Thread: Valda - разные вопросы по глаголам

Set a question?

Specify a question?

Never heard that, in English and I'm native to English. Also, it sounds wrong to me so I disagree.

It means to set; give; assign; designate; specify, which is just what you do with questions in Russian.

Really? Can't you say спрасить вопрос?

Originally Posted by Valda

Set a question?

Specify a question?

Never heard that, in English and I'm native to English. Also, it sounds wrong to me so I disagree.

When a school teacher provides a question in class for homework, we don't say that he "asked a question", we say he "set a question". The former would imply that he expected an answer straight away, while the latter makes clear that he expects the answer later.

I didn't mean to imply that the usage was the same in English as in Russian, merely that there is enough overlap to make understanding and remembering the Russian usage straightforward.

Originally Posted by Valda

Really? Can't you say спрасить вопрос?

Nope.

Originally Posted by Valda

Really? Can't you say спрасить вопрос?

you can, theoretically
But it is a general rule not use two words with similar meaning together
спросить вопрос. Both words have the same root -прос-, comes from a word просить
So it will sound awkward and "спросить вопрос" is on wiki - http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Тавтология_(риторика)

Originally Posted by Doomer

you can, theoretically
But it is a general rule not use two words with similar meaning together
спросить вопрос. Both words have the same root -прос-, comes from a word просить
So it will sound awkward and "спросить вопрос" is on wiki - http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Тавтология_(риторика)

Спросить вопрос будет значить задать вопрос вопросу. Спросить меня значит задать мне вопрос.
Спросить means to pose a question or to make a question, so спросить вопрос doesn't make much sense.