Thread: Мышай!

I'll start this post by saying (and hopefully heading off the snide remarks! ), that, yes, I know that Serbian != Russian. They are two distinct languages. With that disclaimer out of the way...

I was watching a film a few days ago, and the Serbian villain, speaking that language, told one of his henchmen to essentially "think!" or "use your head!" (they were talking about some evil plans or something). He used a word that sounded like Мышай! which, to me, sounds like an imperative verb form of the Russian word мысль (thought). Does a similar verb form exist in Russian?

Наверное, мыслить (императив: мысли!)

No, its more like an imperative of the verb "мышить" which in its turn might have evoluted from the noun мышь (a mouse) (Alas, there is no such verb in Russian)

The word мысль is a noun.
The verb would be мыслить
But I've been speaking Russian since my birth for already 30 years and have never heard that anybody used an imperative of the verb мыслить:
Grammarticaly of course you can form such construction - it would be Мысль.

There is a close synonym думать, which IS used in imperative:Думай (Think)

There is a slight difference to me between мыслить and думать, though. But when you need to use an iperative, the correct word would be думай(те) or even a gerund: Думать! (that's an order).

Originally Posted by Ramil

The word мысль is a noun.
The verb would be мыслить
But I've been speaking Russian since my birth for already 30 years and have never heard that anybody used an imperative of the verb мыслить:

Да ну прямо... Вон, http://www.google.com/search?q=%D0%BC%D ... 0%BA%D0%BE сразу же выдаёт какие-то заповеди Карима Рашида: "Мысли широко, а не глубоко. Мысли расслабленно, а не напряженно." Это, значит, не по-русски?

Вот заодно другой пример -- http://www.google.com/search?q=%D0%BC%D ... 0%BD%D0%BE

мышай звучит как "не мешай"

Originally Posted by Ramil

No, its more like an imperative of the verb "мышить" which in its turn might have evoluted from the noun мышь (a mouse) (Alas, there is no such verb in Russian)

There isn't? You mean, you guys never mouse? I do that all the time......
To mouse - mice - miced.



I'm very sorry. The above is total bollox, I'm just being silly. Forget it - it's early and I haven't had enough coffee yet.



This being said, both "mouser" and "mousing" exist. A mouser is a cat that is good at chasing mice; and mousing is catching mice.