Thread: Разные вопросы по грамматике (by tiudavidharris

What is the difference between the words 'вот', 'сюда' and 'здесь'?
i know they all mean 'here' but i am guessing they are used differently

All of them mean different things. It's just in English they are translated with the same word.

"здесь" indicates a location, and answers the question "где?" (where?):
Я здесь. - I am here. Мой друг живёт здесь. - My friend lives here. Мы здесь работаем. - We work here (in this place). Здесь много людей. - There are many people here.

"сюда" indicates a direction, and answers the question "куда?" (to where?):
Он идёт сюда. - He is walking here (to this place). Я приехал сюда 3 года назад. - I came here (to this place) 3 years ago. Сюда приближается торнадо. - A tornado is approaching here.

"вот" is a completely different word. It is not even an adverb (unlike "здесь" и "сюда"), it is just a particle which we use to show something. (An indicative particle).

It roughly corresponds to English constructions like "Here is A" or "Here it is".

You invite your friend to your home and show him your room: "Вот моя комната" (Here is my room).
You show me a book and say: "Вот книга, о которой я тебе говорил" (Here is the book I told you about).
We are talking about one of your friends, and suddenly you see him coming. And you say to me: "Вот он!" (Here he is).

"вот" is used when you show something which is close to us. If that thing is far away, just say "вон" instead of "вот": "Вон гора". "Вон река".

Actually, "здесь" and "сюда" also assume spatial proximity. For distant locations, use "там" (there) and "туда" (to there).

Summary:

close to us: здесь (location), сюда (direction), отсюда (from here), вот (indicative particle).
far away from us: там (location), туда (direction), оттуда (from there), вон (indicative particle).

You can even combine "вот" with "здесь" (and "вон" with "там"):
- Где твоя комната? Вот здесь. - Where is your room? Right here. ("вот" assumes an indication gesture. It is optional. You can simply say "Здесь". It's also possible to answer "Вот.")
- Где гора Эверест? Вон там. - Where is the Everest mountain? Right there. ("вон" also assumes an indication gesture. It is optional. You can simply say "Там". It's also possible to answer "Вон.")

As you see from the examples above, it is most natural to put "вот" at the very beginning of a sentence (but not necessarily).

"вот" is also used without any specific meaning (as a filler word) in colloquial speech. Or it can imply that you are summarizing what was said before.
Example: (after some pause): ... Вот. Так о чём мы говорили? - ... So. And what we were talking about?
or you tell a story and finally, when you finish, you can add: "Вот." - It assumes you told everything you were going to tell.

"вот" and "вон" are a bit different as they supposed you are almost showing the location: "over there", "right here". You cannot use it on its own interchangeably.

1) "Сюда" means "(towards) here". Like in "Put iy over here", "Bring the book here": Положи его сюда. Неси книгу сюда.
2) "Здесь" means the thing is positioned "here". A static location. "Я здесь давно сижу". "Машина будет прямо здесь, у подъезда".
3) Now, for "вот"
- "Here is ..." sentences where you either hand over something or point at the fact that something/someone is right here: Вот твоя книга ~ Here is your book. Вот и он! ~ Here he comes!
- in sentences like "that's what I need": "Вот что мне нужно". "Значит, вот где он был" - "So that's where he was".
- also used as an emphatic particle sometimes:
"Ну вот, теперь всё переделывать" ~ "Great, now we must start over again and do everything from scratch"
"Вот и всё" ~ "That's all" (a standard expression; too short to have variations)
"Вот это да!" ~ more or less interchangeable with "Ничего себе" and other exclamations with meaning "Wow!"
"Вот так" - the reason you shouldn't have started digging into "вот" at this stage. Literally the combination means "that way", "in this manner". In reality it has a vast array of more emotional uses like "So that's how things got", "That's the way!", "See, like that" and so on. I suggest to focus on more basic things as of now.

Originally Posted by Shady_arc

... I suggest to focus on more basic things as of now.

I would suggest to tiudavidharris to read more Russian books, e.g. books for children. It should be easier over time to start understanding the usage of simple words.

Originally Posted by Lampada

I would suggest to tiudavidharris to read more Russian books, e.g. books for children. It should be easier over time to start understanding the usage of simple words.

Russian books for children? You certainly don't mean fairy tales, I hope.. As for reading - second on that. As soon as you get a good grasp of the laguage, try reading books, sites, whatever you can.

Originally Posted by Shady_arc

Russian books for children? You certainly don't mean fairy tales, I hope.. As for reading - second on that. As soon as you get a good grasp of the laguage, try reading books, sites, whatever you can.

How about Алан Александр Милн. Винни Пух и Все-Все-Все ?

Originally Posted by Lampada

How about Алан Александр Милн. Винни Пух и Все-Все-Все ?

My judgement - an extremely tough reading for a beginner. A rather... tackleable for an intermediate one. Though, I am not convinced that reading translations of English books. Cannot say I know Russian texts much simplier than that. As soon as the knowledge allows reading such texts (3000 words and good grasp of overall grammar, maybe) - well, the learner may try. There's no harm in that.

Thanks god Russian is not Japanese.

Thank you again.

How about Алан Александр Милн. Винни Пух и Все-Все-Все ?

thanks for the link, i will keep it in record for reading.

And tiudavidharris: also look into тут! It has usage for time as well as location.

Originally Posted by Seraph

And tiudavidharris: also look into тут! It has usage for time as well as location.

I would actually recommend stop looking into meanings of numerous popular words devoid of any context, and start reading, even if it's going to be learning texts. Such words as "идти", "тут", "да", "же" have too many meanings for such a memorization to be efficient.

Да, тут же! )