Thread: лето, лета

A quick question about pronounciation:

лето, лета = summer, summers
-- right?

Are they actually pronounced the same, even though they
are spelled differently and have different meaning?

(I can't find a definite answer and it is a bit confusing.)

Example:
http://www.forvo.com/word/%D0%BB%D0%...1%82%D0%BE%29/

http://www.forvo.com/word/%D0%BB%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%BE#ru

Yes, they are pronounced in the same way. BTW word "лето" is rarely used in plural. And in genitive plural It can be confused with of the word год (which is also "лет" in genitive plural).

Thanks!
Is the word ever pronounced with the emphasis on the SECOND syllable, летА (I mean for a different case).

That's what got me confused; I think I had just copied the word incorrectly, or there was incorrect info on some website (plenty of that around, it seems..)

лето is always stressed on the /e/ vowel.
(Phrasal exceptions like за лето.)
The Russian sounds represented by the letters a and o are pronounced the same, /a/, when not stressed.
нового /novava/

Phrasal exceptions like за лето

Originally Posted by Hanna

Is the word ever pronounced with the emphasis on the SECOND syllable, летА (I mean for a different case).

Yes it is, but it means "years". "В мои лета не должно сметь cвое суждение иметь" (Грибоедов. "Горе от Ума"). It is rarely used in the modern Russian though.

Hallo, Hanna)

лето - means 'summer'

лета - means 'years'. The previous post gave a good example. Interestingly, this example is from belles-letters, from a 19th century verse comedy. Nowadays you are unlikely to hear this in the street, it sounds somewhat archaic, old-fashioned and elevated. This could be used ironically, or in order to deliberately sound sophisticated or pompous. Another typical example that I'm thinking about could be a strict parent saying to an adolescent child something like 'В твои лета я так не делал!' (I wasn't doing this when I was your years of age!).

Presumably, you will hardly ever need to use this word in this 2nd meaning)), as I hardly ever need to use the word 'thou' in my English).

Такого лета как в этом году еще не было..

Originally Posted by TOV

Такого лета как в этом году еще не было..

Нет, имеется ввиду мн.ч.

Лето (summer).
[Падеж: единственное, множнственное]
И.: лЕто, лЕта or летА
Р.: лЕта, лЕт
В.: лЕто, лЕта or летА
Д.: лЕту, лЕтам
Т.: лЕтом, летАми (or лЕтами?)
П.: о лЕте, о лЕтах

Год (year).
И.: год, гОды or летА
Р.: гОда, годОв or лЕт
В.: год, гОды or летА
Д.: гОду, годАм or летАм
Т.: гОдом, годАми or летАми
П.: о гОде, о годАх or о летАх

The plural лето is almost never used. It is hard to make up a phrase with it uncontaminated by the plural год. I cannot think of any example of летАм and о летАх, which I would not perceive as the form of plural год.

Also the this word might be (indirectly?) affected by the general process of shifting the plural forms of some words to the form with the stressed final -а. Like профЕссоры -> профессорА, кАбели -> кабелЯ, and so on. The shifted forms usually first appear in the professional speech, then after some time they may become accepted by the rest of the society. So the form with the stressed -а has the tint of being a professional term. I mean when one uses the new form of the word (when both forms are possible) it sounds a bit like if he's a pro, however this is not very strong. The last two sentences is only my own opinion.

Предыдущие два лЕта (р. п., ед. ч.) были не такими жаркими.
Предыдущие пять лЕт (р. п., мн. ч.) были не такими жаркими. (This one is very unnatural and ambigious because год -> лет (р. п., мн. ч.) is far more common)
Это лЕто (и. п., ед. ч.) жаркое. ЛЕта (и. п., мн. ч.) теперь жаркие. (ЛетА is also possible, but it would feel a bit like you know everything, as I've already said.)
Зимы и лЕта (и. п., мн. ч.) случаются каждый год. (летА is possible and seems as (un?)natural as лЕта)
И зимы, и летА (и. п., мн. ч.) бывают каждый год. (I like летА here better, because 1. лЕта sounds like лЕто, and 2. rhythmically it seems to be easier to pronounce)
Рассказывать о зимах и лЕтах (п. п., мн. ч.), прожитых не важно где. (Also this is alredy rather unnatural, летАх would be even more unnatural here.)
Нашим теперешним лЕтам (д. п., мн. ч.) не позавидуешь. (Unnatural, летАм is much more unnatural to me.)
На экваторе не бывает ни зим, ни лет (р. п., мн. ч.). (Can appear in free speech, as after one's said зим he has to continue with Genitive case.)
I'm tired of thinking of exmaples, so Accusative and Instrumental would go without them.

In all the examples above plural лето feels like a stupid word. Foreigners should never use it.

(Corrections are appreciated.)

Just discovered some illustration from

THE BALLAD OF DEAD LADIES by: François Villon (1431-1489)

'But where are the snows of yester-year?'

I believe 'yester-year' is somewhat close to Russian 'лета' in its poetic sense.

Originally Posted by chaika

(Phrasal exceptions like за лето.)

Modern Russian tends to move the stress onto the noun. Nobody speaks like that anymore. I won't understand you since it would sound as залито ("filled in").

Originally Posted by comrade

Originally Posted by chaika

(Phrasal exceptions like за лето.)

Modern Russian tends to move the stress onto the noun. Nobody speaks like that anymore. I won't understand you since it would sound as залито ("filled in").

Not always... на ночь, на пол, на год... or is it just with the word на?

Originally Posted by AKAK

The plural лето is almost never used.

В ваших-то летах !

Originally Posted by Wowik

Originally Posted by AKAK

The plural лето is almost never used.

В ваших-то летах !

"В ваши-то годы!" говорят чаще.

Originally Posted by Wowik

Originally Posted by AKAK

The plural лето is almost never used.

В ваших-то летах ;) !

??? I think it's the plural of год, not of лето.

By the way, how do you pronounce it, "В ваших-то летах" or "В ваших-то летах"? I would say "В ваши-то годы" or "В ваши-то лета".

(Corrections are appreciated.)

Originally Posted by Lampada

говорят чаще.

Я не про относительную частоту, а сам факт достаточно частого употребления, хотя бы в книжном стиле речи.

Originally Posted by AKAK

Originally Posted by Wowik

Originally Posted by AKAK

The plural лето is almost never used.

В ваших-то летах !

??? I think it's the plural of год, not of лето.

what about the phrase «сколько лет, сколько зим»?

Originally Posted by Demonic_Duck

what about the phrase «сколько лет, сколько зим»?

It's a wordplay.