Thread: Я должна была вернуться город

Я должна была вернуться город.

This is a bit confusing.

Why isn't this "....вернуться в городе." ?
The person is going in a direction, right?
I must be missing some important grammatical principle, or?

Originally Posted by Johanna

Я должна была вернуться город.

This is a bit confusing.

Why isn't this "....вернуться в городе." ?
The person is going in a direction, right?
I must be missing some important grammatical principle, or?

It is the Accusative case. This is not a direction, this is a place.
If you want to stress on the direction you need to say:
Я должна была повернуться в направлении города.
or
Я должна была повернуться к городу. (better)

Originally Posted by Johanna

Я должна была вернуться в город.

This is a bit confusing.

Why isn't this "....вернуться в городе." ?
The person is going in a direction, right?

Yes, the person is going in a direction. That's why it's the accusative case (город, not городе). If it would be just being in a place (she lives in the town), then it would be the prepositional case (она живет в городе).

"Вернуться" means to come back, to return (the idea of direction is implied because of the verb meaning). "Повернуться" is another verb, it means "to turn." A well-known fairy-tale phrase with this verb:
ИзбУшка-избУшка, повернИсь ко мнЕ пЕредом, а к лЕсу зАдом! (one says it to избушка на курьих ножках)
http://www.prikolist.biz/humor/uploads/2008/04/825.jpg

Johanna, we have had a similar topic recently, I think Оля's and chaika's responses may be useful for you.
http://masterrussian.net/mforum/view...224883#p224883

Oh yes, of course! Thanks everyone!
About город --- That was just temporary confusion.
I knew that really, I promise!

Can you just confirm that this is right?
----------------------------------------------
Я должна была вернуться Москву. (because it's feminine), BUT

Я должна была вернуться Санкт-Петербург (no change because it is masculine or neutral... )
-----------------------------------------------

I still don't quite understand the situation with the "в"..
Why did my original sentence not contain "в"?

I was SO certain that the "в" was needed because I had been learning a whole bunch of sentences like this:

Я еду в Москву.
Я хочу поехать в Москву.
Я ездила в Москву.
Ты хочешь поехать в Санкт-Петербург со мной?
Вечером я собираюсь поехать в Санкт-Петербург.

etc!

All have "в"


Believe it or not, I am beginning to learn some grammatical terminology...! The only people I know who really know grammar well are those who studied Latin.... Everyone here is so good at it.

Originally Posted by Johanna

Я должна была вернуться в Москву.

Я должна была вернуться в Санкт-Петербург.

I still don't quite understand the situation with the "в"..
Why did my original sentence not contain "в"?

A typo? )
We can't know for sure, we don't know where you found it. )

Originally Posted by Johanna

Can you just confirm that this is right?
----------------------------------------------
Я должна была вернуться в Москву. (because it's feminine), BUT

Я должна была вернуться в Санкт-Петербург (no change because it is masculine or neutral... )

Why did my original sentence not contain "в"?

I don't know. I've corrected it, if you noticed...

Oh... Ok! Thanks!
Yeah I saw that you corrected it, that but I wasn't quite sure... I found it somewhere online.

The sources of most of my info are:

English Wiktionary,
The main part of this site
The Swedish site for learning Russian
http://www.russianlessons.net.

Plus I took all the sentences from Pimsleur and copied them into my flashcard set....

Gosh I am sick of Pimsleur!
I've got 10 hours of Pimsleur left and it's a matter of principle to finish it...

Well, it's up to you. I personally prefer to use trusted sources only, I mean good grammar books and textbooks, and texts that 100% were read / written and corrected by competent natives.

You are right Zaya and I bought some. I will start using them properly soon. I started using online stuff because there was a tremendous delay in the delivery of my books to the UK (I decided to buy books in my own mother-tongue instead of English).

Now I'm almost obsessed with my "Anki flashcard" collection. Anki is a very cool piece of software.

But these books and a few others are patiently waiting for me..




100% guaranteed correct. But the Swedish material is MUCH harder than the English material. Using that will need some serious effort and concentration instead of just having a nice time with Russian like I am right now...

Originally Posted by Zaya

A well-known fairy-tale phrase with this verb:
ИзбУшка-избУшка, повернИсь ко мнЕ пЕредом, а к лЕсу зАдом! (one says it to избушка на курьих ножках)

( I get this! remember this story from childhood, in the super-scary Russian Folk tales book...)


But I don't understand This, and neither does "Google Translator"...
Сдаю комнату. В любом районе.

If it is from your notorious Pimsleur then maybe that’s why Russians in Hollywood pics sound as weird as they do.
It should be «Сниму комнату в любом районе».

Originally Posted by alexB

It should be «Сниму комнату в любом районе».

No. You just didn't get the joke. The избушка can move (it has legs, after all), that's why the whitch can LET a room in any district.

Это ж Баба-Яга, едрёна вошь! Как я сразу не догадался!?
Тогда большой пребольшой oops.

Да. И изображена она на Красной площади. В центре жильё самое дорогое.

Интересно, если снять в центре, а потом она уйдёт за МКАД, пока ты спишь, то по каким расценкам нужно платить: Москва, или Подмосковье?

К вопросу об уровне жизни в России: мы с женой платим 1000 евро в месяц за найм однокомнатной квартиры. При этом я преподаю в универе на полставки (кандидат наук), и моя зарплата 50 (пятьдесят) евро в месяц.

Originally Posted by SAn

При этом я преподаю в универе на полставки (кандидат наук), и моя зарплата 50 (пятьдесят) евро в месяц.

По украинским меркам маловато будет даже для ассистентской полставки.

Originally Posted by SAn

При этом я преподаю в универе на полставки (кандидат наук), и моя зарплата 50 (пятьдесят) евро в месяц.

Универ из новых? Показываете только то, что умещается в МРОТ?

Originally Posted by alexB

Это ж Баба-Яга, едрёна вошь! Как я сразу не догадался?!
Тогда большой-пребольшой oops.

И на старуху бывает проруха.

Originally Posted by translationsnmru

The избушка can move (it has legs, after all), that's why the whitch can LET a room in any district.

Exactly. A prospective lodger says in which dictrict he/she would like to live and the hut on chicken legs goes there.
A fragment from the cartoon "Добрыня Никитич и Змей Горыныч" (2006).
0:37

Johanna
to let someone live in a flat, room etc that you own in return for money - сдавАть что-либо (the perfective verb is сдать)
to pay someone for the use of a flat, room etc - снимАть что-либо (the perfective verb is снять)

I think you already know such words as "квартира," "комната," "офис" (with one "ф"!) and "дом." One can also сдавать/снимать Угол (a part of a room) and even койко-мЕсто (a place to sleep, a bed; as far as I understand originally it was a bureaucratic word used for hospital beds), but these words are much rarer, you are not likely to come across them. )
I noticed that the only online dictionary that contains the last word is Wiktionary, but there are mistakes there. The nominative plural is "койко-местА" (the stress), "койко-день" should be written with a hyphen, and there are other mistakes I won't mention.

A podcast on the topic (with the script) for those who are interested:
http://www.podbean.com/podcast-detail?pid=30801
(BTW they missed the comma after "наверно," yes, native speakers make mistakes too))

З. Ы. Поправьте меня, если где ошиблась. )