Thread: Compliments and Clever Lines in Russian

Antonio, here's a famous short poem by Pushkin that maybe you know already -- it's from the point of view of a man who is too shy to tell a young woman how much he likes her, and illustrates the emotional difference between вы and ты. (The italics are in the original.)

Ты и Вы
Пустое вы сердечным ты
Она, обмолвясь, заменила
И все счастливые мечты
В душе влюбленной возбудила.
Пред ней задумчиво стою,
Свести очей с нее нет силы;
И говорю ей: как вы милы!
И мыслю: как тебя люблю!

Originally Posted by Throbert McGee

Antonio, here's a famous short poem by Pushkin that maybe you know already -- it's from the point of view of a man who is too shy to tell a young woman how much he likes her, and illustrates the emotional difference between вы and ты. (The italics are in the original.)

Ты и Вы
Пустое вы сердечным ты
Она, обмолвясь, заменила
И все счастливые мечты
В душе влюблённой возбудила.
Пред ней задумчиво стою,
Свести очей с неё нет силы;
И говорю ей: как вы милы!
И мыслю: как тебя люблю!

I might add, as a challenge for intermediate/advanced students of Russian: Can you gender-switch the poem to make it from the point of view of a young woman who's not sure whether a young man is interested in her? Which pronouns and word-endings (for nouns, adjectives, past-tense verbs) should be changed, and which pronouns/endings would remain unchanged from the original? This is a pretty good test for how well you understand "agreement" in case, number, and gender!


Пуст__ вы сердечн__ ты
___, обмолв___, замени__
И все счастливые мечты
В душ__ влюбленн___ возбуди___.
Пред не__ задумчиво стою,
Свести очей с н___ нет силы;
И говор__ е__: как вы мил__!
И мыслю: как тебя люб___!

Note: The blank space marked in red is, possibly, rather tricky -- yet there's only one correct answer!

Originally Posted by Throbert McGee

Antonio, here's a famous short poem by Pushkin that maybe you know already -- it's from the point of view of a man who is too shy to tell a young woman how much he likes her, and illustrates the emotional difference between вы and ты. (The italics are in the original.)

Ты и Вы
Пустое вы сердечным ты
Она, обмолвясь, заменила
И все счастливые мечты
В душе влюбленной возбудила.
Пред ней задумчиво стою,
Свести очей с нее нет силы;
И говорю ей: как вы милы!
И мыслю: как тебя люблю!

And here we come back to something that causes me headache. What form of adjective I must use with the polite plural?
If I want to say to a cute girl - You are extremely beautiful-> Вы безумно | весьма красива или красивы?
If I want to say to an old businessman = - You are extremely clever-> Вы очень/чертовски умён или умны?
- In Greek this is not an issue. The adjective in the polite form should always be in singular. In Russian I think no.

Originally Posted by Antonio1986

And here we come back to something that causes me headache. What form of adjective I must use with the polite plural?
If I want to say to a cute girl - You are extremely beautiful-> Вы безумно | весьма красива или красивы?
If I want to say to an old businessman = - You are extremely clever-> Вы очень/чертовски умён или умны?
- In Greek this is not an issue. The adjective in the polite form should always be in singular. In Russian I think no.

Just conjugate all the other words in conjunction with plural вы.

Вы очень красивы Вы очень красива

Originally Posted by iCake

Just conjugate all the other words in conjunction with plural вы.
Вы очень красивы Вы очень красива

The opposite way for full adjectives:
Вы очень красивые Вы очень красивая

Originally Posted by Soft sign

The opposite way for full adjectives:
Вы очень красивые Вы очень красивая

Yes if I speak with a man and I want to tell him that he is extremely clever, what I will say:
Вы чертовски умён или Вы чертовски умны

Originally Posted by Antonio1986

Yes if I speak with a man and I want to tell him that he is extremely clever, what I will say:
Вы чертовски умён или Вы чертовски умны

Вы чертовски умны but вы чертовски умный.

Originally Posted by Antonio1986

The adjective in the polite form should always be in singular. In Russian I think no.

In russian "вы" is always plural. Doesn't matter man or woman, one or many.