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Josquin’s Language Symphony (RU, IR, 東亜) | ||
Tags: Gaelic (Scottish) | Gaelic (Irish) | Icelandic | Portuguese | Multilingual | Total Annihilation Challenge (TAC) | Italian | Japanese | Russian | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4501 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes  Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 225 of 646 07 November 2012 at 12:38pm | IP Logged | ||
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"Do you speak English?" and not "Can you speak English?"?
You can say both. There is a difference in nuance though - the first is more common and refers to simply doing it, and the second is more a question of ability - are you theoretically able to speak English. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Марк Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 4850 days ago 2096 posts - 2972 votes Speaks: Russian* | Message 226 of 646 07 November 2012 at 1:14pm | IP Logged | ||
So, can I say that I don't speak English because I don't do it on regular basis? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4501 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 227 of 646 07 November 2012 at 1:20pm | IP Logged | ||
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It's not black and white. If it's not on a (!) regular basis then I'd say "I speak
English, but not often/only a bit/whatever". I don't speak English means "I have never spoken English in my life and am probably unable to", whereas I can't means I don't know how to speak English. They overlap and are to some extent synonymous. You're expressing a nuance and not a definitive statement here. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| AndrewS Diglot Newbie Russian Federation Joined 4220 days ago 27 posts - 37 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German, Spanish | Message 228 of 646 07 November 2012 at 7:21pm | IP Logged | ||
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About girls and divisions.
As far as I am concerned, “две русских девушек” and “две тяжёлых дивизий” sound strange, saying mildly. Just in case, I tested my 8 years old son asking him to translate “two Russian students(girls)” and “two heavy divisions” into Russian. Invariable. I have no explanations, though, nor statistics. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4638 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian | Message 229 of 646 07 November 2012 at 7:42pm | IP Logged | ||
If you read the thread carefully, you will see that две тяжёлых дивизий was only a typo by Марк and should have been две тяжёлых дивизии. So, my question if there was anything like *две русских студенток was redundant. The only remaining question is what sounds better: две тяжёлых дивизии or две тяжёлые дивизии, respectively две русских студентки or две русские студентки. What would you say? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Марк Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 4850 days ago 2096 posts - 2972 votes Speaks: Russian* | Message 230 of 646 07 November 2012 at 8:22pm | IP Logged | ||
I don't know if this post is useless. Just my own quote which you have already read. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| AndrewS Diglot Newbie Russian Federation Joined 4220 days ago 27 posts - 37 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German, Spanish | Message 231 of 646 07 November 2012 at 8:36pm | IP Logged | ||
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Sorry, I wasn't careful, indeed(. I've come back to edit my post and oops, already was cought...
"Две тяжёлых дивизии" and "две русских студентки" can be appropriate and do not hurt my ears. My son, though (I can not resist.)),prefers "две тяжёлые дивизии" and "две русские студентки". Edited by AndrewS on 07 November 2012 at 8:42pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4638 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian | Message 232 of 646 07 November 2012 at 9:16pm | IP Logged | ||
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WEDNESDAY, 07 NOVEMBER 2012
Thanks, Марк and AndrewS, for your contributions to the debate. So, if I get it right, both genitive and nominative plural are possible for feminine adjectives. I was aware of your quote, Марк, but I think it doesn't really explain why adjectives are treated so peculiarly after 2, 3, and 4. I had a look at Old Church Slavonic grammar today, but there the dual was still fully functional - even with its own adjective endings and verb forms -, so the mystery remains how Russian came to this treatment of adjectives. I think it's possible to explain the genitive plural after 2, 3, and 4, because it's simply the form used for all other numbers except 1, but I'm clueless as far as the nominative for feminine adjectives is concerned. Be that as it may, I spent the afternoon entirely with Russian. I did the exercises of unit 12, which mainly consisted of putting nouns into the nominative, genitive, and accusative plural. The other exercises were forming some imperatives and indirect questions with ли. The most difficult exercises were the translations, which dealt with rather abstract vocabulary. That's all I did today. No Gaelic, no Old English, no Old Norse. Now, I'm going to watch a movie, in English. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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