Thread: Chapter 16 questions

Hello all,

I'm working through my grammar book slowly and need help with some problems. Imperfective vs. perfective aspects are introduced for the first time here.

In one excercise, the directions are to put the word in parentheses in the correct form. These are the examples:

1.--Маша недавно ездила в Москву.
--Как ей там (понравиться)?

2.--Андрей недавно был в Одессе.
--Как ему Одесса (понравиться)?

3.--Вы были вчера в театре?
--Да.
--Как спектакль вам (понравиться)?

4.--Вы смотрели фильм «Дядя Баня»?
--Смотрель.
--Этот фильм вам (понравиться)?

It seems to me these should all be imperfective, since "to like" isn't a completed action. Would the answers be нравился, нравилась, нравился, and нравился? I'm a little confused here.

Thanks for any help,
Z

I'd say it is more an exercise for gender choice. But the verb is perfective. Imho the event (of visiting, seeing) is finished. The listener is asked to describe the feelings/attitude towards past singe event, not general attitude.

1.--Маша недавно ездила в Москву.
--Как ей там понравилось? ( or Ей там понравилось? Она /Москва ей понравилась?)

2.--Андрей недавно был в Одессе.
--Как ему Одесса, понравилась?

3.--Вы были вчера в театре?
--Да.
--Как спектакль Вам, понравился? (or Понравился ли Вам спектакль?)

4.--Вы смотрели фильм «Дядя Баня»?
--Смотрел.
--Этот фильм Вам понравился? (or Он/фильм Вам понравился?)

1.--Маша недавно ездила в Москву.
--Как ей там (понравилось)? (neuter, coz it implies a state of the person + sitiation)

2.--Андрей недавно был в Одессе.
--Как ему Одесса (понравилась)? (feminine, Одесса is f.)

3.--Вы были вчера в театре?
--Да.
--Как спектакль вам (понравился)? (masculine, coz спектакль is m.)

4.--Вы смотрели фильм «Дядя Ваня»? (Баня = Bath, Ваня = Ivan, diminutive)
--Смотрел.
--Этот фильм вам (понравился)? (masculine, фильм is m.)

All those cases imply a specific action or event (it's sort of "the" in English), so you should use perfective. Also it needs the reflexive verbs.

Maria and Paul,

Thank you for your help. I have a couple more questions.

In this exercise I need to choose imperfective or perfective aspect of the verb

(говорить/поговорить/сказать)
1. Студенты...о контрольной и пошли на другую лидцию. Is it поговорили?

2. Мы поужинали,..., а потом пошли в театр. I think the answer is поговорили, though it seems to imply the talking stopped and we went to the theater in silence.

A different exercise about using the perfective for the future tense. Is this grammatically correct?
Профессора Иванова сейчас нет, но я ему сказаю, что вы здесь были.

How about this?
Давайте поговорим, пообедаем, а после етого пойдём на собрание.

An example from another exercise on the genitive case after prepositions; it this correct?
Отсюда до Мавзолея Ленина недалеко.

How about this?
Во время собрания они говорили о контрольной роботы.

Thanks for any help,
Z

1. Студенты...о контрольной и пошли на другую лекцию. Is it поговорили? YES

2. Мы поужинали,..., а потом пошли в театр. I think the answer is поговорили, though it seems to imply the talking stopped and we went to the theater in silence. YES
But in fact, it doesn't imply that we went to the theater in silence. It just says that we were talking after the dinner, without details.

A different exercise about using the perfective for the future tense. Is this grammatically correct?
Профессора Иванова сейчас нет, но я ему скажу, что Вы здесь были. You chose perfective anyway, so it's ok.

How about this?
Давайте поговорим, пообедаем, а после этого пойдём на собрание. YES

An example from another exercise on the genitive case after prepositions; it this correct?
Отсюда до Мавзолея Ленина недалеко. YES

How about this?
Во время собрания они говорили о контрольной работе. "Роботы" means "robots".

