it until I saw russianduo post today.
Your options are absolutely fine (and I agree that bunches of options are just confusing and impractical). I was simply trying to clarify, for myself, when this would be appropriate based on other things I'd read.
2 things:
- I can't remember in the intro to this course if it strongly encourages reading comments - even to the problems you get right. It should. The course (as great as it is) couldn't possibly cover all permutations, but the comments section is a gold mine of colloquial usage, nuance and discussion. And that grows daily. I read comments on my review questions, every time, just in case there's some additional information. There usually is.
In other languages on DL I find doing this less important. With Russian? Well you could probably get by without it, but if you wanted to actually learn the language it seems extremely useful.
- How would you say "Well done!" or, perhaps "Bravo!" [I loved your book/opera/play] to someone you weren't qualified to judge but to whom you wanted to express your admiration?
1374
This strikes me as sarcastic, or a bit baby boomerish -- I can't imagine myself or my grandparents using "Way to go." Instead, it would only be my parents' generation.
To be honest, I can't stand the phrase, though I might be alone in that.
A gen-Xer here; have been living in the US for many years now, albeit learnt my English in the UK. I do say "Way to go!" but only sarcastically, commenting on someone's inept or incompetent actions. I wonder if it's a generational backclash given that baby boomers seem to be using it as an actual encouragement.
I never thought about it, but I suppose it makes sense--if I'm grading tests and I write "good job!" to a student who got 100%, that's fairly standard praise. But the only time I'd say "good job!" to, e.g., a professional athlete, is sarcastically: "Good job in scoring the own-goal that lost us the game!"
Hi. I have two native Russian speakers who say this to me in response to my Russian practice. I'm under the impression it's something someone says when praising your efforts. Would "Nice!" work as a translation?
1374
What would one use for performers or other people one admires? I've heard shouts of "Bravo/Brava" a ballet setting, but what would one say to a writer, for example? Simply, "I love your new book?"
I was warned by a Russian friend that to describe something as хорошо is very luke-warm praise, so that if you are asked how something went and answer "хорошо" it comes across more as "it was fine", "it was OK" rather than active approval.
His explanation was because this was the word used for a mid-range grade in the schoolwork grading system.
Yep, хорошо is usually just "fine", unless the sentence used certain structures or words to make it stronger:
- очень хорошо = very good
- Так хорошо!.. = So good!...
If you want it stronger, there are bags of other words at your disposal, defining stronger shades of awesome: отлично, прекрасно, превосходно, замечательно and others. The standard grade system used in schools and universities uses the scale of (literally) "unsatisfactory"-"satisfactory, adequate"-"good"-"excellent"
(this "adequate" when used like that is, really, more like "better than nothing")
1020
Likewise. I've been using молодец as congratulations for a long time... Am I now being told that I was incorrect all that time?
3064
Is there a feminine version of this word? I have seen it in masculine singular and plural only, so I guess it's unisex, but that's unusual, isn't it?
Unisex nouns are usual enough in Russian albeit rare, also it concerns many job titles. Молодец means basically "a guy" thus masculine, but nowadays it's used towards women as well.
1020
No, it's молодец for both genders. (Молодецы isn't a word. "Молодцы" is the plural form.)
1020
"Молодцы!"
(Sorry, I must have edited my previous comment after you'd already read it.)
474
No, I read it! I meant, what circumstance would you use "молодцы"? Can you give a scenario?
1020
Oh, it's exactly as you said: when addressing multiple people. For example, a teacher praising her class.
Huh, so it really is a noun.
молоде́ц məlɐˈdʲet͡s
m anim genitive молодца́, nominative plural молодцы́, genitive plural молодцо́в (Wiktionary)
Usage:
мо́лод|ец (ФОЛЬКЛОР) brave lad, fine young man.
молод|е́ц (-ца́); м strong fellow.
молоде́ц! (разг) well done!
она́/он молоде́ц! (разг) she/he has done well!
держа́ться (impf) молодцо́м to put up a good show.
(Collins 1997, ed. 2, https://www.wordreference.com/ruen/молодец)
Who knows what разг means?