Svetlana Flemming - Colloquial Russian - The Next Step in Language Learning

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4 Which group in society is it targeting?

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5 What resistance to dental treatment is the advertisement trying 1

to overcome?

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Language points ♦

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Ne´kogo, ne´hego

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These expressions meaning respectively ‘there is no one’ and ‘there 8

is nothing’ are used with the infinitive and may also be used with the 9

dative:

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Ne´kogo sprosi´t;.

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There is no one to ask.

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The health service

Ne´hego deĺat;.

There is nothing to do.

Emuńe´kogo sprosi´t;.

He has no one to ask.

Nam ne´hego deĺat;.

We have nothing to do.

Ne´kogo / ne´hego decline like kto and hto and their case depends on the verb governing them:

Ej ne´komu pomoga´t;.

She has no one to help.

Nam ne´hem zanima´t;sq.

We have nothing to occupy us.

When ne´kogo / ne´hego are used with a preposition it comes between ne and the rest of the word:

Emuńeś kem razgovaŕivat;.

He has no one to talk to.

Im neó hem du´mat;.

They have nothing to think about.

Note that the form ne´hto is used with prepositions taking the accusative, otherwise the accusative form is ne´hego: Nam neńa hto smotre´t;.

We have nothing to look at.

Nam ne´hego est;.

We have nothing to eat.

The word ne´kto means ‘someone’:

Ne´kto priwe¨l.

Someone has arrived.

Ne´gde, ne´kuda, ne´kogda

These adverbs, meaning respectively ‘there is nowhere’ (place); ‘there is nowhere’ (motion); ‘there is no time’, are used in the same way as ne´kogo / ne´hego:

Nam ne´gde 'it;.

We have nowhere to live.

Zdravooxranenie

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Im ne´kuda idti´.

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They have nowhere to go.

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Nam ne´kogda otdyxa´t;.

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We have no time to relax.

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Note that ne´kogda also means ‘once upon a time’: 7

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On ne´kogda 'il v Moskve´.

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He once lived in Moscow.

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All the above expressions can be made past or future by using byĺo 1

or bu´det:

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Nam neś kem bu´det razgovaŕivat;.

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We will have no one to talk to.

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Im ne´kuda by

ĺo idti.

They had nowhere to go.

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Exercise 10

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Choose an appropriate word from the list and then put the sentences 3

in the past and future tense.

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(ne´kuda, ne´hego, ne´gde, ne´kogo, ne´kogda, ne´hem, neó hem, 6

neńa kogo, neś kem, ne´ k komu)

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1 Mne . . . xodi´t;. 2 Emu´ . . . 'it;. 3 Ej . . . deĺat;. 4 Ma´teri 9

. . . smotre´t; televiźor. 5 Mne . . . govori´t; s tobo´j. 6 Emu´ da´'e 30

. . . pojti´ v pivnu´[. 7 Mne . . . priglasi´t; v kino´. 8 Rebe¨nku . . .

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est; sup. 9 Mne . . . nade´qt;sq. 10 Ej . . . zajti´ po doro´ge domo´j.

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