Thread: Aspect ((по)звонить)

Based on my ( maybe wrong.. ) experience, I feel that in the case of (по)звонить only, there is a strong tendency as below.

- in most cases несколько раз звонил is used, несколько раз позвонил is very rarely used.
- in most cases два раза позвонил is used and два раза звонил is very rarely used.

I checked on the Internet and the result seems to correspond to my experience.

As to other verbs like (по)стучать, I was not able to find such tendency.

Please advise!

Originally Posted by Yuki

Based on my ( maybe wrong.. ) experience, I feel that in the case of (по)звонить only, there is a strong tendency as below.

- in most cases несколько раз звонил is used, несколько раз позвонил is very rarely used.
- in most cases два раза позвонил is used and два раза звонил is very rarely used.

I checked on the Internet and the result seems to correspond to my experience.

As to other verbs like (по)стучать, I was not able to find such tendency.

Please advise!

Yuki, being a native speaker I cannot tell you anything about the tendency, i.e. which is more often used and which is less often used.

However, I do not think it's a right idea to investigate the tendency. It would be more useful if you get the shades of meaning conveyed by different aspects here. Since the usage depends on a specific situation.

Generally, all the sentences you proposed are possible:
несколько раз звонил, несколько раз позвонил, два раза позвонил, два раза звонил.
But they are used in slightly different situations.

Я тебе вчера два раза звонил, но у тебя было занято.
Я несколько раз звонил другу, но он не отвечал.
Я два раза позвонил в дверь, никто не открыл, и я ушёл.
Я несколько раз позвонил в дверь, прежде чем он открыл.

Originally Posted by Боб Уайтман

.......
But they are used in slightly different situations.

Я тебе вчера два раза звонил, но у тебя было занято.
Я несколько раз звонил другу, но он не отвечал.
Я два раза позвонил в дверь, никто не открыл, и я ушёл.
Я несколько раз позвонил в дверь, прежде чем он открыл.

Bob,

Again thank you very much indeed. Very helpful examples.

Sorry. One more question.

In the following sentence, which is better?
Я ему вчера два раза ( звонил or позвонил ), и строго его предупредил.

============================================
Statistics by using google site:.ru only
несколько раз звонил:9987 hits
несколько раз позвонил: 57 hits
Now I understand that this kind of info is irrelevant.

Yuki

Originally Posted by Yuki

In the following sentence, which is better?
Я ему вчера два раза ( звонил or позвонил ), и строго его предупредил.

Yuki

I would say позвонил sounds more natural in your example.
But звонил is also possible, I think.

Originally Posted by Боб Уайтман

I would say позвонил sounds more natural in your example.
But звонил is also possible, I think.

Bob, thank you very much.
The aspect is a bit less mysterious now.

Yuki

Originally Posted by Yuki

Statistics by using google site:.ru only
несколько раз звонил:9987 hits
несколько раз позвонил: 57 hits

Well, some other native Russian speakers might disagree, but in my opinion a subtle difference could be in the completness of the action.

Here's how:

Я звонил = I called (however maybe no one answered)
Я позвонил = I made a call (someone answered and I had a conversation)

That's why I think the situation in which you "несколько раз позвонил" is possible, but probably happens less often for usually one phone conversation is enough. And that's what the interpretation of your statistics could be.

Originally Posted by Crocodile

Originally Posted by Yuki

Statistics by using google site:.ru only
несколько раз звонил:9987 hits
несколько раз позвонил: 57 hits

Well, some other native Russian speakers might disagree, but in my opinion a subtle difference could be in the completness of the action.

Here's how:

Я звонил = I called (however maybe no one answered)
Я позвонил = I made a call (someone answered and I had a conversation)

That's why I think the situation in which you "несколько раз позвонил" is possible, but probably happens less often for usually one phone conversation is enough. And that's what the interpretation of your statistics could be.

+1