Thread: No articles

Can someone in the know please tell me why russian dont use articles before nouns as we do in english? a/an the etc an help appreciated as im doing it in my tefl coursework.

Martin

Originally Posted by Scotland to Russia

Can someone in the know please tell me why russian dont use articles before nouns as we do in english? a/an the etc an help appreciated as im doing it in my tefl coursework.
Martin

Because communists banned articles. Seriously though, there can be no answer to your "why" question other than "because". That's how languages work. Different languages use different devices.

PS Why do you put your articles before nouns and not after as in Scandinavian languages and some older rural dialects of Russian?

Then how are the indefinite article "a" and the definite article "the" conveyed in Russian? I dont see a difference between the two in Russian

Originally Posted by VendingMachine

PS Why do you put your articles before nouns and not after as in Scandinavian languages and some older rural dialects of Russian?

What do you mean?

Originally Posted by Ramil

Originally Posted by VendingMachine

PS Why do you put your articles before nouns and not after as in Scandinavian languages and some older rural dialects of Russian?

What do you mean?

He means probably the particle "то" e.g. "слона-то я и не приметил", "возьми ведро-то да принеси воды-то".

Originally Posted by Scotland to Russia

Then how are the indefinite article "a" and the definite article "the" conveyed in Russian? I dont see a difference between the two in Russian

Why do we need to convey them in English?

Can you give us an example of a sentence where the inclusion of articles is necessary?

its like saying, why doesn't english have gender distinctions like in spanish - just because. if there was an answer it would be: because the languages are of a different group and evolved in different ways.

For example: [i]a black cow and [i]the black cow. is there a Russian translation for both of these or just one translation which is the same?

Russians figure "articles" (although there is no need for the concept) by context. You can determine whether it is a specific object or not simply by context. There is no need for articles!

If you say:
возьми бутылку из холодильника
It can be translated as:
Get a bottle from the fridge / OR / Get the bottle from the fridge.
Depending enitrely on context!
Think, in English, when would you say "get the bottle from the fridge"? Right, when the you have a bottle in mind and it is in context.
(now techincally it could also be "a" fridge, but that's less likely, unless there are many fridges around. Again, CONTEXT)

Саша, у меня есть одна бутылка пива и три бочки вина в холодильнике. возьми бутылку.
Sasha, I have one bottle of beer and three barrels of wine in the fridge. Take the bottle. (Here the Russian knows it is THE bottle, he just doesn't need an article to say it!)

So to answer your question. A black cow/ The black cow will simply be - Черная корова! It's so simple, it's easy!

thats the kind of explanation I was looking for, cheers vinster

I would say that Russians are more specific in saying things. "Go buy a broad!" may look like "Иди, купи какой-нибудь хлеб!". "Bring me please the bottle" is translated "Принеси, пожалуйста, бутылку, которую мы не допили вчера и оставили под столом". So, no need for articles. Not saying that in some rare sentences we do have indefinite articles (sort of it).

Originally Posted by Tu-160

"Bring me please the bottle" is translated "Принеси, пожалуйста, бутылку, которую мы не допили вчера и оставили под столом".

Better to say: "Принеси вчерашнюю бутылку" or "Принеси ту бутылку."

Originally Posted by kalinka_vinnie

Russians figure "articles" (although there is no need for the concept) by context. You can determine whether it is a specific object or not simply by context. There is no need for articles!

[cut]

So to answer your question. A black cow/ The black cow will simply be - Черная корова! It's so simple, it's easy!

And I can't even figure out why it was necessary to use articles in English. If I said "black cow" - you too could figure out "a cow" or "the cow" from the context.

Does articles are SO important for understanding in English that no one could do without them?

Originally Posted by Tu-160

"Go buy a broad!" may look like "Иди, купи какой-нибудь хлеб!".

Just say "Купи хлеба!", that's ok

BTW, the articles is also needed in English just to show that it is a noun, not a verb or an adjective. In russian you can simply determine parts of speech by its endings.

Originally Posted by kalinka_vinnie

и три бочки вина в холодильнике.

Ого, какой большой холодильник!

Originally Posted by JJ

Originally Posted by Tu-160

"Go buy a bread!" may look like "Иди, купи какой-нибудь хлеб!".

Just say "Купи хлеба!", that's ok

I think "купи хлеба (g.c.)" means "buy a bread", and "купи хлеб (a.c.)" means "buy the bread".

[quote=Оля]

Originally Posted by JJ

Originally Posted by "Tu-160":1qxsu8lu

"Go buy a bread!" may look like "Иди, купи какой-нибудь хлеб!".

Just say "Купи хлеба!", that's ok

I think "купи хлеба (g.c.)" means "buy a bread", and "купи хлеб (a.c.)" means "buy the bread".[/quote:1qxsu8lu]

[quote=Оля]

Originally Posted by JJ

Originally Posted by "Tu-160":jsih3ogf

"Go buy a broad!" may look like "Иди, купи какой-нибудь хлеб!".

Just say "Купи хлеба!", that's ok

I think "купи хлеба (g.c.)" means "buy a broad", and "купи хлеб (a.c.)" means "buy the broad".[/quote:jsih3ogf]
"buy a broad" means something else

Я с немецким перепутала

Originally Posted by Оля

Я с немецким перепутала

По-немецки хлеб - das Brot.
Видимо, ты с каким-то другим языком перепутала