Thread: Adverbs/Adjectives [e.g. холодно/холодный]

холодно - Wiktionary
холодный - Wiktionary

As with a lot of Russian sentences, I'm not so stuck with using them, just the explanation for why something is how it is.

So the adverb Холодно is to describe a verb. for example "...he said coldly, iId imagine you could say [...Он сказал холодно]

But then if we say we are cold we say Мне холодно which must be an Adjective as their is no verb. But this looks like the short form for the neutral nominative Холодное. But if I'm speaking about myself why would I not use Холодный (or short form: Холоден)

I am constantly confused between this as the adverb and the short form neutral nominative are the same. Like I said it's not so much remembering when to use, it's just I don't understand in which form it is.

As an added bonus if anyone can explain why to use Мне холодно instead of Я холодный I will be ever so grateful :P

Thanks )))

As an added bonus if anyone can explain why to use Мне холодно instead of Я холодный I will be ever so grateful :P

Why do you say in English I'm cold, while you are the same temperature?
In Russian you will become cold soon after the death, when your body becomes the same temperature as the environment.
Coldness can be felt only by an external observer, when he somehow feels that the object has a lower temperature than him or than he expects.
(You can sometimes use I'm cold, when you talk about you character).
When you say I'm cold, you are not cold but the environment is too cold for you, which is expressed in Russian. Empty it is not used in Russian because Russian allows subjectless sentences. The verb to be is omitted in the Present tense. For or to me is expressed by the dative.
Whether it is an adverb or the short form of an adjective is irrelevant here.

Agree. We do not say "I am cold". Literally, we say: "It is cold to me".

First. "Я холодный." or "Я холоден." would be understood completely differently: either you are talking about your temperament (which is possible: "I am indifferent, nonchalant etc."), or you mean your own body's temperature (which is completely odd).

Second. Impersonal expressions of state (like "it's cold, it's hot, it's difficult, it's interesting etc. etc.) do not require any subject in Russian, but always require an adverb (not adjective!). Please remember that. It is the second use of adverbs (along with the case when they modify verbs). So, "Мне холодное" is impossible in Russian, only "мне холодно" is valid. You can even omit "мне" and say just "холодно" ("it's cold" in English).

Originally Posted by Боб Уайтман

Agree. We do not say "I am cold". Literally, we say: "It is cold to me".

First. "Я холодный." or "Я холоден." would be understood completely differently: either you are talking about your temperament (which is possible: "I am indifferent, nonchalant etc."), or you mean your own body's temperature (which is completely odd).

Second. Impersonal expressions of state (like "it's cold, it's hot, it's difficult, it's interesting etc. etc.) do not require any subject in Russian, but always require an adverb (not adjective!). Please remember that. It is the second use of adverbs (along with the case when they modify verbs). So, "Мне холодное" is impossible in Russian, only "мне холодно" is valid. You can even omit "мне" and say just "холодно" ("it's cold" in English).

Круто, Боб!

Или, как говорит Эрик Картман из мультсериала: "Щикарно!"

But then if we say we are cold we say Мне холодно which must be an Adjective as their is no verb

.
Consider the Past and Future tenses:
Мне было холодно.
Мне будет холодно.

There is a verb there. We just leave it out in the Present.
Мне холодно.
"To me is cold", so to speak.

холодно is how
холодный is what or which

Also "I'm cold" can be translated as "Я замёрз" (similar to I'm freezing)

Originally Posted by Боб Уайтман

So, "Мне холодное" is impossible in Russian

It depends on the context
дай мне холодное мороженое is perfectly fine

And холод a noun. With a partitive case, холоду.

Originally Posted by Doomer

дай мне холодное мороженое is perfectly fine

Not a good example. Technically, yes. But the words "мне" and "холодное" are not related in this sentence, i.e. they do not form a word combination. The related words are "дай мне" and "холодное мороженое".

Otherwise, we should admit that nearly any word combination is possible, if we use examples like this...

Originally Posted by Боб Уайтман

Otherwise, we should admit that nearly any word combination is possible, if we use examples like this...

First you said the above's combination is impossible in Russian now you are saying nearly any combination is possible
Use the words wisely

Originally Posted by Doomer

First you said the above's combination is impossible in Russian

Yes, it is impossible.
There is no word combination like "мне холодное" in your example! The two words are unrelated, they are just neighboring here, but they actually belong to different word combinations: "дай мне" and "холодное мороженое". That's what I am trying to say.

Originally Posted by Doomer

now you are saying nearly any combination is possible

Was I saying so? You extracted some words from the whole phrase.
I wrote: "Otherwise, we should admit that nearly any word combination is possible, if we use examples like this...". Certainly, I do not agree that "nearly any word combination is possible".