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 Language Learning Forum : Philological Room |  | |
| hagen Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6960 days ago 171 posts - 179 votes  6 sounds Speaks: German*, English, Mandarin Studies: Korean | Message 9 of 10 09 September 2007 at 6:05am | IP Logged | ||
Well, it does, if you stick to the literal meaning: "Ich gehe auf der Wiese." vs. "Ich gehe auf die Wiese." (Wiese=meadow) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| telephos Triglot Newbie Canada Joined 6267 days ago 29 posts - 31 votes Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, Russian Studies: Norwegian, Ancient Greek | Message 10 of 10 28 September 2007 at 6:08pm | IP Logged | ||
That's what I was told when I studied Russian at university. 1) Orkestr slushaet klass. ("The class is listening to the orchestra." or "The orchestra is listening to the class.") In German it corresponds to a sentence like: Das Maedchen sieht die Mutter. If the nominative and the accusative are identical, you cannot usually invert the positions. Exceptions are rare and occur when the context is clear. -Kto slushaet orkestr? -Orkestr slushaet klass. (- Who is listening to the orchestra? - The class is listening to the orchestra.) If one does not want to begin with the agent of the action, one has to use a passive form. 2) Pevitsu slushaet klass. (The class is listening to the (female) singer.) You know right from the start that pevitsu is an object. This word order is not troublesome. In German it corresponds to a sentence like: Den Sohn sieht die Mutter. 3) Orkestr slushaet molodoj chelovek. (A/The youg man is listening to the orchestra.) Depending on the context, you may first mistake the first word for a subject and realize it is an object only when the last word of the sentence is uttered. It's like in German: Die Mutter sieht der Sohn. This word order is acceptable when the context is clear, e.g. when you answer a question. In other cases there is a small controversy. What to do if one does not want to start the sentence with the agent of the action? Some Russians do not mind using this kind of "suspense", others prefer using a passive construction, and it depends on the situation since some passive constructions sound artificial. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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