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Thread: Question Tag

  1. #1
    sps
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    Question Tag

    In English, there is question tag, e.g. "Your sister is beautiful, isn't she?"
    Can we form similar sentence in Russian..?
    Corrections are welcomed...

  2. #2
    Moderator Lampada's Avatar
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    Re: Question Tag

    Quote Originally Posted by sps
    In English, there is question tag, e.g. "Your sister is beautiful, isn't she?"
    Can we form similar sentence in Russian..?
    Сестра у тебя красивая, не так ли?
    "...Важно, чтобы форум оставался местом, объединяющим людей, для которых интересны русский язык и культура. ..." - MasterАdmin (из переписки)



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    «Не так ли» can be replaced with «не правда ли».
    «И всё, что сейчас происходит внутре — тоже является частью вселенной».

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    Завсегдатай Ramil's Avatar
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    In common speech these tags are very rare. It can be often seen in books though. Just raise your pitch at the end of a sentence and it'll be a question. Even if it was a statement. Tone is important in Russian, so you have to pay attention to it when listening.
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  5. #5
    Старший оракул
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ramil
    In common speech these tags are very rare. It can be often seen in books though. Just raise your pitch at the end of a sentence and it'll be a question. Even if it was a statement. Tone is important in Russian, so you have to pay attention to it when listening.
    More common tags, I think, are just ..., да? or ..., правда?
    Sometimes I can say something like "Твоя сестра красивая, да?"

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    Frankly speaking, it is exasperating to read translated books where all these "isn't it", "do you", "haven't they" and so on are rendered as "не так ли" all the time. The reason is quite simple: English enjoys these various tags when Russian often avoids them. There is no variety of grammatical tags that sound natural and this all-the-time favourite "не так ли" being pushed by poor translators really drives reader wild. To my opinion, they should omit them or sometimes use "да" or "нет" tags.
    «И всё, что сейчас происходит внутре — тоже является частью вселенной».

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    Quote Originally Posted by Боб Уайтман
    More common tags, I think, are just ..., да? or ..., правда?
    +1

    "Не так ли" and "не правда ли" are veeeeeery bookish.
    In Russian, all nationalities and their corresponding languages start with a lower-case letter.

  8. #8
    sps
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    [quote=Оля]
    Quote Originally Posted by "Боб Уайтман":2zr4ns4l
    More common tags, I think, are just ..., да? or ..., правда?
    +1

    "Не так ли" and "не правда ли" are veeeeeery bookish.[/quote:2zr4ns4l] Okay, now I understand. Thanks to all for your help..!
    Corrections are welcomed...

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    Is "что ли?" a question tag?
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    Quote Originally Posted by TATY
    Is "что ли?" a question tag?
    I'd translate "что ли?" as "or what? / or something?"

    For example:
    - Ты совсем, что ли?? / Are you nuts or something??
    In Russian, all nationalities and their corresponding languages start with a lower-case letter.

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