Thread: Разные вопросы по глаголам (by tiudavidharris

Originally Posted by tiudavidharris

so is it correct to say <<я иду вниз по лестнице.>> ?

It is. Note, though, that it means "I am walking downstairs", "I am currently at the stairs, going down". It makes sense in some contexts, it doesn't add up in some others. For example, imagine you are in a large railway station where you are supposed to meet your friend. The friend doesn't seem to be there, so you make a call and ask "Where are you?". Then the answer "Ты в главном зале? Я иду вниз по лестнице" is logical and quite natural (i.e. "look at the main staircase. I'm right there, walking down").

However, usually it isn't important and we don't even remember walking downstairs to exit the building/ going upstair to the office. You mostly just use "спускаться"/"подниматься" without mentioning the stairs/elevators, let alone "иду вверх"/"иду вниз".

Originally Posted by tiudavidharris

'подниматься лестнитца' climb up a staircase or ladder.

It is incorrect. In Russian, it's "подниматься по лестнице".

I noticed you often forget to decline nouns. And you need "по" when you move along some surface: идти по дороге, плыть по воде, лететь по воздуху, ходить по крышам, подниматься по лестнице etc. etc.

do you use prefixes with лазить, ползать, таскать?

Thank You

Yes, we do:

лазить - залазить (to somewhere), полазить (for a short time), вылазить (from somewhere), влазить (inside somewhere), перелазить (over something) etc.
ползать - заползать, поползать, выползать, вползать, переползать, уползать, ...
таскать - затаскивать, вытаскивать, перетаскивать, утаскивать (but actually there's also a suffix, if without a suffix I can only think of a few examples like потаскать, истаскать, перетаскать).

Originally Posted by Боб Уайтман

перелазить (over something)

Or is it? I can only imagine this word used to describy climbing and exploring some not-so-user-friendly area thoroughly. Like "перелазить все стройки района". Climbing over something is "перелезать"

потаскать, истаскать, перетаскать

Also оттаскать (за волосы), натаскать (на экзамен по русскому) and, probably, other rarely used or colloquial combinations.

If you add a suffix, will it still be a verb of motion?
i know prefixes added to verbs of motion gives them patterned meanings.
do suffixes do change the meaning of verbs of motion as well?
ive never heard of them.
are the reflexive endings 'ся' and 'сь' what you mean?

Originally Posted by tiudavidharris

If you add a suffix, will it still be a verb of motion?
i know prefixes added to verbs of motion gives them patterned meanings.
do suffixes do change the meaning of verbs of motion as well?
ive never heard of them.
are the reflexive endings 'ся' and 'сь' what you mean?

Suffixes also change meaning, or, in this case (тащить --> затащить --> затаскивать) grammatical category, such as aspect (perfect/imperfect). -ся (сь) is a suffix for reflective verbs (mind, though, reflective meaning is only one of their functions). That's, actually, why suffixes are different from endings. In Russian grammar "endings" are only those building blocks that only change the word's form while still keep its lexical meaning (such as singular/plural, 1st person verb form - 3rd person verb form). By contrast, suffixes and prefixes are part of the stem: they are used to alter the meaning of the word (so in English a Russian teacher would call "-ment" in "government" a suffix, but "-ed" in past form "sustained" an ending).

Strictly speaking, you should only be aware of a limited amount of verbs of motion, such as идти/ходить, ехать/ездить, лететь/летать, плыть/плавать, ползти/ползать, нести/носить, вести/возить and a few others. There are many other verbs that mean some motion, but only these few have a distinction between "indefinite" (multidirectional) and "specific" (one-way trip) action. All other Russian verbs only have perfective/imperfective aspectual distinction.

May I ask why so many questions in so little time frame?

First of all, thank you for the help.
I am trying to build a basic understanding of the Russian Language.
Lately, I have been trying to construct sentences with verbs of motion and ran into difficulties.
I am actually almost done studying verbs of motion and their prefixed forms. I have studied most of the common verbs of motion already.
This is just a short phase of many questions I think.
Honestly, I independently study the Russian language daily. I want to move to Russia someday and the language is one of the challenges i face.

i know when i say 'у меня пища' it means ' i have food'
and when i say 'я имею пища' does it mean ' i have food' or 'i am having food'.

what if i said 'у меня было пища', this means 'i had food.'
and if i said 'я имел пища', it also means i had food.

i know when i use the preposition 'y', it can mean i have or had an object..
does 'иметь' refer to having the activity?

i am not sure
how is the word 'иметь' versus the preposition 'y' used?

First of all, I would correct some errors you made (see in red below):

Originally Posted by tiudavidharris

i know when i say 'у меня пища' it means ' i have food'
and when i say 'я имею пищу' does it mean ' i have food' or 'i am having food'.
"иметь" is a transitive verb (the same as in English), so you need the accusative.

what if i said 'у меня была пища', this means 'i had food.'
"пища" is feminine.

and if i said 'я имел пищу', it also means i had food.
The same as above.

i know when i use the preposition 'y', it can mean i have or had an object..
does 'иметь' refer to having the activity?

i am not sure
how is the word 'иметь' versus the preposition 'y' used?

Originally Posted by tiudavidharris

and when i say 'я имею пищу' does it mean ' i have food' or 'i am having food'.

No, it does not mean "I am having food". The verb "to have" has different meanings in English: one of them is "to possess" or "to own". A different meaning is "to eat" or "to drink" (as in "to have lunch", "to have some tea" etc. – it is not about possession, it is about consumption).

