Thread: формы глаголов (verb forms)

do foreigners distinguish between встретиться и встречаться?

вы чувствуете разницу между встретиться и встречаться?


is it possible to put this into English?
можно передать такую особенность по-английски?

Well isn't it simple perfective and imperfective?

встретиться - perfective. A single action, once. To meet once.
встречаться - imperfective. Many times, on-going action. To meet.

разве не так?

ну хорошо, только как сказать, допустим
well how would u say these?

вася предложил маше встречаться (они будут ходить на свидания и тп в течение долгого времени)
( they will date for some time)

вася предложил маше встретиться у театра (они встретятся 1 раз у театра, в назначенный срок, сходят на спектакль и все, собственно)
(they will come to the arranged place next to the theatre and see the play and that's all)

Originally Posted by olgaa

ну хорошо, только как сказать, допустим
well how would u say these?

1: вася предложил маше встречаться (они будут ходить на свидания и тп в течение долгого времени)
( they will date for some time)

2: вася предложил маше встретиться у театра (они встретятся 1 раз у театра, в назначенный срок, сходят на спектакль и все, собственно)
(they will come to the arranged place next to the theatre and see the play and that's all)

1: In this case встречаться means to date. Vasya asked Masha if they could date

2: In this case it is more neutral, it is not known if they are just going to meet or be on a date, it is a meeting point. Vasya asked Masha if they could meet at the theatre [ on a date]

i also thought of meet up meaning встретиться for one occasion
я еще подумала, что может можно сказать meet up в значении встретиться (разок)

так?
is that fine?

1: вася предложил маше встречаться у театра
2: вася предложил маше встретиться у театра

I think both sentences translate to
"Vasya asked Masha to meet at the theatre."
You need more context to determine if it is just one meeting or a routine meeting.

Vasya asked Masha to meet at the theatre today - встретиться
Vasya asked Masha to meet at the theatre every Sunday - встречаться

English is not as precise a language as Russian.
Ex. It would be very difficult to translate "I am going to that theatre" in Russian.

Originally Posted by kwatts59

"I am going to that theatre" in Russian.

Erm....

You mean since Russian verbs of motion are so specific, it's hard to know which one to choose to represent such a general action in English. The key is you look at the context.

"I am going to that theatre" will have other information around it telling you what verb to use.

I am going to that theatre tomorrow
I am going to the that with Ivan on a date
Where are you going right now? I'm going to that theatre (*Points to theatre on the other side of the road.

If you ever had to translate that expression from English to Russian, 99.9% of the time there will be some time refference or details to help you pick the aspect, direction, prefix, etc. of the VOM.

It's all about context, context.

Originally Posted by basurero

It's all about context, context.

Exactly. So it's in fact quite easy to translate "I'm going to that theatre" into Russian, using the attached information.

1. Vasya asked Masha to meet at the theater on weekends. (multiple, recurring meetings)
2. Vasya asked Masha to meet at the theater this weekend. (single meeting)

The verb is the same in both cases; the context provides the meaning.

Originally Posted by ZeusTKP

1. Vasya asked Masha to meet at the theater on weekends. (multiple, recurring meetings)
2. Vasya asked Masha to meet at the theater this weekend. (single meeting)

The verb is the same in both cases; the context provides the meaning.

Speaking of which, is this how you'd say on the weekends/weekend?

Вася спросил Маше встречаться у театра по выходным.
Вася спросил Маше встретиться у театра в (предстоящие) выходые.

Вася попросил Машу встречаться у театра по выходным.
Вася попросил Машу встретиться у театра в (предстоящие) выходые.

Compare with:

Вася предложил Маше встречаться у театра по выходным.

Ah yes I see, thank you! At least I got the weekend bit right