Results 1 to 7 of 7

Thread: "Hungry"

  1. #1
    Увлечённый спикер krwright's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2012
    Posts
    68
    Rep Power
    8

    "Hungry"

    Здравствуйте!

    Я читаю учебник "Roots of the Russian Language" сейчас, и смотрю слово "Алкать," которое значит "to be hungry."
    Но я услышал, что можно сказать "я голоден." Я не понимаю разницы между этими. Кто-нибудь может объяснить разницу?

    Спасибо!

  2. #2
    Dmitry Khomichuk
    Guest
    Алкать is obsolete and it means to be hunger for, to crave for
    to be hungry (about meal) is быть голодным

  3. #3
    Почётный участник
    Join Date
    Jun 2012
    Posts
    123
    Rep Power
    13
    Are you kidding? "Алкать" is an extremely archaic word. To the extent it took me a few seconds to guess its meaning. Of course, there is a more common word derived from it - алчный "greedy, avid". Still, outdated but at least understood by native speakers.

    In everyday speech use "Я голоден" ("I'm hungry"), "Я хочу есть" ("I want to eat"), "Хочу перекусить" ("Wanna have a snack") and so on, depending on the meaning. "Я проголодался" (lit. "I have grown hungry") may also work. After all, in Russian one rarely says "Я голоден". Too neutral, and doesn't really sound like "it's about time to eat".

  4. #4
    Почтенный гражданин LXNDR's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Location
    Eukraine
    Posts
    261
    Rep Power
    8
    the book is said to be first published in 1989 but some words are written with the "ять" character, which was disused with the orthography reform in 1918
    as an essay writer its author was active as early as 1943 having published a critique on Ostrovsky's (1823-1886) writing, so you can gauge what version of Russian he may have known

  5. #5
    Banned
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    Chicago, IL
    Posts
    904
    Rep Power
    0
    алкать means "to crave for" or "to starve" but rarely used and even least often associated with food. This word is not widely used and I guess it is more like 19 century word

  6. #6
    Увлечённый спикер krwright's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2012
    Posts
    68
    Rep Power
    8
    Спасибо вам за помощь!

  7. #7
    Почётный участник
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Location
    Russia
    Posts
    138
    Rep Power
    9
    yep, "алкать" из very old word, but modern Russian has derivative word "алчность".

Similar Threads

  1. Replies: 20
    Last Post: June 22nd, 2014, 08:50 AM
  2. Replies: 9
    Last Post: May 8th, 2012, 08:49 AM
  3. Replies: 12
    Last Post: November 22nd, 2010, 08:37 PM
  4. Replies: 2
    Last Post: March 16th, 2010, 12:13 PM
  5. How to say "Bless our home" and "Happy Holidays" in Russian?
    By Ruby Daniels in forum How do you Say... in Russian?
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: December 19th, 2009, 03:29 PM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  


Russian Lessons                           

Russian Tests and Quizzes            

Russian Vocabulary