Thread: 2 Question of Grammar

там живёт двенадцать тысяч человек

Why живёт and not живут ?

Мне жалько, а его не будет

Why is it его and not он

Those are from my course

thx

Some people say живёт, some живут. I don't see any difference, maybe живут is more correct from the grammatical point of view. But both are good. "живёт 20 тысяч человек" most likely is understood as a single mass of people, and when they say "живут 20 тысяч" they mean every man individually, but together, therefore "живут".

Мне жалко, а его не будет -- I can't comprehend the sense of this sentence. Maybe "мне жалко, что его не будет (he won't attend some place)"? Then "его" of course, (g.c.). If the sentence means "мне жалко, а он не будет (жалеть) (he won't do something, maybe feel regret as the narrator does?)" then "он" is ok.

Yeah, the same thing with "человек". Grammatically, it should be "людей" but this is how it is spoken.

By the way, it's an interesting phenomenon, why singular "человек" is used to refer to multitude ? "человек" has no plural form at all.

Originally Posted by Mordan

там живёт двенадцать тысяч человек

Why живёт and not живут ?

Мне жалко, а его не будет

Why is it его and not он

Those are from my course

thx

Ивана нет - Ivan is not here (Ivan doesn't exist)
Ивана не было - Ivan was not there/here (Ivan didn't exist)
Ивана не будет - Ivan won't be here/there (Ivan won't exist)

It's Нет + gen.

Мне жалко, а его не будет
He is not the subject. The subject is not included but implied.
It's the future of: Мне жалко, а его нет.

Нет is a contraction of Не есть
Pres. - Нет + gen.
Past. - Не было + gen.
Fut. - Не будет + gen.

В этом городе живёт пять тысяч человек.
В этом городе живёт [такое-то количество] человек.

количество - ед.ч., поэтому "живёт".

Thx a lot

Those answers made the topic clear!!

Originally Posted by TATY

Originally Posted by Mordan

там живёт двенадцать тысяч человек

Why живёт and not живут ?

Мне жалко, а его не будет

Why is it его and not он

Those are from my course

thx

Ивана нет - Ivan is not here (Ivan doesn't exist)
Ивана не было - Ivan was not there/here (Ivan didn't exist)
Ивана не будет - Ivan won't be here/there (Ivan won't exist)

It's Нет + gen.

Мне жалко, а его не будет
He is not the subject. The subject is not included but implied.
It's the future of: Мне жалко, а его нет.

Нет is a contraction of Не есть
Pres. - Нет + gen.
Past. - Не было + gen.
Fut. - Не будет + gen.

Hmm, I found this helpful too. I was just wondering though..could "Иван нет" be a sentence? If that's so, is "Иван не здесь" any different?

Originally Posted by Orpheus

Hmm, I found this helpful too. I was just wondering though..could "Иван нет" be a sentence? If that's so, is "Иван не здесь" any different?

Typically you use genitive case with any negation, so I don't think so. Also, I don't think you can say Иван не здесь at all. Ивана нету is what I think the average Russian would say if you asked them that? Then again, I speak crummy Russian, so who knows?

Иван не здесь sounds too much like a word for word English translation for me.

Иван не здесь - can be answer to question like
Иван здесь? - Нет. Иван не здесь.

Иван здесь? - Нет. Иван не здесь.

I'd say "Иван здесь? -- не, нету" или "не, его нет".

I pretty rarely hear "Иван здесь? -- нет, Иван не здесь", it sounds mockingly a bit.

That's a pretty cool new way of saying something. I've never seen it before...it's amazing! Thanks.

Originally Posted by Vincent Tailors

"Иван здесь? -- нет, Иван не здесь", it sounds mockingly a bit.

Yes, of course. Or speaker has not enough power in his brain to change words in the question and just insert HE. (Speaker is sleepy or drunk much yesterday )

Or the sentence is not completed
Иван здесь? -- Нет. Иван не здесь, а там!

I agree with Wowik. It will sound quite appropriate in the case if the speaker adds more information about where Ivan really is.

- Иван здесь?
- Нет, он не здесь, он сегодня работает в другом месте.

"Мне жалко, а его не будет" doesn't make sense (at least without context).