{"id":3758,"date":"2012-09-19T08:00:47","date_gmt":"2012-09-19T08:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/?p=3758"},"modified":"2014-07-17T18:46:49","modified_gmt":"2014-07-17T18:46:49","slug":"to-everything-turn-turn-turn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/to-everything-turn-turn-turn\/","title":{"rendered":"To everything (Turn, turn, turn!)…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u266a\u266b …there is a season (Turn, turn, turn!):
\nA time to sow,
\nA time to reap,
\nA time for war,
\nA time for peace,
\nA time to learn confusing Russian verbs with an indecent number of syllables,
\nA time to say “\u0424\u0438\u0433 \u0441 \u044d<\/span>\u0442\u0438\u043c!<\/b>” and study Esperanto instead…<\/i>\u266a\u266b<\/p>\n

Hi, everybody — can you guess what time it is now? \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

And you might have also guessed that the theme for this post is “turning,” and how to express this in Russian. The English verb “to turn” has roughly a kajillion idiomatic uses and phrasal forms that make it tough for beginning students of Russian to translate. So, in practice, there are dozens and dozens of different Russian verbs that can translate the English “to turn” — it all depends on context.<\/p>\n

But for now, I’m going to skip over such important examples as \u043e\u043a\u0430<\/span>\u0437\u044b\u0432\u0430\u0442\u044c\u0441\u044f\/\u043e\u043a\u0430\u0437\u0430<\/span>\u0442\u044c\u0441\u044f<\/b> (“to turn out<\/i> a certain way; to prove to be”) and \u0441\u0442\u0430\u043d\u043e\u0432\u0438<\/span>\u0442\u044c\u0441\u044f\/\u0441\u0442\u0430<\/span>\u0442\u044c<\/b> (“to turn<\/i> [sweet\/moldy\/green], etc.; to become different”) and \u043f\u0440\u0435\u0432\u0440\u0430\u0449\u0430<\/span>\u0442\u044c\u0441\u044f\/\u043f\u0440\u0435\u0432\u0440\u0430\u0442\u0438<\/span>\u0442\u044c\u0441\u044f<\/b> (“to turn into<\/i>; to be transformed; to morph”), as well as various other verb constructions that can be translated with “turn.”<\/p>\n

Instead, let’s take a look at some verbs that express “turning” in the physical senses<\/i> of “rotation.”<\/p>\n

The most basic “turn” verb-pair is \u043f\u043e\u0432\u043e\u0440\u0430<\/span>\u0447\u0438\u0432\u0430\u0442\u044c\/\u043f\u043e\u0432\u0435\u0440\u043d\u0443<\/span>\u0442\u044c<\/b>. The imperfective conjugates:<\/p>\n

\u044f \u043f\u043e\u0432\u043e\u0440\u0430<\/span>\u0447\u0438\u0432\u0430\u044e
\n\u0442\u044b \u043f\u043e\u0432\u043e\u0440\u0430<\/span>\u0447\u0438\u0432\u0430\u0435\u0448\u044c
\n[…]
\n\u043e\u043d\u0438<\/span> \u043f\u043e\u0432\u043e\u0440\u0430<\/span>\u0447\u0438\u0432\u0430\u044e\u0442<\/b><\/p>\n

And the perfective conjugation goes:<\/p>\n

\u044f \u043f\u043e\u0432\u0435\u0440\u043d\u0443<\/span>
\n\u0442\u044b \u043f\u043e\u0432\u0435\u0440\u043d\u0451\u0448\u044c
\n[…]
\n\u043e\u043d\u0438<\/span> \u043f\u043e\u0432\u0435\u0440\u043d\u0443<\/span>\u0442<\/b><\/p>\n

Also, you may sometimes encounter an alternate form of the imperfective: \u043f\u043e\u0432\u0451\u0440\u0442\u044b\u0432\u0430\u0442\u044c<\/b> (\u044f \u043f\u043e\u0432\u0451\u0440\u0442\u044b\u0432\u0430\u044e<\/b>, etc.)<\/p>\n

Anyway, this verb means “to turn” in various transitive senses, such as “to (partly) rotate” or “to change direction of travel”:<\/p>\n

