Thread: Есть ( - ) & Это

Originally Posted by Shady_arc

The correct sentence is "Ты можешь купить яблоки в магазине". But a more natural variant is to use "можно": "Яблоки можно купить в магазине".

Just to clarify as I've just read this, again I guess this is another sentence where things are omitted because it is obvious, but to put my mind at ease in the order Subject Adverb Verb Object is it;

Людям (or some other dative subject) можно купить яблоки в магазине

I'm just checking that I understand the sentence and it goes word for word left to right; Dative Subject, Adverb, Infinitive Verb, Plural Object (accusative) and then preposition? I know ofcourse that Russian speakers would never order it this way as the emphasis is on APPLES.

Originally Posted by ShakeyX

Just to clarify as I've just read this, again I guess this is another sentence where things are omitted because it is obvious, but to put my mind at ease in the order Subject Adverb Verb Object is it;

Людям (or some other dative subject) можно купить яблоки в магазине

I'm just checking that I understand the sentence and it goes word for word left to right; Dative Subject, Adverb, Infinitive Verb, Plural Object (accusative) and then preposition? I know ofcourse that Russian speakers would never order it this way as the emphasis is on APPLES.

This way it explicitly says "People are permitted to buy apples in a store". Or, I guess "People may as well buy apples in a store (while aliens and cats need to resort to some other means)". "Можно" is used for two things : 1."it is possible" 2. "one is allowed to". When you use a person in Dative, it results in a sentence that most likely implies persmission rather than possibility.
And remember that the "subject" (grammatical subject, that is; not the logical agent who does the action) is always in Nominative. So, in Russian realisation of "to have"-sentence like "У меня есть кирпич" - yep, "a brick" is the subject. It is even easier to understand in "permission"-oriented sentences. After all, beign permitted is not an action or activity. You rather receive persmission and become an adressee of an action. However, all in all, that's the way in general, how Russian deals with impersonal sentences (i.e. "Ему холодно", "Мне скучно" and so on). Even when there doesn't seem to be any logic to it.

So ofcourse I know that the sentence is perfectly fine on it's own without the addition of who can do the action. It just seems to me that it is omitted because it is obvious and not because it is not actually there. Maybe I am wrong. But if you had to put a word there, it would be in the dative right? because of the infinitive verb.

But yeh is their no filler word to put in there, in dative, that would result in the same sentence. It is just hard for me learning to have gaps and assuming what they mean, but I guess that's how this language works.