Thread: translate this! anyone?

жили-были старик со старухой у самого синего моря.

ты не при чём.

Once upon a time there was an old couple who lived near the bluest of seas.

It's not about you

What, both?

The first is the opening line of the famous fairy tale by Pushkin:

"Once upon a time an old man and his wife lived on the shore of the blue sea."

Only it sounds better in Russian.

The second is "you have nothing to do with it", spelled with an error.

Hope this helps.

Originally Posted by kalinka_vinnie

Once upon a time there was an old couple who lived near the bluest of seas.

That's an intersting mistake you made kalinka... It's not "у самого синего", but "у самого моря", which means "right by the sea" (which is blue).

Watch for самого, it can mean many things:

Я спросил у сАмого главного начальника... - I asked the biggest boss
Я спросил у самогО главного начальника... - I asked the big boss himself
Начальник сидел у сАмого большого окна... - The boss was sitting by the biggest window
Начальник сидел у сАмого открытого окна... - The boss was sitting right by the open window

Hm! Interesting! Of course, there is no easy way to tell which one it is (сАмого - самогО), except from feeling, right?

Other than the difference between сАмого и самогО in spoken language, no, Russians don't have a habbit of putting accents on vowels, unlike Italians.

You can tell the difference between the meanings of сАмого as "the most" and "the very" if you ask yourself: can this adjective be the "most" (or least, or more, or less)? I think these are called качественные прилагательные in Russian. If "most" fits, then it's "most". If it doesn't, it's "very".

So, since the window cannot be the "most open", and the sea, except by a stretch of poetic imagination, cannnot be the "bluest", you know it means "right by the x", or "by the very x".

In reality, unless you are reading Pushkin, you don't run the risk of stumbling upon the "у самого такого-то того-то". It will be simply "у самого окна", which you will immediately recognize as "right by the window".