Thread: Anything and something translated...

Hi.

I am wanting to say two phrases.

Do you want anything to eat? Vu Khateetye chtoneeboot pa yest?

I think the above is pronounced ok is this right? If I then want to say instead:

I want something to eat, how would I say the word something? Could I have the written Russian text and the pronounciation aswell?

спасибо
Andrew

Do you want anything to eat? Vy Khateetye shtoneeboot pa yest?

basically yeah, that is how you can say it. as for I want something to eat - ya khochu pa yest - я хочу поесть (the 'something' is superfuous).

я хочу что-нибудь поесть

Interesting subject here. Now the early Pimsleur says that, "I want something to eat" (the something being known to the speaker or something in mind)
as,
Я хочу кое-что поесть.

What is the verdict on this? anybody?

Originally Posted by DDT

Я хочу кое-что поесть.

That sounds if I know what I want to eat but I won't tell you, no matter whatever reason it's based on.

Originally Posted by andrewsco

Hi.

I am wanting to say two phrases.

Do you want anything to eat? Vu Khateetye chtoneeboot pa yest?

I think the above is pronounced ok is this right? If I then want to say instead:

I want something to eat, how would I say the word something? Could I have the written Russian text and the pronounciation aswell?

спасибо
Andrew

Something and anything have the same meaning here and translated into Russian as что-нибудь, кое-что, что-то. In Russian the word doesn't change depending on whether it is a statement or question. However, in questions or negations you may get a different grammatical case:

I want something. Do you need anything?
I want nothing (I don't want anything).

Я хочу что-нибудь (Accusative). Ты чего-нибудь (Genitive) хочешь?
Я ничего (Genitive) не хочу. (In Russian double-negation is correct).

Statements with хотеть can have Genitive as well: Я хочу чего-нибудь (вкусного).

Vu Khateetye chtoneeboot pa yest?

Vy khateetye shtoneeboot pa'yest?
Вы хотите что-нибудь поесть? (Вы хотите чего-нибудь поесть?)
The answer could use the same words:

Я хочу что-нибудь поесть. (Я хочу чего-нибудь поесть.)

When Russians are learning English we have to pay attention to some, any and no words because it is quite different to Russian. Genitive, IMHO, has a slight meaning of portion, not the whole thing in the above examples, as opposed to Accusative.

Thank you very much guys for the help - an in particular the very thorough explanation. Much appreciated.

Andrew

No problem. Another important thing - you have to ALWAYS use genitive in negative sentences, as in one of my examples.
Я не хочу ничего. I don't want anything (I want nothing).