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- "Папа никогда не ходит на раб…
"Папа никогда не ходит на работу пешком."
Translation:Dad never goes to work on foot.
35 Comments
on foot
EDIT: Apparently both are acceptable: http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/17943/ddg#290176
1596
Can I say "Dad never goes to work by foot" or just "Dad never walks to work"?
So, I've got it wrong because of "walk" not because of "by"?
Would "Dad never goes to work on foot" be incorrect too?
Thank you. I figured as much.
I think I read somewhere (possibly the hints here) that while English hates double negatives, in Russian negative agreement is pretty much required. This was the first sentence in which I noticed it (there may have been ones earlier, I was just focused on other aspects), so I figured I'd take the opportunity to ask.
(It was hard to envision without examples)
Thanks again.
677
One не is negative, and two не in a row is negative multiplied by another negative -- so positive. Amazing, like algebra.
I think "adore" is too weak. You take them as mistresses and bend them to your well. And from what you're saying, two at a time even! Maybe three!
I haven't seen the true doubles (не не) you mentioned before, but thank you for the heads up! That would have completely confused me.
Is that used just to make it extra clear? I mean, like for emphasis (as if two weren't enough :D )?
This happens because if one takes никогда=never and removes the leading ни-, that would turn the word into когда=when. And the affirmation turns into a question: Он когда не любил её = When didn't he love her . So to keep the word order flexible in Russian, we have to tolerate the word forms that look like double negations.
1171
Here to work is на работу, elsewhere to the cinema is в кино, so how one could know which preposition to use to translate to?
There's no method to this madness. You have to remember them all case by case. Ok, there are some general patterns, like it's usually "в" with buildings, enclosed spaces, countries and cities, and it's usually "на" with open spaces, surfaces, events and activities ("work" goes to this category), islands and peninsulas. But even then there are a lot of intricacies and exceptions, so there's no simple rule, only memorising.
1707
The English idiom is "to [travel] to work", not "to the work".
Also, Папа is probably better translated as "Dad" rather than "Father".
In American English, "Mom" and "Dad" are used as name to refer to one's parents. It is extremely formal (and almost never used) to refer to them as "Mother" and "Father".
When using them simply as identifiers, one can say "my father" or "my dad"/"my mother" or "my mom".
175
"Dad never goes on foot to work " which put the stress on "on foot" is not accepted why not ???
is the order in ENGLISH so relevant ??????
It kind of is, yes.
Many people use "reverse trees" to continue learning their target language (so, here, a native Russian speaker learning English would do this tree in addition to the Russian-English tree). There are also people whose native language isn't English using this tree.
It's better all around if the translations (both the Russian and the English) are as close to natural sounding as possible.
Your word order, while understandable, would sound unnatural to me (midwest US English).