Thread: Verb Prefix: сделать / делать ...

Thanks so much ALEXX and Zaya, for the examples..
Really helpful for me! I think examples are the best way to learn... What a pity that there is no easy answer...

@bitpicker: thanks for the explanation! English isn't my mothertongue and it feels like an irritating "detour" and distraction when learning Russian. I try to stick with Swedish material but it's not easy since I live in the UK. I speak English like a native and I don't normally make grammatical mistakes. But that's because I've had so much exposure, and not because I actually understand English grammar very well....

I've downloaded a bunch of Russian - English grammar books (despite my reluctance to using English in my Russian studies). Unfortunately there is some kind of hold-up with my Swedish Russian grammar books that I ordered from an online retailer. I hold up my hopes that when these books finally arrive all will become clear.. (never use bokus.com, what a bunch of clowns!)

I noticed you're German, or?? Are you using German or English material in your Russian studies? Do you feel that it matters or not?

Originally Posted by bitpicker

For instance, in Russian you can say (native speakers please correct me if I'm wrong) "вчера я читала книгу" or "вчера я прочитала книгу". The former sentence means that you were reading in a book yesterday, but you didn't finish it. The latter sentence means that you read the book to its end.

A small correction:
The sentence "вчера я прочитала книгу" would not only mean that you read the book to its end, but that you read it entirely yesterday as well. That is, you started to read it yesterday, and you finished to read it yesterday. Which means that the book was quite short.
If you simply read it till the end yesterday, but started to read it some days (weeks/months) before, use "дочитать": Вчера я дочитала книгу.

Originally Posted by Johanna

I noticed you're German, or?? Are you using German or English material in your Russian studies? Do you feel that it matters or not?

I use a mixture. My favourite dictionary is the Oxford Russian dictionary which far surpasses any German dictionary I've seen. My other books are German, but for instance when I look up a phrase in the mail.ru doctionaries online I look it up in either the English or the German section, depending on which expression I think will deliver the most exact rendition of what I want to express. And sometimes I use both, to make sure any ambiguities are resolved.

It doesn't matter much to me whether something is in English or German, I've been using English daily one way or the other for about 25 years now. That doesn't mean my English is on native level, but I suppose it is as good as it can get without actually living in an English-speaking country.

@ Оля: a short book or a fast and enduring reader...

By the way, дочитать is a good example for a perfective verb which looks like it was made from читать, but it in fact has its own imperfective partner, дочитывать.

Robin