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- Topic: Russian >
- "We are looking at the sky."
"We are looking at the sky."
Translation:Мы смотрим на небо.
15 Comments
Sky is the object, requires accusative небо.
на + Acc. has many applications, one of which is to indicate "in the direction of"
So, «Мы смотрим на небе» would imply that ‘we’ are somehow standing on the cloud and watching (at something unknown) while «Мы смотрим на небо» would mean that ‘we’ are standing on the ground and watching at the clouds?
Why is видим not working? In the question just before it was used with sky.
Both of the correct answers here: Мы смотрим в небо. and • Мы смотрим на небо just feel strange to me. Can someone explain why we can't forgo a preposition here and just say Мы смотрим небо
The possible form with no preposition would be:
- мы смотрим фильм = we watch a movie
- мы смотрим квартиру = we examine a flat (going to rent some)
Смотреть в = to look inside/into. Смотреть на = to look at.
If "Небо" is a name of a movie or a name of a TV channel then it is fine: Мы смотрим "Небо". Otherwise it sounds like you took some psychedelics and now watching the sky as TV.
429
Okay, and not to split hairs, but what about if we were watching the sky for meteors? I suppose, in the sense that we are monitoring the sky?
- 156
No you can't. In English you can't omit "at" from "to look at". "to look at"=""смотреть на". "We look at the sky"="Мы смотрим на небо" (correct). "We look the sky"="Мы смотрим небо" (incorrect).
