Thread: How to say stuff.

What are the different ways to translate this?:-

1 He did not say anything to anybody.

2 What are you interested in?

3 Are you interested in politics? (or a big fat cow).....or you decide!

I'll start it off with my translations...

Originally Posted by DDT

1 He did not say anything to anybody.

2 What are you interested in?

3 Are you interested in politics? (or a big fat cow).....or you decide!

1 Он ничего не сказал никому.
2 Чем вы увлекаетесь?
3 Вам интересует политика?

Standard disclaimer: I don't actually have any idea what I'm talking about.

Originally Posted by DDT

What are the different ways to translate this?:-

BlackMage gave you one way. This is way #2 :
Он никому ничего не сказал.
Что Вас интересует?
Вы интересуетесь политикой?

Very nice! But are there no more way to say these? hmmm?

Originally Posted by DDT

What are the different ways to translate this?:-

1 He did not say anything to anybody.

2 What are you interested in?

3 Are you interested in politics? (or a big fat cow).....or you decide!

My variations:

1 Он ничего не говорил никому
2 чем ты интересуешься
3 Политика тебе интересна?

Originally Posted by kalinka_vinnie

1 Он ничего не говорил никому

Does not this mean

He was not speaking to anybody at all.

Neither of these are literally translations -- but more variations on a theme:
-Он ничего не болтал никому. (with the connoation of he didn't tell/gossip/spill the beans...)
-Как вы думаете о политике? (again, I know, not a literal translation, but you're getting at the same point in a sense).

1. Он никому ничего не сказал - it's more good :-)

How about:


3. Ты из политики (большой, толстой коровы) извлекаешь интерес?

3. Ты из политики (большой, толстой коровы) извлекаешь интерес?

I don't understand it :)

Damn. It was a good shot though...

So, you say stuff like this though eh? Я извлекаю удовольствие из этого.....

3 Are you interested in politics? (or a big fat cow).....or you decide!

The best translation for this:

Вас интересует политика?
Вы интересуетесь политикой?

Originally Posted by basurero

Damn. It was a good shot though...

So, you say stuff like this though eh? Я извлекаю удовольствие из этого.....

Потому что удовольствие извлекают, а интерес проявляют (или не проявляют).

Originally Posted by kwatts59

Originally Posted by kalinka_vinnie

1 Он ничего не говорил никому

Does not this mean

He was not speaking to anybody at all.

No, kalinka's variant was right.
He was not speaking to anybody at all = он (вообще) ни с кем не говорил

Originally Posted by Barmaley

-Он ничего не болтал никому. (with the connoation of he didn't tell/gossip/spill the beans...)

разболтал will sound more natural

-Как вы думаете о политике? (again, I know, not a literal translation, but you're getting at the same point in a sense).

как sounds weird, it should be что

Originally Posted by net surfer

Originally Posted by Barmaley

-Он ничего не болтал никому. (with the connoation of he didn't tell/gossip/spill the beans...)

разболтал will sound more natural

What would difference in usage be then, for болтать and разболтать? I only know болтать from those "НЕ БОЛТАЙ!" posters...

разболтал - the perfective aspect

Originally Posted by net surfer

разболтал - the perfective aspect

But my dictionary lists the perfective as "поболтать?"

Originally Posted by Barmaley

Originally Posted by net surfer

разболтал - the perfective aspect

But my dictionary lists the perfective as "поболтать?"

A verb can have more than one perfective form.

Поболтать - To have a chat

Cпать - imp - to sleep
Поспать - perf - to have a sleep / nap / sleep for a certain amount of time.
Проспать - perf. - to oversleep.

Вчера я поспал шесть часов - Yesterday I slept for 6 hours.
Сегодня утром я проспал - This morning I overslept.
Он спит - He is sleeping / asleep.

This is why certain people take issue with the way Russian is taught as a second language.

Saying "A verb has two forms, an imperfective and perfective" isn't really true.

Like they say Говорить Сказать are imperfective and perfective forms of the same verb. But they are not really are they? Because you can have Поговорить which is also perfective. And there is the verb Казать(ся) which is a imperfective verb. Показать , Сказать are both perfectives from Казать. But they mean quite different things.

The Russian verb system is beautiful.

Два часа на поболтать, поболтать и всё успеть...

TATY is right, verbs can have more than one perfective form which have different meanings.

поболтать = have a chat
разболтать = told people some secret

Here is some more stuff:

1 What do you have against me?
2 He is always angry with me.
3 I relied upon him.
4 Do you believe in god?
5 The boy is aking me for some money.