Thread: a couple of questions

Пара вопросов...

Есть ли какая-нибудь разница в выражениях
"I have done it recently" and " I have done it lately" ?

И еще один...
Как правильно сказать "им лететь еще 2 часа", "нам еще ехать 100 километров"?
Спасибо.

Recently and lately are both adverbs. ‘Recently’ is used much more often that ‘lately’: for ‘lately’ you can say ‘in recent times’ or ‘of late’. So, there should be no big difference between the expressions, "I have done it recently" and "I have done it lately". However, although the first is okay, it sounds better as, "I did it recently". The second expression sounds a bit odd as it is, and I would never say, "I did it lately".

For some reason, in the negative, both are used equally: -
"I haven’t done it recently" and "I haven’t done it lately". In this case, using ‘recently’ is a little nearer in time to [now] than ‘lately’.

Sorry, I've only just started Russian and I'm not confident that I undersdtand 'нам' and 'им' properly in “нам еще ехать 100 километров” / "им лететь еще 2 часа". Give me a bit more and I'll try to suggest an English equivalent.


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Warning – I only speak English – I don’t understand how it works

Как правильно сказать "им лететь еще 2 часа", "нам еще ехать 100 километров"?

May be "we have fly two more hours"
"we have to go 100 km yet"

Originally Posted by майк

and I'm not confident that I undersdtand 'нам' and 'им' properly in “нам еще ехать 100 километров” / "им лететь еще 2 часа". Give me a bit more and I'll try to suggest an English equivalent.

It means something like
"They have to go/fly for another 2 hours" "We have to ride/to drive for another 2 hours"

It means that it is 2 more hours before the people in question arrive to their destination.

Okay. Perhaps: -

“нам еще ехать 100 километров”
“We still have 100 kilometers to go” - or in English “We still have 62.137 miles to go”
“We have a further 100 kilometers to go”

"им лететь еще 2 часа"
“They have to fly for another 2 hours”, or maybe even
“They still have to fly for 2 hours”
What about - “They have to [go] / [fly] / [go quickly] / [press on] for another 2 hours” - Are these interpretations also possible?

Большое спасибо за ответы. Я не очень точно сформулировал вопросы. (Извините, что на русском. На английском я их точно не сформулирую )
По первому вопросу...
Несут ли эти наречия какую нибудь информацию о завершенности действия?
Т.е. как сказать:
Я делал это недавно.
Я сделал это недавно.
Вроде и там и там present perfect... Я подумал, может эти наречия отличаются по смыслу и их можно использовать для уточнения. Нет?
Почему тогда lately не употребляется с Simple, как пишут в учебниках и как майк написал о "I did it lately"?... Может кто даст ссылку, где можно прочитать об этом?

По второму.... Меня больше интересует перевод глагола "оставаться" в данном контексте.
- осталось 2 часа
- осталось 100 км
- осталось 3 рубля
Словарь предлагает stay и remain, но это другое... Или прямого перевода данного глагола нет и надо выходить из ситуации, как вы предлагаете выше?
Извините за занудство...
Спасибо.

Я делал это недавно. I was doing it recently (past progressive)

Я сделал это недавно. I did it recently (past perfect)

Basically. (I think )

------------------------------

I can see why the dictionarly gives you оставаться as 'remain' in that context, though it is used slightly differently

- осталось 2 часа - [there are/were ] 2 hours remaining

though for the other two examples (actually, you could use it for all three), you'd be more likely to use the past tense of the verb to leave, which is left

- осталось 2 часа - [there are] 2 hours left
- осталось 100 км - [there are] 100km left [to go]
- осталось 3 рубля - [we have] 3 roubles left

По первому..

Я не думаю что ‘lately’ и ‘recently’ отличаются по смыслу и их не можно использовать для уточнения.

Смотрите: http://thesaurus.reference.com/index.html
Тоже: http://www.hyperdictionary.com/dictionary/new
Use the Dictionary and the Thesaurus options. You will see that ‘recently’ and ‘lately’ are synonymous. I think they have exactly the same meaning. I nearly always use ‘recently’.

Счастливо
Mike

Originally Posted by scotcher

Я делал это недавно. I was doing it recently (past progressive)

Я сделал это недавно. I did it recently (past perfect)

Basically. (I think )

------------------------------

I can see why the dictionarly gives you оставаться as 'remain' in that context, though it is used slightly differently

- осталось 2 часа - [there are/were ] 2 hours remaining

though for the other two examples (actually, you could use it for all three), you'd be more likely to use the past tense of the verb to leave, which is left

- осталось 2 часа - [there are] 2 hours left
- осталось 100 км - [there are] 100km left [to go]
- осталось 3 рубля - [we have] 3 roubles left

Ага... значит все-таки to leave. Спасибо, scotcher.
А вот взгляните пожалуйста на ответ из другого форума относительно recently and lately.
Lately обозначает событие, которое началось незадолго до момента речи и обычно продолжается до этого момента или включает этот момент.
Have you done any painting lately?
Recently относит уже завершенное событие к недавнему прошлому, но не включают момента речи.
It was only recently (a short time ago, not long ago) that he got a police warning about dangerous driving.
I've recently reread the book.
Здесь все правильно?

