Hungry Cat

The google translator translates
Is your cat hungry? ---> Действительно ли ваш кот голоден?
And
Does your cat want to eat? ----> Ваш кот хочет поесть?

I wasn't familiar with Действительно before trying this translation, but apparently it means "REALLY" or something close to that.

If one just said ваш кот голоден? would that make sense or is the Действительно ли actually necessary. Also would it be more normal to ask Ваш кот хочет поесть? when inquiring about whether or not a cat is hungry?

Thanks.

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Originally Posted by bobert

If one just said ваш кот голоден?

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It's ok.

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Ваш кот хочет поесть? when inquiring about whether or not a cat is hungry?

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No. Ваш кот хочет есть? is the right way, but I don't know why. It's ok for human though - Он хочт поесть?

In colloquial speach "ваш кот голоден?", "Ваш кот хочет поесть?" is acceptable.

I'd say in this situation "У вас кот голодный?"

Though depending on the intonation emphasis, these phrases can have slightly different meaning, and in written text they can produce an impression of ambiguity. (Remember free word order in Russian.) Therefore in written texts there are usually tricks like "голоден ли ваш кот?", "Хочет ли ваш кот есть?" or "Действительно ли ваш кот голоден?" to avoid this ambiguity. "Ли" is a way to emphasize the previous word in written text.

I would mind.

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Therefore in written texts there are usually tricks like "голоден ли ваш кот?", "Хочет ли ваш кот есть?" or "Действительно ли ваш кот голоден?" to avoid this ambiguity. "Ли" is a way to emphasize the previous word in written text.

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XXX ли sound better if rephrased like this:
Хочет ли ваш кот есть? = Ваш кот хочет есть?
Голоден ли ваш кот? = Ваш кот голоден?

full version of my thoughts about this can be found here:
http://www.russianlessons.net/forum/vie ... php?t=1618

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Originally Posted by Eugene-p

XXX ли sound better if rephrased like this:
Хочет ли ваш кот есть? = Ваш кот хочет есть?

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That's what I did say: it sounds better but it looks worse. It is difficult to read such phrases.

Here are examples of what this phrase may mean depending on the intonation.
1)Ваш кот хочет есть? Does your cat want to eat?
2)Ваш кот хочет есть? Is the cat, who wants to eat, yours?
3)Ваш кот хочет есть? Which of your animals wants to eat? Is it a cat (or, maybe, it is your dog)?
4)Ваш кот хочет есть? What exactly does your cat want? To eat?

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That's what I did say: it sounds better but it looks worse. It is difficult to read such phrases.

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I don't get how they can look worse.
Just wanted to point out about those ЛИ tricks, which are unacceptable in most cases in the principal part of an interrogatine sentence and how to reword it to sound better. All other things including intonative selection of a word are absolute true.

P.S. Btw., "Хочет ли ваш кот есть?" can mean slightly different things depending on the voice stress, as well as those you wrote.