Thread: Few vocabulary questions

1) If I want to ask "with what" in the context of:
"Valda, help Roman."
"With what?"

What do I say?

2) Is "out of date" (as in for a food product) устаревшими?

3)
To tell someone they have fever, do I use лихорадка or температура?

1) "Чем?" или "Как?"
2) Просроченный

3) У них жар.

1. I would most likely use it like that:
—Валда, помоги Роману.
—В чём? (What exactly?) / С чем? or Чем? (With what?)/ А что случилось? (Aaand what's the problem?)

2. "Устаревший" means "obsolete". As in out-of-date technology. Food would be "с истёкшим сроком годности" (lit. "with an expired use-by date", rather formal) or just "про'сроченный"; I would recommend latter for everyday use. Note the connexion to "срок", which in this word is framed by the prefix "про-" and suffix "-ен".

3. Usually "температура", eg. "У него температура" (lit. "He's got a temperature"). Also, as an extension, it can be specified: "Дома сижу, у меня сегодня 38" ("Staying home; got 100º F today.")

Originally Posted by Shady_arc

1. I would most likely use it like that:
—Валда, помоги Роману.
—В чём? (What exactly?) / С чем? or Чем? (With what?)/ А что случилось? (Aaand what's the problem?)

2. "Устаревший" means "obsolete". As in out-of-date technology. Food would be "с истёкшим сроком годности" (lit. "with an expired use-by date", rather formal) or just "про'сроченный"; I would recommend latter for everyday use. Note the connexion to "срок", which in this word is framed by the prefix "про-" and suffix "-ен".

3. Usually "температура", eg. "У него температура" (lit. "He's got a temperature"). Also, as an extension, it can be specified: "Дома сижу, у меня сегодня 38" ("Staying home; got 100º F today.")

Thank you, and also thank you wanja and it-ogo.



I'll use "про'сроченный" for out of date
I'll say "С чем" if I want to ask "with what"
And у них жар is nice and short. Can I use it instead of температура and лихорадка ?

Originally Posted by Valda

And у них жар is nice and short. Can I use it instead of температура and лихорадка ?

Жар and температура are mainly interchangeable but former is normally used for a moderate increase of body temperature while latter - for a strong one.

Лихорадка is mainly used as a part of specific disease name (hay fever, gold fever). There is a verb "лихорадить", but if usually refers to the general feeling of distress, unhealthy excitation and tremor, rather than high body temperature ("Меня лихорадит").

Thanks for clarifying, it-ogo

Oops... Misprint in my previous post: "жар" - strong, "температура" - moderate.