In Russian, the verb "иметь" means "to possess", but never "to consume". If you want to say "I’m having food", it would be "я ем" or "я кушаю" (I’m eating), usually you do not need to add "пища" as it is obvious. But there is also a more official expression for "I'm having food": "я принимаю пищу" (lit.: I'm receiving food). But never "имею".

Originally Posted by tiudavidharris

what if i said 'у меня было пища', this means 'i had food.'
and if i said 'я имел пища', it also means i had food.

i know when i use the preposition 'y', it can mean i have or had an object..
does 'иметь' refer to having the activity?

i am not sure
how is the word 'иметь' versus the preposition 'y' used?

Technically,
Я имею пищу = У меня есть пища = I have food.
Я имел пищу = У меня была пища = I had food.
They mean just the same.

However, the options with "иметь" sound odd and hardly ever used in the colloquial speech (despite being understandable).

The construction "у + noun in genitive (possessor) + есть + noun in nominative (what is being possessed)" is preferrable and widely used.

The verb "иметь" has limited use in modern Russian. Most often it is used when the subject of possession is something abstract:
Эта олимпиада имеет шанс стать лучшей в истории игр. – These olympic games have a chance to become the best in the history of the games. "шанс" (chance) is an abstract thing.
It can be used in technical or scientific language:
Квадрат имеет четыре стороны. – A square has four sides.
Note: in all the examples above the construction with "у" is still possible, but "иметь" makes them sound more formal.

There are some set expressions with "иметь" and abstract nouns: "иметь значение" - to have importance, to be important, to matter (Размер имеет значение. - The size matters.); "иметь смысл" - to make sense (note: we say "to have sense", not "to make sense") etc. (Это не имеет смысла. - This makes no sense.).

However, if you need an imperative construction, "иметь" (it's imperative form is "имей (те)") is the only option you have:
Не имей сто рублей, а имей сто друзей (Do not have 100 roubles, but have 100 friends) - a Russian saying.

Be careful not to use "иметь" when applying to people (like you say "I have a wife" in English). In Russian slang, it can be used as a euphemism for "to have sex with someone"!

Thank you

The exercise on "у меня есть ..."

Кино - Место для шага вперед (guitar cover) - YouTube

I am unsure about the translation of this sentence.
I am trying to say 'i am watching television.' so i literally have to say 'i am looking into television in Russian.
'я смотрю в телевизор.'

i cannot just say 'i am watching television.'
'я смотрю телевизор.'

ive learned that if i want to say 'i am looking at you', I must say
я смотрю на тебя

there is no russian translation for 'I am watching you' because 'смотреть' is used differently from the english verb 'look' or watch' which are both different verbs in english.
so it is incorrect to say
'я смотрю тебя'
even if the words seem to translate as 'i'm watching you'

please correct me.

Originally Posted by tiudavidharris

I am unsure about the translation of this sentence.
I am trying to say 'i am watching television.' so i literally have to say 'i am looking into television in Russian.
'я смотрю в телевизор.'
i cannot just say 'i am watching television.'
'я смотрю телевизор.'

No-no! It is the other way around!

"Я смотрю в телевизор" is "I am looking inside the TV set"! You can use it only when:
1) You are repairing your TV set: you have opened the back cover and you are looking trying to figure out what is wrong inside;
2) You are trying to watch a movie, looking into the TV screen, but do not understand what the movie is about and what is going on on the screen (this usage is common in colloquial speech), but I would not recommend to you using it since there are more nuances. It has some negative connotation BTW.

The only way to say "I am watching TV" in Russian is "Я смотрю телевизор" (with no preposition).

Originally Posted by tiudavidharris

ive learned that if i want to say 'i am looking at you', I must say
я смотрю на тебя

It is correct!

Originally Posted by tiudavidharris

there is no russian translation for 'I am watching you' because 'смотреть' is used differently from the english verb 'look' or watch' which are both different verbs in english.
so it is incorrect to say
'я смотрю тебя'
even if the words seem to translate as 'i'm watching you'
please correct me.

I think you're right. But could you clarify:
How are those sentences different in English? (I am looking at you and I am watching you). I am afraid I do not understand the difference well.

'сажать' means 'to seat' while 'сидеть' means 'to sit'.

what is the difference?

It is very easy!

"сидеть" is intransitive (no direct object). It means "to be in the sitting position": Я сижу на стуле. Он сидит за столом. Мы сидим и разговариваем.
"сажать" is transitive (requires a direct object). It means "to let someone to the sitting position": Я сажаю ребёнка на стул.

"сажать" can also mean "to plant something" (by inserting seeds into ground): Я сажаю деревья. Они сажают кукурузу.
"сажать" also means "to put someone into the prison": Мы должны сажать преступников в тюрьму.

BTW, "to be in the prison" is "сидеть": Преступники сидят в тюрьме.

Originally Posted by Боб Уайтман

...I think you're right. But could you clarify:
How are those sentences different in English? (I am looking at you and I am watching you). I am afraid I do not understand the difference well.

Я смотрю на тебя и
Я слежу/наблюдаю за тобой (например, по той причине, что я тебе не доверяю). - I am watching you - don't do it anymore!

Смотреть is a cunning verb.
All the following phrases correct:
Смотрю в книгу (и вижу фигу)
Смотрю журнал
Смотрю расписание поездов
Смотрю в окно
Смотрю в бинокль/в микроскоп
Смотрю на экран монитора
Смотрю в монитор
Смотрю в зеркало
Смотрю на пол/потолок
Смотрю на тебя
Смотрю в тарелку
Смотрю в зубы коню (дарёному)

Can anyone see any system? I can't

Originally Posted by Боб Уайтман

Преступники сидят в тюрьме.

Когда их туда сажают