Thread: вроде, ведь

- Вчерашняя встреча не лезла из головы. Михаил вроде и не сказал ничего нового. Просто было ощущение, что он сказал это тому, кто в нем, Олеге, что-то решал и соображал. Вроде бред, а ведь по-другому и не объяснишь.

I just can't get the yesterday meeting out of my head. Mikhail kind of said nothing new. I just kept getting this feeling as if he said all that to another person. A person that was inside Oleg and that person was the one doing all the thinking and making decisions. It may sound like nonsense, but there's no other way to explain that.


That's about the best I can do. Sorry. Suffice it to say that:

вроде is very close to kind of/sort of/like/alike/akin and so on.

сказал это тому, кто в нем, Олеге. - тому serves as a vague description of something. that's why whoever said that had to specify who is тот with кто в нем....

Just compare - Я знаю то, чего ты не знаешь.

I, think, grammatically, то is used when you need an object for a verb, but you can't quite define the object just yet, you need a clause to do that.


Ведь... That's a very difficult word to explain. It's like trying to describe the usage of particles like же, -то etc. My vocabulary says that ведь can be either a conjunction or particle.

As a particle it is used to make the whole expression stronger.

Вот ведь какое несчастье!

As a conjunction it is either used to add a phrase of reason or explanation of the main sentence:

Пора домой, ведь уже поздно. (Clearly a reason)
Полагаемся на тебя, ты ведь один знаешь дорогу. (Sounds like a mix of reason and explanation)

or it is used in the same way as "in spite of, despite of"

Ведь и сил нет, а работаешь.
Ведь говорил вам, да не послушались.

> вроде is very close to kind of/sort of/like/alike/akin and so on.
I think in this case it is particle which expresses slight doubt in next expression (shortage of "вроде бы" - it seems/probably): "It seems that Mikhail said nothing new."

So: Она плачет. А ведь я не хотел её обидеть!

She cries. Despite the fact that I didn't want to make her sad!