Thread: Easy English and complicated Russian

Hi!
I know the Russian language since childhood. It is my native language.
But when I look at the Russian language through the eyes of a foreigner, I get scared.


Example:

Я люблю = I love
Ты любишь = You love
Мы любим = We love
Вы любите = You love
Они любят = They love

Another example:

Это мой кот. = This is my cat.
Это моя собака. = This is my dog​​.
Это моё животное. = This is my pet.
Это мои животные. = This is my pets.

Я покупаю корм для моего кота. = I buy food for my cat.
Я покупаю корм для моей собаки. = I buy food for my dog​​.
Я покупаю корм для моего животного. = I buy food for my pet​​.
Я покупаю корм для моих животных. = I buy food for my pets.

Я даю корм моему коту. = I give food to my cat​​.
Я даю корм моей собаке. = I give food to my dog​​.
Я даю корм моему животному. = I give food to my pet​​.
Я даю корм моим животным. = I give food to my pets​​.

Я люблю моего кота = I love my cat.
Я люблю мою собаку. = I love my dog.
Я люблю моё животное. = I love my pet.
Я люблю моих животных. = I love my pets.

Я хвастаюсь моим котом. = I bragging about my cat.
Я хвастаюсь моей собакой. = I bragging about my dog.
Я хвастаюсь моим животным. = I bragging about my pet.
Я хвастаюсь моими животными. = I bragging about my pets.

Я говорю о моём коте. = I'm talking about my cat.
Я говорю о моей собаке. = I'm talking about my dog.
Я говорю о моём животном. = I'm talking about my pet.
Я говорю о моих животных. = I'm talking about my pets.

I think, only native speakers can remember all this.. ))
It is really possible to remember?
I'm very surprised!

It is called inflections. All Indo-European languages are inflected more or less (contemporary English is probably the least inflected of them). The general historical trend of IE languages is to become simplier. In Russian, namely, many inflexive forms gradually becoming obsolete.

Yes, inflections provide complications at entry point for English-speaking learners of Russian. Though later bigger problems are the verb aspect system and general irregularity of Russian. Irregularity means that any simple grammatical rule in Russian has a great number of exceptions which shoulld be memorized.

BTW in Finnish language there are 16 grammatical cases (vs 6 in Russian) but they are more regular and easier to learn.

It definitely IS possible to learn all this. I did back then in school, got my grades, spent a lot of hrs in so doing. After so many years of a "Russian-hiatus", I'm getting back into the language. Right, there are some areas where I have to "re-learn" how to wane off the "English/German/..."way of thinking - but I love it.

Try taking some Turkish lessons: Words get long, look weird etc.
German language, anyone? You have to learn the "gender" of a noun by heart - there is no logic to that;
English? It might be easy on the surface, but difficult if you try to excel in academics (finance/law ...) or in other areas where quality matters. (same for Russian, IMO)
Russian? IMO, it's one of the logical languages for me to learn. Right, it's not ALWAYS logical - there are things that can be cumbersome for a non-native like me. But at the end of the day, it makes sense.

It comes down to whether you're willing to learn it or not. I wouldn't say that Russian is more difficult than English - or vice versa.

Russian grammar is not the most complicated one.

Baltic languages (Latvian and Lithuanian) are also highly inflected languages: Latvian has 7 cases, 2 genders and 7 declension types. Lithuanian has 7 cases, 2 genders and 5 declension types.

Georgian has a quite complicated grammar. Not only its 7 cases (they are mostly regular), but its verb system is highly complicated. Georgian verbs are polypersonal, it means they agree with subject, with direct object and with indirect object. Also the verbs are highly irregular there. Just a few examples:

me shen gkhatav - я рисую тебя,
me mas vkhatav - я рисую его (её),
me tkven gkhatavt - я рисую вас,
me mat vkhatav - я рисую их,
shen me mkhatav - ты рисуешь меня,
shen mas khatav - ты рисуешь его (её),
shen chven gvkhatav - ты рисуешь нас,
shen mat khatav - ты писуешь их,
is me mkhatavs - он (она) рисует меня,
is shen gkhatavs - он (она) рисует тебя,
is mas khatavs - он (она) рисует его (её),
is chven gvkhatavs - он (она) рисует нас,
is tkven gkhatavt - он (она) рисует вас,
is mat khatavs - он (она) рисует их,

those are only for the subject is singular (я-ты-он), then there are also forms for the subject in plural (мы-вы-они).

But if you want something really extreme, try learning Navajo language: Navajo language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Or maybe you better prefer this one http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taa_language.

Originally Posted by Боб Уайтман

Or maybe you better prefer this one Taa language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

i can tell you this one is quite difficult to ever master... where i grew up, the related 'Khoekhoe language' (Khoekhoegowab) - we call it 'Nama' - is widely spoken

Yep, I have heard about Nama as well. Can you speak it at least a little bit?

yes, a little, some basics
my father though is fluent in Nama

Originally Posted by eisenherz

yes, a little, some basics
my father though is fluent in Nama

Great! It's something totally different, isn't it?