\u0412\u0435<\/span>\u0434\u044c\u043c\u0430 \u043c\u0435<\/span>\u0434\u043b\u0435\u043d\u043d\u043e \u043f\u043e\u0432\u0435\u0440\u043d\u0443<\/span>\u043b\u0430 \u0441\u0432\u043e\u044e<\/span> \u0433\u043e<\/span>\u043b\u043e\u0432\u0443<\/b> (“The witch slowly turned her head.”)
\n\u00ab\u041c\u0438<\/span>\u0448, \u043f\u043e\u0432\u043e\u0440\u0430<\/span>\u0447\u0438\u0432\u0430\u0439-\u043a\u0430 \u043c\u0430\u0448\u0438<\/span>\u043d\u0443 \u043d\u0430\u0437\u0430<\/span>\u0434 — \u044f<\/span> \u0437\u0430\u0431\u044b<\/span>\u043b \u0434\u043e<\/span>\u043c\u0430 \u043a\u043e\u0448\u0435\u043b\u0451\u043a!\u00bb<\/b> (“Mike, turn the car around — I left my wallet at home!”)
\n\u041a\u043e\u0432\u0431\u043e<\/span>\u0439 \u043f\u043e\u0432\u0435\u0440\u043d\u0443<\/span>\u043b \u043a\u043e\u043d\u044f<\/span> \u043d\u0430\u043b\u0435<\/span>\u0432\u043e<\/b> (“The cowboy turned the horse to the left.”)<\/p>\n

When you add the suffix -\u0441\u044f<\/b>, the verb becomes intransitive — again, in various senses:<\/p>\n

\u0421\u043b\u0435\u0433\u043a\u0430<\/span> \u0445\u0440\u0430\u043f\u044f<\/span>, \u0421\u043f\u044f<\/span>\u0449\u0430\u044f \u043a\u0440\u0430\u0441\u0430<\/span>\u0432\u0438\u0446\u0430 \u043f\u043e\u0432\u0435\u0440\u043d\u0443<\/span>\u043b\u0430\u0441\u044c \u043d\u0430 \u043b\u0435<\/span>\u0432\u044b\u0439 \u0431\u043e<\/span>\u043a<\/b> (“Snoring lightly, Sleeping Beauty turned onto her left side”)
\n\u041a\u043b\u044e<\/span>\u0447 \u0441\u043e\u0432\u0441\u0435<\/span>\u043c \u043d\u0435 \u043f\u043e\u0432\u043e\u0440\u0430<\/span>\u0447\u0438\u0432\u0430\u0435\u0442\u0441\u044f — \u0437\u0430\u043c\u043e<\/span>\u043a, \u043d\u0430\u0432\u0435<\/span>\u0440\u043d\u043e, \u0437\u0430\u0440\u0436\u0430<\/span>\u0432\u0435\u043b<\/span>.<\/b> (“The key won’t turn at all — probably the lock has gotten rusty.”)<\/p>\n

The Slavic roots -\u0432\u043e\u0440\u043e\u0442-<\/b> and -\u0432\u0440\u0430\u0442-<\/b> (“turn”) have a gigantic number of other Russian derivatives, from the always-plural concrete noun \u0432\u043e\u0440\u043e<\/span>\u0442\u0430<\/b> (“gates”, gen. \u0432\u043e\u0440\u043e<\/span>\u0442<\/b>) to the abstract noun \u0438\u0437\u0432\u0440\u0430\u0449\u0435<\/span>\u043d\u0438\u0435<\/b> (“perversion; corruption”). But they’re also the basis for several more “physical turning” verbs that conjugate like \u043f\u043e\u0432\u043e\u0440\u0430<\/span>\u0447\u0438\u0432\u0430\u0442\u044c\/\u043f\u043e\u0432\u0435\u0440\u043d\u0443<\/span>\u0442\u044c<\/b>.<\/p>\n

For example, \u043f\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0432\u043e\u0440\u0430<\/span>\u0447\u0438\u0432\u0430\u0442\u044c\/\u043f\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0432\u0435\u0440\u043d\u0443<\/span>\u0442\u044c<\/b> means “to turn over completely; invert”:<\/p>\n

\u041f\u0430<\/span>\u043f\u0430 \u043f\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0432\u0435\u0440\u043d\u0443<\/span>\u043b \u0431\u043b\u0438<\/span>\u043d, \u043f\u043e\u0442\u043e\u043c\u0443<\/span> \u0447\u0442\u043e \u043f\u0435<\/span>\u0440\u0432\u0430\u044f \u0441\u0442\u043e\u0440\u043e\u043d\u0430<\/span> \u0443\u0436\u0435<\/span> \u043f\u043e\u0434\u0436\u0430<\/span>\u0440\u0438\u043b\u0430\u0441\u044c<\/b> (“Dad flipped the pancake over, because the first side was done.”)
\n\u041d\u0435\u043b\u044c\u0437\u044f<\/span> \u043f\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0432\u043e\u0440\u0430<\/span>\u0447\u0438\u0432\u0430\u0442\u044c \u0432\u0441\u0451 \u0432\u0432\u0435<\/span>\u0440\u0445 \u0434\u043d\u043e<\/span>\u043c!<\/b> (“Don’t turn everything upside-down<\/span>!” — i.e., “Don’t make a big mess of the place”)<\/p>\n

