Thread: 2 grammar questions

1) Is there a word for "kinda" in Russian?

"He's kinda pretty"
"Cold weather today. It's kinda nice."'
"I'm kinda tired."



2)

Notice that the insturmental case has to forms. How do I know which one is correct? (screenshots from Grammatica software)

1. There's "типа", but that's a new word (exists for last two decades) and that's kinda rude style. In English you can change it to "kind of", in Russian you often cannon change it to "как бы", "что ли" or something like that (different kinds of "sort of", "like" and so on)

2. Instrumental "Ей"/"ею" are equivalent variants, "ею" is more suitable for written style or when you feel like changing the rhythm of the phrase/resolving ambiguity ("ей" is both Dative and Instrumental). Or, maybe, "ей" is far from the verb and you want a reader to grasp the link a tiny bit easier. Or just beacause. Feel free to use any.
"Ней"/"него"/"ними"/"неё" and other forms starting with "н" are variants used after prepositions. Here you can look up the list of prepositions. Few are used without it. More or less popular include вне("outside of'), благодаря("thanks to"), согласно("according to"), навстречу(on the way "to meet" something/someone, i.e. in the opposite direction, towards that object), вопреки(contrary to). As you can see, the majority are adverbs/adverbal participles doubling as prepositions, and quite bookish.
ﾃﾐﾀﾌﾎﾒﾀ.ﾐﾓ ??粽??竟??璋韶?? 竟??褪-??琿 ｫﾐ??韜 ?鍄? | ﾑ?珞? | ﾏ

For nouns, I'd say that -ою/-ею variant smells old. Don't use it unless you know what you are doing. Though, they can be used in poetry: "-ою"/"-ею" ending gives you an additional syllable, which may be useful. So don't freak out when you stumble upon one of these in a modern song.

Thank you shady_arc, your detailed reply helped shed some light on the issue.

Can you show examples though of when it's appropriate to use "как бы" and when to use "что ли"

"kinda" doesn't exist in Russian in the same meaning as in English
Because we do not speak it that way in Russian

Originally Posted by Doomer

"kinda" doesn't exist in Russian in the same meaning as in English
Because we do not speak it that way in Russian

А чем тебе "типа", "немножко", "почти", "как бы", "что ли" не подходят? Может, не совсем то, но близко.

Originally Posted by Lampada

А чем тебе "типа", "немножко", "почти", "как бы", "что ли" не подходят? Может, не совсем то, но близко.

ну если вы сможете их сюда "He's kinda pretty" подставить, то тогда конечно
я не смог

Originally Posted by Doomer

ну если вы сможете их сюда "He's kinda pretty" подставить, то тогда конечно
я не смог

Он, можно сказать, симпатичный/хорошенький.

Originally Posted by Lampada

Он, можно сказать, симпатичный/хорошенький.

IMHO "А он так ничего" would be much closer, which brings us to an inevitable conclusion that such expressions are better tackled individuakky in each case.

Originally Posted by Shady_arc

IMHO "А он так ничего" would be much closer, which brings us to an inevitable conclusion that such expressions are better tackled individuakky in each case.

That's my point
We do not speak the same way in Russian thus "kinda" does not exist

Thank for the info and enlightening discussion