Thread: Newbie with very simple request

Greetings to all,

I am Tammy. Happy to join your group but very new to learning Russian. I have two very simple words I would like to know how to pronounce in Russian. 'Sit' and 'Down'. I am using these to train a Siberain Husky. I know how to spell them but not how to pronounce them. Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you,
Friends call me,

sit - сидеть - si-det'
down - вниз - vniz (though I don't know if it's somehow used for dog-training)

Originally Posted by Friendy

down - вниз - vniz (though I don't know if it's somehow used for dog-training)

Maybe it's лежать?

Thank you Friendly! I looked through a book yesterday and spent many hours trying to find the pronunciation for those words and only found the spelling for them. I appreciate your help! My Dog's name will be Sascha, she is a red and white Siberian husky that is six weeks old. I will be teaching her Russian commands for basic training. I just think it is fitting. Thanks again.

As for dogs, there is a set of stricktly formalized commands e.g.

Сидеть! (Sit down)
Лежать! (Lie down)
Место! (Take your place)
Аппорт! (Fetch this)
Фас! (Attack this!)

etc.

Although I'm not sure with their English equivalents.

And when you want to encourage and stroke a dog you may say "Молодец!" (Good guy).

And when you want to encourage and stroke a dog you may say "Молодец!" (Good guy).

You don't stroke animals, you pet them.

I like to pet my pets.

I guess you can stroke them, but it sounds kinda odd...

Originally Posted by Dogboy182

You don't stroke animals, you pet them.

I consulted my cat and dog owning neighbours about this one. Apparently they never pat their cat, they only stroke it. And they pat or stroke their dog. I think it has something to do with stroking being gentle and patting being a more robust thing. As for 'pet', they pet both their cat and dog but they almost never say 'pet', preferring instead to say stroke, mainly or pat, sometimes.

Originally Posted by Propp

As for dogs, there is a set of stricktly formalized commands e.g.

Сидеть! (Sit down)
Лежать! (Lie down)
Место! (Take your place)
Аппорт! (Fetch this)
Фас! (Attack this!)

The five commands for Russian dogs you gave are quite interesting from a linguistic point of view:
Only three of the commands are Russian. One is French (Аппорт!) and one is German ( Фас! ).
None of the Russina commands is an iperative. Two are infinitives and and one is a noun. Funny!

Really "strict" or harsh imperatives in Russian may not actually take the imperative form; they may actually be verbs in infinitive form or even nouns, for example "Приготовиться к стрельбе!" - "Prepare to fire", "Огонь!" - "Fire!", and a bunch of other military terms I can't remember right now.

As for English dog commands, I don't think they're all imperatives, either. "Inside!" "Down!" Don't know about German...

Thank you to Propp and all who have been helping me learn these commands. I am slowly learning these Russian words and really appreciate your help. Any other commands would help like 'come' or 'leave it' as in 'leave it alone'. I have some rough idea of these words but have no Russian keyboard so I have no way of posting what I think it may be.

thanks again!!!

t

Originally Posted by tllundgren

Any other commands would help like 'come' or 'leave it' as in 'leave it alone'.

come - ко мне - [kah-mneh]
leave it - брось - [bros'] (though I'm not sure if it exists as a command)

"Leave it!" is

Фу!

in "dog's language"

майк, pat и pet - слова разные. OTOH, in the US we do not "stroke" our pets. Stroking relates more to sexual or boating procedures. I pet my cats. You must be using BrE.

Yes, you stroke your pets in BrE. 'Petting', on the other hand, can be something sexual, though it's pretty uncommon (I've only ever seen it used in warning/ prohibition signs at swimming pools: "No Dunking! No Bombing! No Heavy Petting!" )

майк was just correctling Dogboy, who was erroneously correcting Propp, who was quite right in the first place.

Originally Posted by Propp

"Leave it!" is

Фу!

Certainly! How could I have forgotten of it. It’s really very common.

Originally Posted by scotcher

"No Dunking! No Bombing! No Heavy Petting!" )

scotcher, just from my memory: -
No pushing
No bombing
No running
No ducking
No shouting
No smoking
No petting
No back diving
No spitting
No swimming under diving boards
No practicing acrobatics or gymnastics
No throwing objects
No food/drink,
No prams/pushchairs
No photography- unless given permission by duty manager

But as kids we thought it meant that all those things were compulsory. I remember the 'No heavy petting' signs. What constitutes 'heavy petting' I wonder? More to the point what sort of light petting is allowed

Originally Posted by chaika

You must be using BrE.

I'm using English - How about you

Originally Posted by майк

Originally Posted by chaika

You must be using BrE.

I'm using English - How about you :wink:

That reminds me one quote about BrE from Snatch:
"Do me a favor, speak English. I thought this country spawned the f***ing language, and so far nobody seems to speak it." :)

Originally Posted by alexei

Originally Posted by майк

Originally Posted by chaika

You must be using BrE.

I'm using English - How about you

That reminds me one quote about BrE from Snatch:
"Do me a favor, speak English. I thought this country spawned the f***ing language, and so far nobody seems to speak it."

Or like "Do you speak English or English English?"