33 Comments
i think it should be "I'm not reading anything". "I read nothing" sounds plain weird :o
'I'm not reading' means "at the moment". I don't think it would be the best way to translate 'I don't read' - "any time"
I don't read is Я не читаю. When we say Я ничего не читаю there is a timeframe and an object implied. Например : Что читаешь? Ничего
Wouldnt this be "I dont read nothing"? I understand that double negatives are the way to word a sentence like this in Russian. I guess its just coming from an English speaker double negatives just kind of sloppy up a sentence. I thought it would just be "Я ничего читаю."
Russian, like Italian and many other European languages doesn't have "double negatives" like in English.The use in Russian merely intensifies the negativity, but doesn't cancel it out.
1109
I think you mean that English grammar does not allow double negatives, and that Russian, Italian, Spanish, and quite a few other languages not only allow them, but require them as part of the grammar.
When colloquial English uses double-negatives, they don't cancel each other out, either, but also intensify the negation. Example: "I don't have no idea what you're talking about!"
(Correct English: "I don't have any idea what you're talking about.")
Personally, I'd like to see certain double-negatives allowed in English, because they do indeed intensify the intent of the sentence.
- 1109
Grammatically correct English does not.
Colloquial English does, but it's not grammatically correct.
Example of incorrect English: "I don't have no shoes"
Correct English: "I don't have any shoes."
that's pretty prescriptivist. Forms of English allow for double-negatives, and it doesn't make them grammatically incorrect or lesser.
Can this mean "I don't read?" In English, it means the same as "I read nothing", but maybe I'm missing something?
Fair enough :) I don't get this community though - why are my questions always getting downvoted? It's just that "I read nothing" is kind of a weird construction in English, so I thought "I don't read (anything)" would be a better translation.
- 1295
I think at this stage they care less about appropriate translations and more about (near enough) direct translations. Sure "I don't read" and "I read nothing" are fairly synonymous, but it's testing word use, e.g. "nothing/ничего".
You are missing the not-so-subtle differences between the two sentences.
Is this one of those instances where ничего is pronounced as "nicheVo"?
The "г" sounds like "g" in the sentence recording, but like "v" when I hover over the word.
Hey guys! Why does ничего appear to be in the genitive case? Does a nomitive нечто exist?
Good question. I'm waiting for someone to answer it. According to the source below, that word has these cases:
- Nominative......ничто
- Genitive.............ничего
- Dative..................ничему
- Instrumental...ничем
I want to point out that Нечто = something, when you see the construction Ни it is often used as in the case of neither/nor in English, or in the specific cases mentioned above
Occasionally, I try to answer the question without looking at the clue boxes. I also thought it was "I don't read anything." When I saw the clues offered, I went with "I read nothing." I'm starting to see why some native Russian speakers I've met speak English the way they do.
How many times i come back to read the tips to figure out what i am doing. Almost as clear as mud now
- 1109
I have a few thoughts about it:
1. The negation of the verb using не should be before the verb, so не читаю is something you can regard as standard.
2. Я as the subject comes before the verb, so Я не читаю is a word order you can rely on.
3. That leaves ничего, which needs to go either before or after the negated verb. Some people have said that words like ничего are pronouns, which would naturally place them before the verb, but I did a couple context searches and found examples where it was after the verb. There is probably a nuance of emphasis which I just don't understand yet that depends on the placement of ничего.
See Russian doesn't need a word order because they have cases, It's one of the beauties of the language :D
