Thread: Dative, Prepositional, Woe

It seems like I can't get this sentence correctly translated, but it might already be correct, and the translators are simply causing me confusion. I was just wondering if anyone could tell me if I wrote this correctly, or how to write it correctly if I've made a mistake. The sentence in English is meant to be something along the lines of "The mountain range extended across the Great Lowlands." The russian that I wrote was: Горный хребет распространилась по Низменностях Большим.

I think I'm making a mistake declining the noun/adj at the end, but I can't tell what I'm doing wrong.. I thought Dative had to be used following по, so I put lowland in dative, plural = lowlands, and then the adjective to follow suit, dative plural.. I wanted instinctively to put the adjective into prepositional so it had the same "x" ending as the noun, but my notes say Dative for "по."

Can anyone help me out here? BTW your collective help is immensely appreciated, I never get enough chances to say THANK YOU!! to you all .. Come to Arizona and I'll buy you a beer =)

Why did you put the noun in the prep. then? Хребет is masc., so хребет распространился. The verb should be another, maybe растянулся.

Originally Posted by Marcus

Why did you put the noun in the prep. then? Хребет is masc., so хребет распространился. The verb should be another, maybe растянулся.

I think I put the noun in prep. owing to some confusion between prep. and dat. on this one.. Thanks for pointing that out, and especially the verb; I have to remember the clue in -лась / -лся about gender.

So thanks to your help I have two new ways to write this, I'm hoping at least one if not both or these are right:
a) Горный хребет растянулся через великих низменностях.
b) Горный хребет растянулся по большим низменностям.

I thought going to "cherez" from "po" might fix the problem as then I can use prepositional?? Thanks a lot for your help also

Originally Posted by kidkboom

I think I put the noun in prep. owing to some confusion between prep. and dat. on this one.. Thanks for pointing that out, and especially the verb; I have to remember the clue in -лась / -лся about gender.

So thanks to your help I have two new ways to write this, I'm hoping at least one if not both or these are right:
a) Горный хребет растянулся через великих низменностях.
b) Горный хребет растянулся по большим низменностям.

I thought going to "cherez" from "po" might fix the problem as then I can use prepositional?? Thanks a lot for your help also

Your 2nd version definitely looks better, but I would put it as "Горный хребет растянулся через большие низменности." Note that the Prepositional case is called its way not because it's used with any preposition but because it can't be used without any. In your case, "через" requires Accusative.

Great (with capital G) usually translated in Russian as Великий

how do you translate the Great Lakes?

Hi, the Russian has come

I cannot speak about grammar nuances, but the translation should be

(этот) горный хребет протянулся (распростёрся) по Великой Низменности.

It is not unusual that we use singular, where English equivalent was plural.
I would even change to Present tense.
(этот) горный хребет простирается (тянется, пролегает) по Великой Низменности.

"Через" demands Accusative. So, через Великую Низменность / Великие Низменности (singular/plural)

Originally Posted by chaika

how do you translate the Great Lakes?

Великие озёра — Википедия

Great lowlands - Великие равнины.

Великие равнины in russian Wiki points to
Great Plains - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Is it the same thing Plains=lowlands ?

Tnx Doomer, I knew you'd know. (I was born in Chicago)

Originally Posted by chaika

Tnx Doomer, I knew you'd know. (I was born in Chicago)

I've been living in Chicago for almost 5 years and 1 year in Toronto. I've touched waters of lakes Michigan, Ontario, Huron and Georgian Bay
Beautiful nature, stunning sizes

Too bad one can't really enjoy swimming

Originally Posted by maxmixiv

Великие равнины in russian Wiki points to
Great Plains - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Is it the same thing Plains=lowlands ?

No. There are high and low, and coastal (and maybe others) plains. E.g. высокие равнины.

Then I would like to ask kidkboom: where are those Great Lowlands exactly?
Otherwise it is impossible to choose Великие равнины over Великая Низменность.

Originally Posted by maxmixiv

Then I would like to ask kidkboom: where are those Great Lowlands exactly?
Otherwise it is impossible to choose Великие равнины over Великая Низменность.

Hehe, well in the text I was considering a fictional "great lowlands" that were the great middle of a continent.. not, for the sake of argument, the real Great Plains.. in fact I was picturing a great salt marsh, almost =)

Thanks to you all a LOT for help with this question. Declensions are my achilles' heel, and this helps a lot to see where I've been going wrong, and how sometimes the mistake is a small one, like "mountain range" being singular/plural in our different culture's vernaculars.. Thank you!!!

Some lowland plains Los Llanos, Venezuela - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Some of these extend over large ranges of several South American countries.
Flooded grasslands and savannas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Highland plains Altiplano - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
High Plains (United States) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
.