From New Penguin Ex. 11/1 #12
She had a Russian friend. Should it be
У неё был русский друг.
OR
У неё была русский друг.
I think it should be the latter, У неё была русский друг, because it is она. But the answer in the book is the former.
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From New Penguin Ex. 11/1 #12
She had a Russian friend. Should it be
У неё был русский друг.
OR
У неё была русский друг.
I think it should be the latter, У неё была русский друг, because it is она. But the answer in the book is the former.
"У нее был русский друг" is correct.
Друг (что делал?) - был.
(Аgain, the same type of sentence as with Natasha's sons. "Друг" is a subject, "был" is a predicate, "у нее" is an object.
Sorry, if I annoy you. But my syntax analysis theory seems more and more valid to me. :lol: :lol:
I'm open to corrections, though. Where are these MR Grammar Nazis, when you need one? :) )
"Был" is correct, because "друг" is masculine. You should understand that был != had.Quote:
Originally Posted by tohca
While it does mean, conceptually, that she had a friend, but a literal backtranslation into English is something like "There was her friend". Who was? Friend. That's why you should use the masculine form of the verb.
Thanks. No, you certainly can't annoy me when you are so helpful. :DQuote:
Originally Posted by gRomoZeka
It's just that I can't seem to make sense of the lessons. :oops:
I am confused as I am comparing the sentense:
У неё была в Лондоне.
Here it is была and not был (Лондон).
Could you please say in English what this sentence is supposed to mean? I'm afraid in Russian it has no sense - it lacks a subject.Quote:
Originally Posted by tohca
For example, you can fix it like this:
У неё была подруга в Лондоне - She had a (female) friend in London
Now it does make sense, but my poor head is already spinning. I think I'll take a break from these grammar lessons and concentrate on accumulating more vocabulary for the time being.Quote:
Originally Posted by translations.nm.ru
Большое спасибо!
I meant to say "She was in London".Quote:
Originally Posted by gRomoZeka
Она была в Лондоне.Quote:
Originally Posted by tohca
У нее были русские друзья?
или
У нее было русских друзей?
Так говорили только одесские евреи в начале прошлого века. =)Quote:
Originally Posted by basurero
"У нее были русские друзья" is correct.Quote:
Originally Posted by basurero
У нее были русские друзьяQuote:
Originally Posted by basurero
or
У нее было много русских друзей
Или "У нее не было русских друзей". :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Оля
Она была в Париже! :lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by tohca
http://www.bard.ru/cgi-bin/mp3.cgi?id=426.12
http://www.bard.ru/cgi-bin/mp3.cgi?id=1092.05
http://youtube.com/watch?v=6WfxEPM3u5o
http://vv.nexus.org/vv/17/vv17_13.mp3
Наверно, я погиб: глаза закрою — вижу.
Наверно, я погиб: робею, а потом
Куда мне до неё — она была в Париже,
И я вчера узнал — не только в нём одном!
Какие песни пел я ей про Север Дальний!
Я думал: вот чуть-чуть — и будем мы на ты,
Но я напрасно пел "О полосе нейтральной" —
Ей глубоко плевать, какие там цветы.
Я спел тогда ещё — я думал, это ближе —
"Про юг" и "Про того, кто раньше с нею был"...
Но что ей до меня — она была в Париже,
И сам Марсель Марсо ей что-то говорил!
Я бросил свой завод — хоть, в общем, был не вправе, —
Засел за словари на совесть и на страх...
Но что ей до того — она уже в Варшаве,
Мы снова говорим на разных языках...
Приедет — я скажу по-польски: "Прошу, пани,
Прими таким как есть, не буду больше петь..."
Но что ей до того — она уже в Иране,
Я понял: мне за ней, конечно, не успеть!
Ведь она сегодня здесь, а завтра будет в Осло...
Да, я попал впросак, да, я попал в беду!..
Кто раньше с нею был и тот, кто будет после, —
Пусть пробуют они, я лучше пережду!
