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Thread: помолчав

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    помолчав

    Can somebody please explain the meaning of "помолчав" to me. I often find it in sentences like: Лена, снова помолчав сказала.....

    I can't find this word in my dictionary and I could only imagine that it is derived from молчать, but that makes no sense to me in this context.

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    Im not quite sure of the gramatical term for it, but it translates to english as "have ... Verb". I think this is some form of participle.


    For example Помалчать - To be silent.

    помалчав - Having kept silent.

    Other examples простившись (from простится) с прошлым - having said goodbye with the past

    Or Забыв - (having forgotten) А подругу не забыв - having not forgotten about your girlfriend.

    Лена, снова помолчав сказала.....
    Lena, again having kept silent said....

    Is it clear now ? It is just a participle (verb) ending
    Вот это да, я так люблю себя. И сегодня я люблю себя, ещё больше чем вчера, а завтра я буду любить себя to ещё больше чем сегодня. Тем что происходит,я вполне доволен!

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    Thank you Dogboy182, now I have got it. I didn't realise that помолчав is past tense and I always tried to translate somehow in the line of
    "Keeping silent Lena said", which really makes no sense.

    BTW: My dictionary normally lists both forms of verbs (perfective and imperfective). But in the case of молчать it gives no perfective form.
    Am I right that помолчать nevertheless is perfective?

    And one more observation: Isn't it intersting that English has no verb for молчать?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Старик
    Am I right that помолчать nevertheless is perfective?
    No, помолчать means to keep silence for a while

    There's verb смолчать some kind perfective i guess
    Он помолчал - he kept silence some period of time
    Он смолчал - he hasn't said a word (perfective - the action is complete)

    Quote Originally Posted by Старик
    And one more observation: Isn't it intersting that English has no verb for молчать?
    Yes, I never noticed that before

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    Старик wrote:
    And one more observation: Isn't it intersting that English has no verb for молчать?
    oh hum ???

    To be quite
    To be silent
    to keep quite

    "нам надо помолчать! вижу врагов!" сказал капитан
    "We need to keep quite ! I see the enemy" said the сaptian.

    Молчите ! такие непослушные дети - Be quite! such naughty children!

    it seems to me there are a few verbs in english...
    Вот это да, я так люблю себя. И сегодня я люблю себя, ещё больше чем вчера, а завтра я буду любить себя to ещё больше чем сегодня. Тем что происходит,я вполне доволен!

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    Re:

    Молча = quiet,keeping silent
    помолчав= having hushed
    I wasn't doing anything wrong,i simply didn't have any clothes on

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    To be quite
    To be silent
    to keep quite
    None of your examples is a simple verb.
    What I was wondering about is that there is no counterpart to the simple verb to speak like in Russian (говорить - молчать) or in German (reden - schweigen).

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    Quote Originally Posted by Старик
    in Russian (говорить - молчать) or in German (reden - schweigen).
    are you sure that reden=говорить? i learnt that reden=болтать, беседовать...
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    Quote Originally Posted by Старик
    Thank you Dogboy182, now I have got it. I didn't realise that помолчав is past tense and I always tried to translate somehow in the line of
    "Keeping silent Lena said", which really makes no sense.
    Technically you almost had it right, it could be literally translated as "having kept silent for a while". Grammatically it is a past tense perfective active voice participle, not a verb.

    But if you translate that literally into English or German it will be quite awkward, because it requires too many words for one. The whole sentence may be translated thusly:

    "Lena paused again/briefly, and said".
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    are you sure that reden=говорить? i learnt that reden=болтать, беседовать
    I think that all translations you have given (in addition to mine) are possible. It certainly depends on context. But I agree that if there is no context given "sprechen" might be a more suitable translation in most cases than "reden".

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