Thread: ж

In the following period (from a song of A.Pugaheva):

Заказала я жизнь красивую,
Вот и выполнен мой заказ,
Отчего ж печаль негасимая,
Отчего ж тогда соль из глаз?

I didn't understand the significance/translation of "ж".

Thank you very much.

It has about the same significance as "then" in "why then"

It's contraction of же.

ж, же

2. 1) ( усилительная ) ever, for smbd's sake, on earth, the hеll

когда же вы будете готовы? — aren't you ever going to be ready?
пойдем же! — come along! говорите же! — say something for goodness' sake!
что же мне делать? — what on earth shall I do?

Заказала я жизнь красивую,
Вот и выполнен мой заказ,
Отчего ж печаль негасимая,
Отчего ж тогда соль из глаз?

I ordered a beautiful life.
And I have received my order.
So WhyTF this unending sorrow?
WhyTF does this salt pour from my eyes?

I modified the normal net WTF so it includes that other question word "why", but as others have told you, the word же aka ж is an emphasis-adding word.

ЗЫ can smb check the lyrics, shouldn't that be неугасимая?

an smb check the lyrics, shouldn't that be неугасимая?

Негасимая, конечно. Ведь иначе будет неритмично.


Заказала я жизнь красивую
Отчего ж печаль негасимая

Это один размер. Если ЖЕ использовать "неугасимую", то несколько другой размер возможно будет:

Заказала я жизнь себе красивую
Отчего ж печаль неугасимая,

Но автор выбрал(а) тот размер который посчитал(а) нужным, да он и сам по себе красивый.

Since noone has given you a straight answer, here you might find this of interest.

Же emphasizes the previous word, so the effect is like pronouncing "Where is she?" with extra emphasise on 'is' or 'where'.

© New Penguin Russian Course
Dr. N.J. Brown.

So, for example.

Почему снег не идет? Why doesn't it snow?
- Лето же! It's Summer!!!

Is there any difference between the two or are they interchangeable? Is one more formal?

Originally Posted by basurero

Is there any difference between the two or are they interchangeable? Is one more formal?

Between what two7

between ж and же

Originally Posted by basurero

between ж and же

A friend of mine said that ж emphasizes more strongly, while же emphasizes more softly (she explained this in russian, perhaps I didn't understand... ).
However, is there any rule about using the one or the other?

I think they are absolutely the same

an example with a sort of foreign language:

Ти ж мене підманула,
Ти ж мене підвела,
Ти ж мене молодого,
З ума-розуму звела.

Originally Posted by Dogboy182

Лето же! It's Summer!!!

Лето ж!

Originally Posted by mishau

что же мне делать?

что ж мне делать?

Could I use ж in these sentences?

I think it doesn't matter in a spoken language but in writing it's better to use же, it will be more correctly

I agree with Tiffany. However, it's not as comfortable to use "ж" if the preceding word ends in a consonant (just try it ypurself); as for a vowel, it's ok.

Думать же надо! - Ok
Думать ж надо! - Hem

Надо же думать! -Ok
Надо ж думать! - Ok

Yea, thats a good explanation. I was trying to think when to use же and ж. But yea that sounds about right.

Где ж он?
- Он же здесь!

ALso i think 'Лето ж.' sounds funny. U need the EEE sound.

Thank you all very much for answering.

Ciao.