Thanks for another lovely song and the lyrics too. Apart from the title, she was in Paris, the rest of the lyric is still beyong me. But it does help to be able to follow the song with the lyrics infront of. Maybe oneday ......
One day certainly! Just keep listening to good Russian songs and Russian will sink in. :DQuote:
Originally Posted by tohca
Она была в Париже.Quote:
Originally Posted by tohca
Она is the subject, therefore the verb была is in the feminine form because it agrees with its subject она.
У неё есть друг.
У неё literally means "by her", "at her". The subject of a sentence is the thing that's in the nominative case. Друг is the subject here.
Literally it means "At her there is a friend".
So in the past it's У неё был друг because друг is the subject and it's masculine so the masculine form (был) is used. У неё has got nothing to do with the verb here, it doesn't affect the form. Examine the grammar of the Russian, not the grammar of the English translation.
У неё был друг.
She had a (male) friend.
У неё была подруга.
She had a (female) friend.
У неё были друзья.
She had friends.
To summarise, in the construction
У кого-то есть что-то (present) [Someone has something]
У кого-то было что-то (past) [Someone had something]
the verb agrees with the thing possessed, not with the possessor.
Теперь яснее. Большое спасибо!Quote:
Originally Posted by TATY
I think my question is along similar lines.
New Penguin Russian Course, 17/5 question 3
their answer:Quote:
In 1988 he was forty
whereas I thought it would be былQuote:
В тысяча девятьсот восемьдесят восьмом году ему было сорок (лет)
Why is the correct answer the neuter form? What is было agreeing with in this sentence?
The Russian construction is not "He was 40", but (literally, approximately) "To him it was 40" (~He has 40).Quote:
Originally Posted by ski-ops
I think it's neuter because it's numeral and > 1.
У неё был один сын (сын is masculine, then был).
У неё была одна дочь (дочь is feminine, then была).
У неё было десять детей (десять детей is... numeral, i.e. "smth. indeterminate", then было)
whereas I thought it would be былQuote:
Originally Posted by ski-ops
Why is the correct answer the neuter form? What is было agreeing with in this sentence?[/quote:30bypy55]
You think it should be был because you are talking about a man.
But in Russian you don't say "He was 40", you say "To him were 40 years". So "He" is not the subject, so the verb быть does not agree with "him".
было agrees with the number сорок лет. In Russian when you have numbers the neuter form of verbs is often used instead of the plural. But you should just learn this as a set phrase for the moment.
You should remember, that only nouns in the nominative case can be the subject of the verb. Ему is the dative case "to him", therefore it can't be the subject of the verb and therefore the verb won't agree with it.
Ему было сорок лет
Indirect Object Verb Subject
To highlight the point that the verb agrees with the number, here are some variantions:
Мне было сорок лет. - I was 40
Ему было сорок лет. - He was 40
Ей было сорок лет. - She was 40
Нам было сорок лет. - We were 40
Им было сорок лет. - They were 40
Yes, this sentence is very similar to the examples we've already discussed in tocha's threads:Quote:
I think my question is along similar lines.
У нее был друг.
У Наташи было два сына.
etc.
You can't analyse Russian sentence relying on the word order of the English translation. "Ему было..." is not the same as "He was...". It has the same meaning, but the grammar constructions are different.
"Ему было 40 лет" ~ It was 40 to him".
But sometimes it's possible to say "В 1988 он был сорокалетним (мужчиной)", in this case "он" is a subject, so "быть" refers to it and turns into "был". Not the difference.
So "было" doesn't agree with "eму", because "eму" is not the subject of this sentence. Actually "ему/ей" can never be a subject of the sentence, because it's (obviously) not in the nominative case.
This kind of sentences is very common.
e.g. Ему было холодно - He was cold (literally "It was cold to him")
У него не было времени - - He had no time (literally "There were no time by him" (I'm not sure about 'by', but I think you got it :))
Got it. Thanks everyone.