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Right now I am having a bit of trouble on a bit of grammar that is very useful to me in English. I tend to borrow a lot and I am having trouble with a bit of grammar such as (You know if sara has read Ivan's book?) ti knaesh' isli saru ezuchaet knig(i don't know what object is what honestly so i am taking a guest.
Ivan would be in genative while sara is declined in accusitive while book is in dative?
An explaination on how it works would be fantastic.
Firstly, bad example. Whenever "if" means "whether" in an English sentence, you have to use a different structure, you can't just translate "if" as "если".
"[Do] you know if Sara has read Ivan's book?" would translate as "ты (не) знаешь (or знаешь ли ты), читала ли Сара книгу Ивана?"
Secondly, your original English sentence doesn't contain an indirect object anyway, so neither does the translation.
We're dealing with a subordinate clause here. Sarah is the subject of that clause, and the book is the direct object modified by the prepositional phrase "of John." Sarah is not a direct object.
There is no dative in your sentence!
Yes, "ли" is very useful word in making direct and indirect questions.Quote:
Originally Posted by scotcher