Thread: Short answers to questions.

I forgot what the English part-of-speech is called, but what are some one to two word answers to various questions.

Of course there is "Да" and "Нет" and also "хорошо" and "ну ладно," and I'm guessing there are more.

So I was wondering what these little answers are called and if there are anymore in Russian.

Well they speak horrible Russian in that movie, and since, let us not forget that he is supposed to be Ukrainian in that movie as well, unless a native Ukrainian is here and can watch it and tell us... then you probably wont get an answer.


the closest thing I can think of is Что-что but its said pretty fast and means like "What the?" and does not fit with what you said.

Ukrainians do say Шо where Russian say Чё but still, I dunno. I've seen that movie but I don't remember that part.

"Шо-шо?" (rising intonation) = "What?" (often as a request to repeat something).

"Шо-шо?" instead of "Что-что?" is pecular to the Ukrainian accent and some Russian (rural) dialects. It's not a standard pronounciation.

Anyway, don't try to pick up the words from the Hollywood movies. First, their meaning almost never corresponds to the English subtitles. Second, more often than not famous actors have such a terrible accent that their Russian is impossible to understand without said English subtitles.

The only foreign movie I've seen where Russian phrases were natural and even funny, and the leading actors obviously put some effort into gaining the proper 'Russian' accent, was "Birthday Girl" (2001) ( http://imdb.com/title/tt0188453/ ). Of course, they still sounded as foreigners, but at least not as retards.

Originally Posted by Автобус

I forgot what the English part-of-speech is called, but what are some one to two word answers to various questions.

Of course there is "Да" and "Нет" and also "хорошо" and "но ладно,"

Ну ладно.

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

"Шо-шо?" (rising intonation) = "What?" (often as a request to repeat something).

"Шо-шо?" instead of "Что-что?" is pecular to the Ukrainian accent and some Russian (rural) dialects. It's not a standard pronounciation.

Anyway, don't try to pick up the words from the Hollywood movies. First, their meaning almost never corresponds to the English subtitles. Second, more often than not famous actors have such a terrible accent that their Russian is impossible to understand without said English subtitles.

The only foreign movie I've seen where Russian phrases were natural and even funny, and the leading actors obviously put some effort into gaining the proper 'Russian' accent, was "Birthday Girl" (2001) ( http://imdb.com/title/tt0188453/ ). Of course, they still sounded as foreigners, but at least not as retards.

I like Birthday girl. It's the one with Nicole Kidman isn't it?

Originally Posted by Dogboy182

Well they speak horrible Russian in that movie, and since, let us not forget that he is supposed to be Ukrainian in that movie

D'oh I just remembered that.

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

Anyway, don't try to pick up the words from the Hollywood movies.

Thanks Ill keep that in mind. And I might watch that birthday girl movie. Theres a full length movie on Google Video called Lilja 4-ever and it is supposed to be in Russian. The characters live in Estonia but the language is listed as Russian wherever I find it. I don't recommend watching it though, its got adult content out the wazoo.


But aside from the whole Lord of War part, are there any of these phrases in Russian other than the ones I had listed?

Originally Posted by Автобус

Theres a full length movie on Google Video called Lilja 4-ever and it is supposed to be in Russian. The characters live in Estonia but the language is listed as Russian wherever I find it. I don't recommend watching it though, its got adult content out the wazoo.

It's in Russian, all right.

Lilya 4-ever was on afternoon TV in Ukraine once when I was there. No kidding about the adult content. It was a really well-made movie, but it was easily the most depressing film I've ever seen. Lilya reminded me of a lot of girls I knew, and it really shook me. To this day I have this vague feeling of tragic failure because I couldn't save her. I wish I hadn't seen it.

Originally Posted by TATY

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

The only foreign movie I've seen where Russian phrases were natural and even funny, and the leading actors obviously put some effort into gaining the proper 'Russian' accent, was "Birthday Girl" (2001) ( http://imdb.com/title/tt0188453/ ). Of course, they still sounded as foreigners, but at least not as retards.

I like Birthday girl. It's the one with Nicole Kidman isn't it?

Yeah, that's the one. When I saw it, I was mightily impressed, but then I knew next to nothing in Russian, so for all I know she could have sounded like a retard.

Originally Posted by TATY

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

"Шо-шо?" (rising intonation) = "What?" (often as a request to repeat something).

"Шо-шо?" instead of "Что-что?" is pecular to the Ukrainian accent and some Russian (rural) dialects. It's not a standard pronounciation.

Anyway, don't try to pick up the words from the Hollywood movies. First, their meaning almost never corresponds to the English subtitles. Second, more often than not famous actors have such a terrible accent that their Russian is impossible to understand without said English subtitles.

The only foreign movie I've seen where Russian phrases were natural and even funny, and the leading actors obviously put some effort into gaining the proper 'Russian' accent, was "Birthday Girl" (2001) ( http://imdb.com/title/tt0188453/ ). Of course, they still sounded as foreigners, but at least not as retards.

I like Birthday girl. It's the one with Nicole Kidman isn't it?

Off topic: I watched this video before I studied Russian so I can't exactly tell, but I heard that her Russian was so bad that even in the Russian dubbing, they dubbed over her.

Come to think about it, I would to watch the movie again, just to assess the veracity of that statement.