Thread: "Tie your shoe and zip your pants!" (and related expressions)

Originally Posted by Throbert McGee

Actually, I have a few general questions about the correct constructions that are used to describe the various "fasteners" (застёжки?) on clothing, not just tying the shoes or zipping the pants.

I'm familiar with the basic verbs involved:

застегнуть and расстегнуть
завязать and развязать
зашнуровать and расшнуровать

But here are the questions:

(1) With застегнуть, what is the usual accusative object that follows the verb -- the item of clothing, or the fastener on the clothing? In other words, would one say:

Я застегнул рубашку.

OR

Я застегнул пуговицы на рубашке.


(In English, you can say either "I buttoned the shirt" or "I buttoned the buttons on the shirt.")

both are correct, you can even say Я застегнул рубашку на все пуговицы

if you miss one button on a shirt a person may say to you Застегни пуговицу, because Застегни рубашку wouldn't be accurate or clear enough as technically your shirt is already buttoned up

Originally Posted by Throbert McGee

If I'm not mistaken, when tying the shoes, one says either завязать шнурки or зашнуровать туфли/ботинки (but not зашнуровать шнурки) -- is that right?

Yes

Originally Posted by Throbert McGee

У меня две зимних куртки. Красная застёгивается на молнии, а чёрная -- на пуговицах.

already answered

молния is also змЕйка, this is the word i personally prefer
for pants instead of молния you can also use fly - гУльфик (rare) or ширИнка (more frequent), however for some reason ширинка is considered not a very decent word, therefore in public it's best avoided

Originally Posted by Throbert McGee

(2) To say "her shoe is untied" or "your pants are unzipped", does it sound more colloquial to use the -ся form of the appropriate рас- verb in the past perfective? In other words:

У неё туфля расшнуровалась.
У вас штаны растегнулись. (or "молния растегулась"??)

OR can you use the short form of the past passive participle instead:

У неё туфля расшнурована.
У вас штаны растегнуты.

these are pretty bookish variants and all are legit, however informally it would be said like

У неё шнурок на туфле развязался
OR
У неё шнурки развязались no matter whether it's on both shoes or just on one

As for

У него ширинка расстегнулась/расстёгнута

Штаны for pants is substandard and folksy or good for when you don't know how to name the piece of clothes, normally you'd say брЮки or джИнсы or whatever the person wears

Брюки расстёгнуты is a pretty wholesale statement as it implies that the pants barely hang on on a person, the belt is unlocked or loose as well, therefore if you only mean the fly you'd say

У него ширинка расстегнулась/расстёгнута
OR
У него на брюках змейка/молния расстегнулась/расстёгнута
У него на брюках пуговицы расстегнулись/расстёгнуты

because the fly can be on a zipper as well as on buttons

the last two are not particularly clear but you can't help it if you want to avoid the words гульфик and ширинка

Originally Posted by Throbert McGee

(3) Finally, what's the standard term for "Velcro"? Is it treated like an indeclinable noun such as велькро, or should one say "лента Velcro", or what? And does Velcro застёгивается, or is there some other verb like прилипается that's commonly used?

velcro is sometimes called репЕйник because it clings like agrimony, however липУчка is much more common