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Thread: Difference Between Words

  1. #1
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    Difference Between Words

    Hi, I've been studing Russian for a month so far, and I've come across 6 words, that apparently mean the same thing, can anyone help me sort the differences among them?

    бегат - бежит
    немножко - немного
    потеряли - пропал

    thanks in advance

  2. #2
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    Re: Difference Between Words

    You need to check conjugation rules (verbs in Russian change their form depending on person, number, tense, etc.). For example, in phrases "I run" and "we run" you'll have to use different forms of the Russian verb "to run": "Я бегу" and "мы бежим"

    So...
    бегать - бежит
    бегать - to run (infinitive), бежит - (he/she) runs (i.e. "to run" in the second person, present tense)
    немножко - немного = a little (bit). It's basically the same, but the former is slightly more colloquial.

    потеряли - пропал - different verbs altogether
    потеряли (inf. потерять - to lose) = (they) lost (plural, past tense)
    e.g. They lost their innocence.
    пропал (inf. пропасть to disappear, to get lost) = (he) got lost (singular, masc., past tense)
    e.g. This man disappeared and no one knows where he is (Этот человек пропал и никто не знает, где он).

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    Завсегдатай it-ogo's Avatar
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    Re: Difference Between Words

    Maybe бегает - бежит? It has more sense...
    "Россия для русских" - это неправильно. Остальные-то чем лучше?

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    Re: Difference Between Words

    Quote Originally Posted by it-ogo
    Maybe бегает - бежит? It has more sense...
    yeah, I guess you are right. Or it could be "бегают"
    Anyway, there's a letter missing, so we can't know for sure.

  5. #5
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    Re: Difference Between Words

    Thank you very much for your answers! It really helped me sort out the differences, although in my book some "stuff" doesn't make sense

    For Example: To lose

    мы потеряли ключ
    у меня пропал бумажник

    I mean, is any of this uses of the verbs to lose wrong? Because they seem to be used in the same way.

    The verb: to run
    I looked on google (google translate), and entered the word "run" and appeared the following 93 words meaning "to run" (I know many doesn`t mean to run, but i couldn`t sort out the difference between the first 2)
    бегать
    бежать
    And I though that (бежит) was "he runs" for the verb (бежать).
    Can you help me with this silly question?

    TKS!

  6. #6
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    Re: Difference Between Words

    Use this to find translations: http://lingvo.yandex.ru/
    examples: run, бежать.

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    Re: Difference Between Words

    I looked on google (google translate), and entered the word "run" and appeared the following 93 words meaning "to run" (I know many doesn`t mean to run, but i couldn`t sort out the difference between the first 2)
    бегать
    бежать
    It's multi/uni-directional verb of motion. "Бегать" lacks concrete target.

    And I though that (бежит) was "he runs" for the verb (бежать).
    Yes.
    Russian is tough, let’s go shopping!

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    Завсегдатай Basil77's Avatar
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    Re: Difference Between Words

    мы потеряли ключ means We lost the key.
    у меня пропал бумажник means My wallet is missing.
    Please, correct my mistakes, except for the cases I misspell something on purpose!

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    Re: Difference Between Words

    бегает - бежит - both mean "run", something like the difference between "to run" and "running", i.e. there is a difference but it's rather subtle
    немножко - немного - the same, different levels of formality
    потеряли - пропал - kind of similar, if you lost something you can say that you потерял it, or that it пропал, etc.

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