Thread: Progressive Tenses

Originally Posted by G2Ident89

'They were going - to give him the book', meaning that they set out 'to give him the book'. In Russian, I think this would be something like, 'они пойтили давать ему книгу'

Very faithful translation: "Они были идущими давать ему эту книгу" (nonsense for Russian speakers). You must understand that there is no translation to other languages at all, but there is a retelling. English speakers use "go" for designation of a movement and for describing of an intention to do something. English speakers are already used to use "go" in that way. But why do you think that Russians uses one word for these two action? Well, let's consider the contrary example. In Russian language the word "сильный" can be used in "сильный дождь" and "сильный человек". One word for these two cases. Faithful translation to English is "strong rain" and "strong man" respectively, but retelling is "heavy rain" and "strong man".

upd: блин... пока писал, уже два раза ответили

'They had been shopping for a long time' can also be translated with the help of the word 'уже' - 'already' - Они уже долго ходили по магазинам (и всё еще продолжали). In this sentence the Russian equivalent of already would help better communicate the meaning that the still were shopping.