How can be translated this sentence:
He is not in Moscow
I think that is
Его нет в Москве
but looking in the book "Russian Learner's Dictionary: 10,000 Words in Frequency Order" I find
он не в Москве.
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How can be translated this sentence:
He is not in Moscow
I think that is
Его нет в Москве
but looking in the book "Russian Learner's Dictionary: 10,000 Words in Frequency Order" I find
он не в Москве.
Yes. "Он не в москве." is correct.
No, it's not correct ever though native speakers sometimes do use it. "Он не в Москве, он в Петербурге" is correct. But just, "Он не в Москве", is not. "Его нет в Москве", is correct.
What?!? How the hell does that work?
I quite agree with you here. Both sentences sound OK to me. "Его нет в Москве" sounds more natural in this context, though.Quote:
No, it's not correct ever though native speakers sometimes do use it. "Он не в Москве, он в Петербурге" is correct. But just, "Он не в Москве", is not. "Его нет в Москве", is correct.
Crap, more to learn! :) I thought "его" was only "his" or "its"... :oops:
-Fantom
Or "he" in accustive or genetive.
Beucase it's not fucking EnglishQuote:
Originally Posted by Darobat
"He does not exist in Moscow" Literally. It's not that different from English.
Care to expand on that?Quote:
Originally Posted by Vesh
I understand the nom/ gen relationship with negation, but in this case it's not Он, the grammatical and semantic subject, that's being negated, it's в Москве. So why is the first sentence wrong, if both "Он в Москве" and "Он не в Москве, он в Петербурге", are correct?
Sorry, I'm not a teacher, I don't know why. But trust my native speaker's instincts.Quote:
Originally Posted by scotcher
Hah, I wasn't doubting your native speaker's instinct!
Fair enough if you can't explain it, my wife couldn't either, which is why I asked :)
So as a general rule, you can say that you use "GEN нет..." when saying that someone is not present somewhere?
Yes.
I have read that negating the verb быть is obliged to write the substantive in the genitive case. Thus, the following sentences are correct:
Ивана нет дома.
Ивана н
On a second (or ever third :)) thought I can imagine following dialog:
-- Где он? В Москве?
-- Нет, он не в Москве.
It implies that you know where he is but don't want to say. The only thing that you are willing to say about his location is that he is not in Moscow. And it's not too polite. But it's correct.
Even Pimsleur teaches "Его нет в Москве"
you can see yourself
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0415137 ... eader-page
page 17
Its just like when you call someones house and you ask to speak with Ivan and his dad says Его нет because he's not home.
Yep! you are right. It is in there. And it is by Nicholas Brown too!
Even with that mistake it still looks like a good book. After all, no one has the perfect book or CD.
I should write it!
That's quite easy.
First, compare:
Книга не на столе. - The book is not on the table. (it's somewhere else, probably, on the floor, or in the bag...)
Книги нет на столе. - There is no book on the table. (it doesn't exist there)
Exactly the same in Russian:
Он не в Москве. - He is not in Moscow. (he is somewhere else:
in St.Petersburg, or in New York, or...)
Его нет в Москве. - It should be "There is no him in Moscow", but this phrase is impossible in English, so you just say "He is not in Moscow". However, it means "he does not exist in Moscow" irrespectively where he is indeed.
Hope that helps.
Right, so it's not that Он не в Москве is gramatically incorrect, it's that it's logically incorrect. It sounds wrong or unnatural not because of the actual sentence structure, but because it simply wouldn't make sense to say it on it's own without any follow-up clarification.
I do not see anything wrong with either of the sentences, both sound equally natural. I cannot imagine any of them existing outside of a conversation, so both of them are logically fine as well. The emphasis in Его нет в Москве is on Его, while the emphasis in Он не в Москве is on в Москве . Bob has explained it, although the book example seems to be a stretch.
Good ol' Bob.!
боб = bean :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Dogboy182