@Alexander - Я думаю об: -
I have done it recently
I had done it recently
I did it recently
I was doing it recently

'Lately' and 'recently' have exactly the same meaning in terms of time. The choice of either is stylistic: at least in terms of everyday use. The only way to provide further information is to provide further information for example using the structures in my previous post or with more words for clarification.

About the difference between "recently" and "lately". Somehow I thought that "lately" is more likely to imply that the action is continious or is made repeatedly.
Can someone confirm or disprove?
For example compare the following:
1. I've been feeling sick lately. (= during, say, the last several days I've been feeling sick)
2. Recently I felt sick. (= some time ago I felt sick)
Is it more likely to use "lately" in the first sentence and "recently" in the second or not?

Originally Posted by Friendy

About the difference between "recently" and "lately". Somehow I thought that "lately" is more likely to imply that the action is continious or is made repeatedly.
Can someone confirm or disprove?
For example compare the following:
1. I've been feeling sick lately. (= during, say, the last several days I've been feeling sick)
2. Recently I felt sick. (= some time ago I felt sick)
Is it more likely to use "lately" in the first sentence and "recently" in the second or not?

The difference in meaning between 1. and 2. in your example stems from the tense, not the use of recently/lately.

1. I've been feeling sick recently.
2. I've been feeling sick lately.
3. Recently I've been feeling sick.
4. Lately I've been feeling sick.

All of the above have the same meaning.

The interesting part starts with:

1. Recently I felt sick.
2. Lately I felt sick.

The second of these doesn't work.

As you had it, I would say that 'recently' works for both 'some time ago' and 'during the last several days', but 'lately' only works for 'during the last several days [weeks, etc.]'

Am I sensing make?

Thanks, joysof, you explained it very well.

@joysof - you lot of senses making....

@Friendly - I know where you're coming from (Meaning - "I know what you mean"). I have been trying to make the two words mean slightly different things in my head - but they don't - I don't think

@Alexander
Sorry if this is not what you need. In English there are 5 past tenses: -
(You can delete the word ‘recently’ in the examples – it’s only an adverb )

Past (Simple Past)
Use: (1) Single or (2) Repeated action that has been completed.
Ex: Tolstoy went to the Caucasus recently.

Past Progressive
Use: for emphasising the duration of a past action, often related to another, simultaneous action.
Ex: When I saw him recently, he was playing football.

Past Perfect
Use: for emphasising the completion of a past action, often before the beginning of another action.
Ex: Chekhov had died by the time Gorky became famous.

Past Perfect Progressive
Use: for a past action that continued until another one started.
Ex: I had been running when I fell down a hole.

Past Emphatic
Use: for emphasis, negative statements and questions.
Exs:
I did do it recently!
I didn’t do it recently.
What did do recently?

I understand that, in Russian, there are two past tenses – one formed from its imperfective aspect, the other from its perfective aspect. I must use expressions of time or other key words to clarify ‘time’.

Hope this helps.

Thank you joysof.
My conclusion: forget about "lately", say "recently" and be happy

Originally Posted by майк

@Alexander
Sorry if this is not what you need. In English there are 5 past tenses: -
(You can delete the word ‘recently’ in the examples – it’s only an adverb )

Past (Simple Past)
Use: (1) Single or (2) Repeated action that has been completed.
Ex: Tolstoy went to the Caucasus recently.

Past Progressive
Use: for emphasising the duration of a past action, often related to another, simultaneous action.
Ex: When I saw him recently, he was playing football.

Past Perfect
Use: for emphasising the completion of a past action, often before the beginning of another action.
Ex: Chekhov had died by the time Gorky became famous.

Past Perfect Progressive
Use: for a past action that continued until another one started.
Ex: I had been running when I fell down a hole.

Past Emphatic
Use: for emphasis, negative statements and questions.
Exs:
I did do it recently!
I didn’t do it recently.
What did do recently?

I understand that, in Russian, there are two past tenses – one formed from its imperfective aspect, the other from its perfective aspect. I must use expressions of time or other key words to clarify ‘time’.

Hope this helps.

anyway thank you very much, майк.

About the Past 'Emphatic'... This only exists in the affirmative. The negative and interrogative (didn't and did you?) are also formed with 'did', but do carry any extra emphatic meaning.
It's only because 'I wentn't' is impossible that you should say 'I didn't go'.

Originally Posted by Alexander

My conclusion: forget about "lately", say "recently" and be happy

That's my approach

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n.b. Typo -

Originally Posted by майк

Past Emphatic
What did you do recently?

Originally Posted by scotcher

you'd be more likely to use the past tense of the verb to leave, which is left

- осталось 2 часа - [there are] 2 hours left
- осталось 100 км - [there are] 100km left [to go]
- осталось 3 рубля - [we have] 3 roubles left

Взгляните, пожалуйста, на ответ из другого форума на этот вопрос:
We've got two hours/three roubles left BUT We still have 100 km to go.
I've been reading for two weeks and I still have ten books to read.
We have (only) three books left - after a big hot fire in the library.
to have smth left - in store, to last sb for a period of time
to have smth to do/to read/to go - needed effort to achieve smth
Правильно или нет?
Т.е. я могу сказать
- осталось 3 рубля - 3 roubles left
Но не могу сказать
- осталось 100 км - 100 km left
- осталось 2 часа - 2 hours left
Это звучит как "проехали 100 км", "летим два часа".
А надо говорить
- still 100 km to go
- still 2 hours to go (to fly, to wait)
Я правильно понял?