Thanks again for your help.

I'm starting to understand the mechanics of using imperfective and perfective aspects but I'm still confused about the sense of each. To go back to a previous example:

--Маша недавно ездила в Москву.
--Как ей там понравилось?
--Очень.

Ездила is imperfective and понравилось is perfective. Is that right? How could the event, going to Moscow, be incomplete but the liking of it be complete? She's not still going there. Since ездила is multidirectional, does this imply that she is there temporarily or that she has already returned? Is the idea that she is in Moscow, plans to return, but hasn't yet? Is that why it's in the imperfective? Her trip isn't completed but her impression of Moscow is?

Help!

Z

Originally Posted by zorro

Thanks again for your help.

I'm starting to understand the mechanics of using imperfective and perfective aspects but I'm still confused about the sense of each. To go back to a previous example:

--Маша недавно ездила в Москву.
--Как ей там понравилось?
--Очень.

Ездила is imperfective and понравилось is perfective. Is that right? How could the event, going to Moscow, be incomplete but the liking of it be complete? She's not still going there. Since ездила is multidirectional, does this imply that she is there temporarily or that she has already returned? Is the idea that she is in Moscow, plans to return, but hasn't yet? Is that why it's in the imperfective? Her trip isn't completed but her impression of Moscow is?

Help!

Z

Да. "ездила" значит "поехала и вернулась".

Thank you, Marcus. But even though the trip is done, finished, and not repeated, the imperfective is still used? I know the answer is yes, I just don't follow the thinking behind it.

Z

First of all, ездить doesn't mean "to go somewhere and come back from the somewhere" it means "to go somewhere by a bus, a car, a train etc. (a vehicle)"

Second of all, let's take a look at your example.

Маша недавно ездила в Москву.
--Как ей там понравилось?
--Очень.

As you can see there're two people there and none of them is the "main hero" Masha, they're only talking about her. So we can't say for sure that Masha is back. That's why basically Masha's trip is not over yet, Masha was in Moscow but it's not the only true that she came back from there, maybe she's on her way back or she's going (went) to another city. She may have retutned already though.

For instance, my friend was in Kiev recently and when he came back I asked him this:

Ну как ты съездил (not ездил) в Киев? Рассказывай. Понравилось там?

So your example can be both - Маша недавно съездила/ездила в Москву.

Third of all, let's tale closer look at Russian verbs

Мне понравилось в Москве ->> It's just a general statement you only say that you liked Moscow That's alll
Мне нравилось в Москве ->> 1) I liked Moscow (every second I was there, it's kinda emphatic sentence it's like I was liking Moscow while being in there) 2) I liked Moscow but now I do not like it

As you can see even if the verb нравиться is imperfective it still describes THE PAST and THE COMPLETED EVENT:

1) You just emphesize your statement by making the verb нравиться describe PAST CONTINUOUS action.
2) You describe the action that was true in past but it's not true in present.

I hope my thoughts can help you out

I've moved on to Chapter 17 and there is a further explanation about the use of imperfective/perfective with (по)нравнться . It says, "In the past tense the perfective is used most often, as the use of the imperfective past indicates that a person used to like something or someone, but now has changed his/her mind and no longer likes it/him/her/them." I guess that's restating what you (iCake) say under "third of all". I think I get it now.

Z

Originally Posted by iCake

For instance, my friend was in Kiev recently and when he came back I asked him this:

Ну как ты съездил (not ездил) в Киев? Рассказывай. Понравилось там?

So your example can be both - Маша недавно съездила/ездила в Москву.

I'd really like to understand what is the thought process going on when you pick съездить instead of simply ездить. Any special nuance there? To me they've always seemed to be pretty much synonyms- am I wrong? I just get the 'difference' when it's, for example, съездить за чем-то.

To me they've always seemed to be pretty much synonyms

Cъездила and ездила are not always synonyms.
Cъездила - one time (went there and back). Eздила can indicate a repetitive action: часто ездила в Москву.