Tag Archives: confusing Russian grammar
Should You Use Также Or Тоже in Russian? Posted by Maria on Jan 23, 2020
One of the questions that came up in the comments was the distinction between то́же and та́кже in Russian. Both expressions can mean “also,” but they are not always interchangeable. This post will look at some common scenarios where you might use these phrases. Та́кже а та́кже — as well as This usage is pretty…
3 Kinds of Negation in Russian Posted by Maria on Mar 7, 2018
Are you tempted to use the infamous “nyet” in front of any word to make your sentences negative? Do you get confused between не, ни, and нет? Then read on to learn some common uses of these words. 1. Нет Negation of the Entire Sentence This is probably the most famous and the easiest of…
Трое в лодке: Collective Numerals in Russian Posted by Maria on Sep 8, 2016
If you look at the Russian translation of Jerome K. Jerome’s Three Men in A Boat, you may be surprised to read “Трое в лодке, не считая собаки.” Why “трое” and not “три”? In my last post on forms that don’t exist in Russian, I briefly touched upon the category of collective numerals. Since they have…
TGIF and a Weekend Grammar Conundrum Posted by yelena on Nov 22, 2013
СБУП… What the heck is this? It sounds horrible! Ok, ok, let’s try the full version – слава Богу, уже пятница! (Thank God, it’s Friday!) Somehow coming up with a good-sounding Russian acronym is really hard. Anyway, it is Friday which means завтра – выходной (tomorrow is a day off) for many of us. What…
This Russian Grammar Round-Up Will Make Your Head Spin Posted by yelena on Nov 15, 2011
If you are looking for entertaining and helpful takes on some of the stickier problems of Russian grammar, then this post is for you. NOTE: not all the posts mentioned below were written by me. In fact, I wrote just a tiny portion of them. So if you leave comments on those posts (with links…
Even More Curious то же and так же Posted by yelena on Oct 14, 2011
Learning Russian can be frustrating. But in the end, it’s so worth it! This photo, taking years ago in St. Petersburg, is not really related to anything in this post. But it’s good memories for me, so I thought I’d share. When it comes to me writing grammar posts, I either don’t do them or…
The Curious Case of Russian Words Тоже and Также Posted by yelena on Oct 13, 2011
I got to learn something new about rats thanks to your comments. Now it’s pay-back time. Plus I loved this movie when it came out. Rats can be so cute! When it comes to grammar, being a native speaker of a language is a double-edged sword. Sure, native speakers tend to automatically select just the…