Thread: How wrong am I with verbal aspect

Hello

I am struggling with verbal aspects. Here is an attempt at translating a short literary excerpt which I find tricky.

Папа и его самоубийства.

Папа любил совершать¹ самоубийство. Он это делал¹ много раз. Он часто совершал¹ в воскресенье, в полдень, пока все были здесь, лишче тогда, когда обед был праздничным. Папа взял² бистури и перерезал² вену.

I'll try to explain my choices, so that you can tell me how wrong I am.

¹: нсв because 1° the father did it often 2° he did not succeed. 
²: св because the actions are taking place one after another. On the other hand, since this is not a unique situation, why not use the imperfective? You tell me...

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Zubr

Папа любил совершать¹ самоубийство.

Perfect.

Originally Posted by Zubr

Он это делал¹ много раз.

Good, but I'd say "делал это" rather than "это делал".

Originally Posted by Zubr

Он часто совершал¹ в воскресенье, в полдень, пока все были здесь, лишче тогда, когда обед был праздничным.

Совершал requires a direct object. You can't say just "совершал".
Здесь - где "здесь"? Лучше сказать, "пока/когда все были дома".
Лишче - а это что такое? Я такого слова в русском языке не знаю

Originally Posted by Zubr

Папа взял² бистури и перерезал² вену.

взял - You are telling us a story about multiple attempts. It MUST be "брал", because you are speaking about a repeated action.
бистури - what the heck is THAT?
Перерезал is fine, provided you are placing the accent correctly ("перерéзал" is perf., and "перерезáл" is imperf.) It doesn't matter at all that actions are following one after another.

Originally Posted by Zubr

Папа любил совершать¹ самоубийство.

I'd say, here should be either "совершать самоубийства" or "покушаться на самоубийство". The former is better: more ironic because of the embedded paradox.

Then i'd translate like this:
...Он это проделывал неоднократно. Часто самоубийства происходили в воскресенье, в полдень, когда все были дома, лучше, если обед был праздничным. Папа брал бритву(?) и резал себе вены.

Originally Posted by Zubr

¹: нсв because 1° the father did it often 2° he did not succeed. 

First reason is good, second one is of no matter (from the grammatical point of view ).

Originally Posted by Zubr

²: св because the actions are taking place one after another. On the other hand, since this is not a unique situation, why not use the imperfective? You tell me...

Imp. only.

Thanks for your answers! Very appreciated.

Лишче - а это что такое? Я такого слова в русском языке не знаю

This is "лучше" mispelled. I believe my fingers mixed up this word with "лишь"
Also, бистури is supposed to be a surgeon knife, or so claims my slovar', but I see this word is not really used.

I think I understand your corrections. Just one more question :

First reason is good, second one is of no matter

Doesn't a failed attempt at doing something imply imperfective? As in "Они долго уговаривали её уйти с ними, но не уговорили."
Or maybe in this example, the verb is imperfective just because of the adverb "долго"?

Originally Posted by Zubr

Also, бистури is supposed to be a surgeon knife, or so claims my slovar', but I see this word is not really used.

Yes, it is in vocabularies but looks like it is very professional term. Maybe скальпель is better.

Originally Posted by Zubr

Doesn't a failed attempt at doing something imply imperfective? As in "Они долго уговаривали её уйти с ними, но не уговорили."
Or maybe in this example, the verb is imperfective just because of the adverb "долго"?

Yes to your last guess . "Они долго уговаривали её уйти с ними, и, наконец, уговорили." is correct as well.

Originally Posted by it-ogo

Doesn't a failed attempt at doing something imply imperfective? 

Yes and no. The imperfective can sometimes be translated as "tried to" to something. When you actually state whether a one time action succeeded or failed, you usually use perfective. Thus

Он долго уговаривал её, но так и не уговорил.
He spent a long time trying to persuade her, but he ended up not persuading her.

Originally Posted by doninphxaz

Yes and no. The imperfective can sometimes be translated as "tried to" to something.

Or "spent some time trying" independently on the final result of those trials.

Thanks all! Всё ясно.