Thread: "Proper" word order in Russian

Ok...here's a question...is there a "proper" word order in Russian? I have been told on more that one occasion that I have said something in an "archaic" manner, or just plain strange.

Gulnara, my Russian teacher, explained that there is an accepted word order. I doubt Russian is like what Old English used to be, as long as everything was declined properly and matched up, it didn't matter what order the words came in (in a general manner of speaking).

Aaron

There is a difference in spoken and written Russian.

lets go with written Russian for the moment.

it didn't matter what order the words came in (in a general manner of speaking).

There is a hidden subtext to almost everything you may read in your textbooks. Where your textbooks say "The word order is not important in Russian because of cases", there is a hidden subtext that says "Actually it is, but we just wanted you to think it would be easy." The word order is not as important in Russian as in English, but it does influence the meaning.

Летит птица. - A bird is flying.
Птица летит. - The bird is flying.

Strange. The book I use also says the word order isn't too imporatant.

First thing that comes to mind is Yoda. Dunno why. But you always knew what he meant when he said something. So in the same manner of speaking as long as all the words are there and used properly then the sentence is okay?

Russian speaking Yoda. That might be interesting.

It is grammatically OK, but as Losh showed, word order can change the meaning of a sentence.

Originally Posted by testera

I have been told on more that one occasion that I have said something in an "archaic" manner, or just plain strange.

You may sound archaic sometimes when you use adjectives or pronouns after nouns, like 'дочь моя', instead of 'моя дочь'.

Another thing I learned just recently is if a pronoun is the accustive part of your sentance, it's best placed before the verb

Я тебя съел. - I ate you.

Originally Posted by Darobat

I ate you.

interesting choice for an example

Originally Posted by lillekvinne

Originally Posted by Darobat

I ate you.

interesting choice for an example

Normal for fairytales! What were you thinking of??

Well, once I was asked how to say, "I love you" in Russian by a woman who had a Russian boyfriend. Without doubts I said, "Я люблю тебя".

For some reason I didn't simply forget this episode, it had bothered me for quite a time before I realized that it was a word-to-word translation from English, and even though it is grammatically correct, a native speaker would say, "Я тебя люблю".

Originally Posted by Vesh

Well, once I was asked how to say, "I love you" in Russian by a woman who had a Russian boyfriend. Without doubts I said, "Я люблю тебя".

For some reason I didn't simply forget this episode, it had bothered me for quite a time before I realized that it was a word-to-word translation from English, and even though it is grammatically correct, a native speaker would say, "Я тебя люблю".

That