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

Mno´gie dvi'eńiq sejhaś

ob#edinq´[tsq i nade´[tsq sozda´t; siĺ;nu[ paŕti[. 12 Turiśty plyĺi na teploxo´de i l[bovaĺis; krasi´voj priro´doj. 13 Nabo´kov byl ruśskim po ro'deńi[ i nikogdańe zabyvaĺ Rossi´[. 14 On hitaĺ kni´gi o l[bvií vspominaĺ svo[

´ moĺodost;.

Vybory v Dumu

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247

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Gerunds as prepositions

2

Some gerunds are used as prepositions. These include su´dq po +

3

dative ‘judging by’ (note the different stress on the gerund – sudq´); 4

blagodarq´ + dative ‘thanks to’ (note blagodarq´ + accusative – gerund 5

‘thanking’); nesmotrq´

na + accusative ‘despite’; iskl[ha´q +

6

accusative ‘including’; ne iskl[ha´q + genitive ‘excluding’; ne 7

shita´q + genitive ‘not counting’; shita´q s / ot + genitive ‘starting 8111

with’:

9

10

Su´dq po koli´hestvu goloso´v sa´maq populqŕnaq paŕtiq –

1

paŕtiq kommuniśtov.

2

Judging by the number of votes the most popular party is the 3

Communist Party.

4

Blagodarq´ poddeŕ'ke Pu´tina pobediĺo.

5

Thanks to Putin’s support, ‘Unity’ won.

6

7

8

Exercise 10

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Examine the composition of the third State Duma as a result of elec-20111

tions on 19 December 1999 and answer the questions in Russian.

1

2

3

Дума 1999 года

4

29

5

6

76

CПC

7

8

Eдинство

9

111

30

22

1

ЯБЛОКО

KПРФ

2

3

4

OBP

о

5

ког

6

62

7

Независимые

кандидаты

8

Блок Жириновс

9

17

40

105

1

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KPRF Kommunistiheskaq partiq Rossijskoj Federacii OVR

Otehestvo - Vsq Rossiq

SPS

So[z pravyx sil

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Elections to the Duma

1 U kogośa´moe bol;woé koli´hestvo mest v Du´me?

2 Kto zanimaét vtoroé meśto?

3 Kto zanimaét posle´dnee meśto?

4 Skoĺ;ko mest v Du´me u , , ?

5 Skoĺ;ko mest budet u , eśli onoób#edini´tsq s

?

The negative

Examine the following sentence taken from the text Neo'i ´dannaq pobe ´da:

Niktońikogdańe predpolagaĺ, hto \´ta fra´kciq mo´'et

pobedi´t;.

No one ever imagined that this faction could win.

What the sentence literally says in Russian is:

No one never did not imagine . . .

In a Russian negative sentence not only is the verb negated by the presence of ne, but all words such as anyone, anything, ever, anywhere, any, either . . . or are translated as nikto´ ‘no one’, nihto´

‘nothing’, nikogda´ ‘never’ nigde´/ nikuda´ ‘nowhere’, nikako´j ‘no /

not any’, ni . . . ni ‘neither . . . nor’.

Look at these other examples from the same text:

ne imeét nikako´j opredele¨nnoj progra´mmy.

‘Unity’ has no set programme.

Note the use of the genitive after the negative verb.

U negońet ni o´pytnyx li´derov, ni organizaciońnoj

struktuŕy.

It has neither experienced leaders nor an organisational structure.

The genitive also follows net meaning ‘there is not’.

When nikto´, nihto´ and nikako´j are used with a preposition the preposition comes between the first syllable and the rest of the word:

Q ni o kom ne du´ma[.

I am not thinking about anyone.