Thread: The word "about"... насчет VS о

Few questions about it

If I wanna say "I was thinking about you" for instance I say

я думала тебе (whereas I just use the prepositional case pronoun)

OR

я думала о тебе?

I also wonder about the word насчет because it also means "of"..so basically, how can I tell the difference when to use which and when?...

speech parts in Prepositional case are always preceded by preposition, which is what the case is named after

to think about is думать о/про so as a result you have думать о тебе where тебе is ты declined in the Prepositional case

насчёт in Hebrew would be 'be-noge'a le' or 'be-kesher el' so the difference is the same as between these prepositions and preposition 'al'

speech parts in Prepositional case are always preceded by preposition, which is what the case is named after

to think about is думать о/про so as a result you have думать о тебе where тебе is ты declined in the Prepositional case

I see. And are "о/про" interchangeable in those scenarios?

I got confused because I know that:

как тебе Лондон means "how is london for you"

But you don't say,

"как за тебе Лондон" you just say "как тебе Лондон"

I thought it's the same, but I guess it just doesn't work the same in the prepositional

насчёт in Hebrew would be 'be-noge'a le' or 'be-kesher el' so the difference is the same as between these prepositions and preposition 'al'

But you can also use "в связи" for those stuff, right?

Originally Posted by Valda

I see. And are "о/про" interchangeable in those scenarios?

to me про usually sounds more primitive (or less refined) than о, a question про что? sounds substandard against o чём?, usage of this preposition a lot of times gives away a not very literate person

Originally Posted by Valda

I got confused because I know that:

как тебе Лондон means "how is london for you"

But you don't say,

"как за тебе Лондон" you just say "как тебе Лондон"

I thought it's the same, but I guess it just doesn't work the same in the prepositional

for is not only за, it's mainly для, therefore a phrase Как для тебя Лондон? translates the idea better and is grammatically sound

preposition за in a sense of the Hebrew 'bishvil, avur' always requires declination in Genitive therefore ты declines into тебя - для тебя

Originally Posted by Valda

But you can also use "в связи" for those stuff, right?

the verb думать isn't normally used with в связи, but по поводу is ok as well as насчёт, по поводу/насчёт тебя

думать по поводу/насчёт кого-то usually means thinking of someone in a practical sense or considering someone, not just daydreaming of a love interest

о/про are completely interchangeable in all situations, but про often has a colloquial flavor while о is perfectly neutral and literary.

I think "про" implies certain narrative or a certain concrete thought.

Я думала о тебе - I thought about you

Я думала про тебя, что ты алкоголик - I thought about you that you're a drunkard. ("о" is bad here)

Мне рассказывали о тебе - I was told about you

Мне рассказывали про тебя ужасные вещи - I was told bad things about you.


I would also say that whеn referring to a person not introduced before, you better use "про".

Девушки рассказывали про своих молодых людей - The girls were telling about their boyfriends (this kind of implies that you did not know about them before or at least they are not familiar to you)

Девушки рассказывали о моем молодом человеке - The girls were telling about my boyfriend

but when there is narrative

Девушки рассказывали плохие вещи про моего молодого человека - The girls were telling bad things about my boyfriend

Девушки рассказывали про плохое поведение моего молодого человека - The girls were telling about bad behavior of my boyfriend

In general if you learn something new and concrete, you usually use "про".

If you love a man and just want to say that you about him and being with him, you say

Я думала о тебе - I thought about you

But if you thought what to with him (or with your relations) then you would use "про"

Я думала про тебя... Я думаю, нам лучше расстаться. - I thought what to do with you (with our relations). I think we better to depart.

"о" implyes intimete thoughts about a person while "про" implyes some distance.

Я думал про тебя. Я думаю, мы найдем применение твоим способностям даже не смотря на то, что других сотрудников уволят. - I thought about [what to do with] you. I think we can make use of your talents, even though other stuff is going to be fired.

Я думал о тебе - тебе будет нелегко после смерти матери. - I thought about you. I think it will be difficult for you after the death of your mother.

Thanks for the added feedbacks, everyone.. I think I fully fathom the differences now