Another useful verb pair is \u0437\u0430\u0432\u0451\u0440\u0442\u044b\u0432\u0430\u0442\u044c\/\u0437\u0430\u0432\u0435\u0440\u043d\u0443<\/span>\u0442\u044c<\/b> (and, yes, sometimes you’ll hear the imperfective \u0437\u0430\u0432\u043e\u0440\u0430\u0447\u0438\u0432\u0430\u0442\u044c<\/b> instead). In some contexts it means “to shut by twisting tight,” as in:<\/p>\n

\u0421\u0430\u043d\u0442\u0435<\/span>\u0445\u043d\u0438\u043a \u0437\u0430\u0432\u0435\u0440\u043d\u0443<\/span>\u043b \u043a\u043b\u0430<\/span>\u043f\u0430\u043d \u043a\u043b\u044e\u0447\u043e<\/span>\u043c<\/span><\/b> (“The plumber turned off the valve with a wrench”).<\/p>\n

But it can also mean “to wrap something up”:<\/p>\n

\u041c\u0430<\/span>\u043c\u0430 \u0437\u0430\u0432\u0451\u0440\u0442\u044b\u0432\u0430\u0435\u0442 \u0440\u0435\u0431\u0451\u043d\u043a\u0430 \u0432 \u043e\u0434\u0435\u044f<\/span>\u043b\u043e<\/b> (“Mom is wrapping the baby in a blanket”)<\/p>\n

\u266a\u266b Like the Circles That You Find in the Windmills of Your Mind…\u266a\u266b <\/b><\/p>\n

While \u043f\u043e\u0432\u043e\u0440\u0430<\/span>\u0447\u0438\u0432\u0430\u0442\u044c\/\u043f\u043e\u0432\u0435\u0440\u043d\u0443<\/span>\u0442\u044c<\/b> may signify a partial rotation (or, at most, one complete 360\u00b0 rotation) there are a number of verbs that can be used when something whirls continuously around and around<\/i>. Possibly the most important one to know is \u0432\u0435\u0440\u0442\u0435<\/span>\u0442\u044c(\u0441\u044f)<\/b> — and note that the present conjugation has a “consonant mutation” in the 1st-singular as well as shifting stress:<\/p>\n

\u044f \u0432\u0435\u0440\u0447\u0443<\/span>(\u0441\u044c)
\n\u0442\u044b \u0432\u0435\u0440\u0442\u0438<\/span>\u0448\u044c(\u0441\u044f)
\n[…]
\n\u043e\u043d\u0438<\/span> \u0432\u0435\u0440\u0442\u044f<\/span>\u0442(\u0441\u044f)<\/b><\/p>\n

No perfective is given here because the verb inherently describes non-completed, continuous motion.<\/p>\n

Thus, you can say transitively \u041e\u043d\u0430<\/span> \u0445\u0432\u0430\u0442\u0430<\/span>\u043b\u0430\u0441\u044c \u0437\u0430 \u0432\u0435\u043b\u043e\u0441\u0438\u043f\u0435<\/span>\u0434\u043d\u043e\u0435 \u043a\u043e\u043b\u0435\u0441\u043e<\/span> \u0438 \u0432\u0435\u0440\u0442\u0435<\/span>\u043b\u0430 \u0435\u0433\u043e<\/span><\/b> (“She grabbed the bicycle’s wheel and gave it a spin”), or intransitively \u0412\u0435\u0442\u0440\u044f\u043d\u0430<\/span>\u044f \u043c\u0435<\/span>\u043b\u044c\u043d\u0438\u0446\u0430 \u0432\u0435\u0440\u0442\u0435<\/span>\u043b\u0430\u0441\u044c<\/b> (“The windmill is spinning”). And if you ever find yourself not-quite-able to remember a word, you’ll also find the intransitive form in the expression \u00ab\u0421\u043b\u043e<\/span>\u0432\u043e \u0443 \u043a\u043e\u0433\u043e<\/span>-\u043d\u0438\u0431\u0443<\/span>\u0434\u044c \u0432\u0435<\/span>\u0440\u0442\u0438\u0442\u0441\u044f \u043d\u0430 \u043a\u043e<\/span>\u043d\u0447\u0438\u043a\u0435 \u044f\u0437\u044b\u043a\u0430<\/span>\u00bb<\/b> — “The word is [spinning] on the tip of someone’s tongue.”<\/p>\n

By the way, in English, we often make a clear distinction between “rotate” and “revolve” — especially when talking about the \u0434\u0432\u0438\u0436\u0435<\/span>\u043d\u0438\u0435 \u043f\u043b\u0430\u043d\u0435<\/span>\u0442<\/b> (“movement of planets”). Which is to say that the Earth rotates<\/i> \u0432\u043e\u043a\u0440\u0443<\/span>\u0433 \u0441\u0432\u043e\u0435<\/span>\u0439 \u043e<\/span>\u0441\u0438<\/b> (“around its own axis”), but revolves<\/i> \u0432\u043e\u043a\u0440\u0443<\/span>\u0433 \u0421\u043e<\/span>\u043b\u043d\u0446\u0430<\/b> (“around the Sun”). In Russian, however, you can say \u0417\u0435<\/span>\u043c\u043b\u044f \u0432\u0435<\/span>\u0440\u0442\u0438\u0442\u0441\u044f…<\/b> (“The Earth spins…”) in either context.<\/p>\n

