Thread: Email to a friend

Hi,
I wrote this email to a friend but didnt get any corrections. I would like to get help with this email.Thereare somewords i used that i was not familiar with and would like to know if i used them correctly.
Here it goes:

ты изучаешь китайский и я изучаю русский.
я думаю что русский трудно но мне нравится этот.
я очен рада что ты говориш по-русский. я хочу учит русский потому чта я люблю смотреть русский мини серии. я смотрела идиот (They made a series based on Dostoevsky´s novel). я тажке смотрела мастер и маргарита.
канешна я ничего не понимаю!
знаеш? кагда я видела e-mail я думала что я ничего не понимат но я немного понимаю.

Thank you!

Хи, Ulamah!

ты изучаешь китайский и я изучаю русский

"и я " is used in Russian with the meaning "too". So you can say:

"ты изучаешь китайский и я изучаю китайский"

In your case there should be another conjunction: "а" (note also comma in between)

ты изучаешь китайский, а я изучаю русский

я думаю что русский трудно но мне нравится этот.

You can't insert adverb without verb. Also you have a choice: to say, that PROCESS is difficult, or to say, that GOAL is difficult to achieve.
In the former case, it could be

Я поняла, что русский трудно изучать, но мне он нравится.

In the latter case:

Я поняла, что выучить русский [будет] трудно, но мне он нравится.

Note, how process is going in Present tense, but GOAL is in the Future. "Будет" is implied when omitted.
Instead "мне он нравится" you can use "мне это нравится" (this was what you wanted to say I think).
Here:
"он" = "русский язык" (out of context)
"это" = "изучение" (noun, but works as Gerund)

знаеш?
И знаешь что?

я очен рада что ты говориш по-русский.
Я очень рада, что ты говоришь по-русски.


я хочу учит русский потому чта я люблю смотреть русский мини серии.
Я хочу выучить русский, потому что люблю смотреть российские мини-сериалы.
Also, "я люблю" we often substitute with "мне нравится".

"российские мини-сериалы" are the series issued in Russia. If it does not matter, go for "мини-сериалы на русском", so you will account for some Ukrainian series too, for example.

Я смотрела "Идиот". Я также смотрела "Мастер и Маргарита". Конечно, я ничего не понимала!

кагда я видела e-mail я думала что я ничего не понимат но я немного понимаю.

Когда я
[начала читать] / [открыла] / [вглянула на] / [увидела] / ... (видела is for repetitive actions in the past, but you are describing a single moment)
e-mail,
то подумала, (думала is for repetitive actions in the past, but you are describing a single moment)
что я ничего не пойму,
но оказалось, (it turned out)
что немного понимаю.

You asked to correct the whole text. So, my corrections of the whole text are below.
I also capitalized first letters of each sentence, and corrected some punctuation.

Ты изучаешь китайский, а я изучаю русский. (See explanation by maxmixiv above).

Я думаю, что русский трудный, но ... (I think Russian is difficult, but ...) - in this case you need an adjective (трудный), not an adverb (трудно).

Or, if you add a verb, than the adverb is OK (adjectives modify nouns, and adverbs modify verbs):

Я думаю, что русский трудно изучать, но ...
Я думаю, что выучить русский (будет) трудно, но ... ("будет" is optional, but it is implied).
Some other wordings are possible as well.
- See explanation by maxmixiv above.

..., но мне он нравится.
(You cannot use "этот" here, since "этот" means "this" or "this one". When you refer to something mentioned before, just to substitute a noun, you use "он/она/оно/они", just like English "he/she/it/they": I think Russian is difficult, but I like it. In Russian, "язык" (language) is masculine, so you substitute it with "он").

You can use "этот" to modify a noun: ..., но мне нравится этот язык.
Or, when you have an opposition of "тот" and "этот" (that one and this one): тебе нравится тот язык, а мне - этот (you can even omit "нравится" in the second part), but that is not your case.

Я очень рада, что ты говоришь по-русски.

Never say "по-русский", it is wrong. And it is a very common mistake of non-native learners.
In fact, there is an adjective "русский" and an adverb "по-русски".

Я хочу учить русский, потому что я люблю смотреть русские (plural form!) мини серии (actually, we do not say "мини серии", maybe what you mean is "мини-сериалы", but I am not sure).

Я смотрела "Идиот". Я также смотрела "Мастер и Маргарита". - ОК, but we usually decline feminine names, even in titles: Я также смотрела "Мастер и Маргариту" is better.

Конечно, я ничего не понимаю!
Знаешь? Когда я увидела e-mail, я подумала, что я ничего не пойму, но я немного понимаю.
1) When you have consecutive actions, you use perfective verbs to underline this fact: First you saw the e-mail, then you thought ... So, I transformed your verbs to their perfective versions by adding appropriate prefixes (увидела and подумала). Otherwise, it sounds as though your actions were simultaneous (When I was seeing the e-mail, I was thinking...).
2) "I thought I would not understand anything" - that's what you wanted to say, right? If yes, you need a future form of "понимать": пойму.

We were answering simultaneously So, you've got a double proof, Ulamah!

Originally Posted by maxmixiv

You can't insert adverb without verb. Also you have a choice: to say, that PROCESS is difficult, or to say, that GOAL is difficult to achieve.
In the former case, it could be

So, what I understand here is that the first sentence is:
"I understand, that Russian (is) difficult to study (the process of learning it), but I like this.
and the second sentence is:
"I understand, that "to have learned Russian" (as a completed action) is difficult, but I like this.


I translate the verbs изучать = to study (process of learning)
and выучить = to learn ( to have learned)

Is that the difference between these two verbs??

Thanks!

Thank you very much!! The corrections are very clear!! I have taken notes and will study them.

Originally Posted by Ulamah

So, what I understand here is that the first sentence is:
"I understand, that Russian (is) difficult to study (the process of learning it), but I like this.
and the second sentence is:
"I understand, that "to have learned Russian" (as a completed action) is difficult, but I like this.

Basically, you've got it right.

I translate the verbs изучать = to study (process of learning)
and выучить = to learn ( to have learned)

Is that the difference between these two verbs??
Thanks!

Actually, "учить" or "изучать" are imperfective verbs (they consider an action in its process). More or less, they can roughly be thought as equivalents of English "to be learning" or "to be studying".
On the other hand, "выучить" or "изучить" are perfective verbs (they consider a completed action as a whole). More or less, they can roughly be thought as equivalents of English "to have learned" or "to have studied".

There are actualy too different aspectual pairs (imperfective/perfective): учить - выучить (to learn something) and изучать - изучить (to study something). The verb учить - выучить means learning by memorization. The verb изучать - изучить implies some more detailed studying (not only to learn a language, but also to study its grammar, history, etymology etc.). But in colloquial speech, they are often used interchangeably in the sense of learning languages.