In addition to \u0432\u0435\u0440\u0442\u0435<\/span>\u0442\u044c(\u0441\u044f)<\/b>, you may also encounter \u0432\u0440\u0430\u0449\u0430<\/span>\u0442\u044c(\u0441\u044f)<\/b>, which conjugates regularly: \u044f \u0432\u0440\u0430\u0449\u0430<\/span>\u044e(\u0441\u044c), \u0442\u044b \u0432\u0440\u0430\u0449\u0430<\/span>\u0435\u0448\u044c(\u0441\u044f)<\/b>. Like \u0432\u0435\u0440\u0442\u0435<\/span>\u0442\u044c(\u0441\u044f)<\/b>, it doesn’t normally have a perfective, and for the most part, these two verbs are interchangeably synonymous — although one may be preferred over the other in certain fixed expressions and idioms.<\/p>\n

The verb \u043a\u0440\u0443\u0442\u0438<\/span>\u0442\u044c(\u0441\u044f)<\/b>, can also be a synonym for the two above, at least when their meaning is “spin” or “whirl.” Like \u0432\u0435\u0440\u0442\u0435<\/span>\u0442\u044c(\u0441\u044f)<\/b>, it’s got a consonant mutation and a stress shift:<\/p>\n

\u044f \u043a\u0440\u0443\u0447\u0443<\/span>(\u0441\u044c)
\n\u0442\u044b \u043a\u0440\u0443<\/span>\u0442\u0438\u0448\u044c(\u0441\u044f)
\n[…]
\n\u043e\u043d\u0438<\/span> \u043a\u0440\u0443<\/span>\u0442\u044f\u0442(\u0441\u044f)<\/b><\/p>\n

But this word has other possible translations. When it’s transitive (without the -\u0441\u044f<\/b>), it can mean “to make by twisting\/rolling” — and in this transitive sense, it has prefixed perfective forms, either with \u0441-<\/b> or \u0437\u0430-<\/b>. For example, \u041c\u043e\u0440\u044f<\/span>\u043a c\u043a\u0440\u0443\u0442\u0438<\/span>\u043b \u0441\u0438\u0433\u0430\u0440\u0435<\/span>\u0442\u0443<\/b> (“The sailor rolled a cigarette”).<\/p>\n

And finally, in colloquial speech, the intransitive \u043a\u0440\u0443\u0442\u0438<\/span>\u0442\u044c\u0441\u044f<\/b> has the figurative meaning “to hang around close to someone,” sometimes implying “to be annoyingly underfoot”:<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u0413\u043e<\/span>\u0441\u043f\u043e\u0434\u0438, \u043f\u043e\u0447\u0435\u043c\u0443<\/span> \u0442\u044b<\/span> \u0432\u0441\u0451 \u043a\u0440\u0443<\/span>\u0442\u0438\u0448\u044c\u0441\u044f \u043e<\/span>\u043a\u043e\u043b\u043e \u043c\u0435\u043d\u044f<\/span> \u043f\u043e\u0434 \u043d\u043e\u0433\u0430<\/span>\u043c\u0438? \u041f\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0441\u0442\u0430<\/span>\u043d\u044c!\u00bb — \u0441 \u0440\u0430\u0436\u0434\u0440\u0430\u0436\u0435<\/span>\u043d\u0438\u0435\u043c \u0441\u043a\u0430\u0437\u0430<\/span>\u043b\u0430 \u043c\u0430<\/span>\u0442\u044c \u0434\u043e<\/span>\u0447\u043a\u0435.<\/b> (“For heaven’s sake, why are you always following me around like a shadow? Quit doing that!” — the mother irritably said to her little daughter.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

\u266a\u266b …there is a season (Turn, turn, turn!): A time to sow, A time to reap, A time for war, A time for peace, A time to learn confusing Russian verbs with an indecent number of syllables, A time to say “\u0424\u0438\u0433 \u0441 \u044d\u0442\u0438\u043c!” and study Esperanto instead…\u266a\u266b Hi, everybody — can you guess what…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":3772,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[8,7828],"tags":[253006,385640,111747,115136,173117],"class_list":["post-3758","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-language","category-russian-for-beginners","tag-english-words-with-many-translations","tag-russian-for-beginners","tag-useful-russian-phrases","tag-useful-russian-words","tag-verb-conjugations"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3758"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3758\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11252,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3758\/revisions\/11252"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}