|
 |
Russian - perfective/imperfective | ||
Tags: Russian | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Mikael84 Bilingual Pentaglot Groupie Peru Joined 5302 days ago 76 posts - 116 votes  Speaks: French*, Finnish*, English, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Arabic (classical), German, Russian | Message 1 of 28 20 December 2012 at 9:07pm | IP Logged | ||
|
Hi guys,
I'm studying Russian and think I understand the basics of the perfective/imperfective distinction. Still, I regularly find myself puzzling over examples that don't make sense to me. Here are a few where your help and explanations would be much appreciated (all taken from Assimil 1973 version): девушка, вы мне обещали найти адрес Семëнова which I understand translates to: Girl, you promised me you'd find Semionov's address. Now, since the act of promising took place in the past just once and is over, why isn't it: пообещали ? Another example, with infinitives: дверь лучше закрывать, потому что сегодня холодно : it's better to close the door, because it's cold today не надо открывать все окна, надо открыть только одно : don't open all windows, open only one I don't understand why it's лучше закрывать (imperfective) in the first sentence, but надо открыть (perfective) in the second one. Thanks in advance. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Siberiano Tetraglot Senior Member Russian Federation one-giant-leap.Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6495 days ago 465 posts - 696 votes Speaks: Russian*, English, ItalianC1, Spanish Studies: Portuguese, Serbian | Message 2 of 28 20 December 2012 at 10:32pm | IP Logged | ||
|
It's the same here, whether she promised once (perfective) or many times (imperfective), it doesn't matter. It's just simpler to say in imperfective form.
The same for door. You might need to close it many times. :) > не надо открывать все окна You open many windows many times, that's why it's imperfective. You open one window just once. That's the difference. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Марк Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 5058 days ago 2096 posts - 2972 votes Speaks: Russian* | Message 3 of 28 21 December 2012 at 1:54pm | IP Logged | ||
|
The first sentence is an example of the inperfective aspect in the general-fact meaning
(общефактическом значении). We are not interesting in anything rather than whether the fact has taken place or not. The third example is even simpler. When we forbide something, we always use imperfective, because any part of action is forbidden and the prohibition is valid even when it is once broken, that is an unspecified amount of times. But we need открыть окно because we need the window to be open, and we need to do that once. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Марк Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 5058 days ago 2096 posts - 2972 votes Speaks: Russian* | Message 4 of 28 21 December 2012 at 2:18pm | IP Logged | ||
|
If perfective means a single complete action and we say не надо открыть окно, it will
mean we can start opening and not finish it or open it many times. лучше закрыть дверь can be said about a concrete situation when the door is open. Лучше закрывать дверь is a general thought. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Siberiano Tetraglot Senior Member Russian Federation one-giant-leap.Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6495 days ago 465 posts - 696 votes Speaks: Russian*, English, ItalianC1, Spanish Studies: Portuguese, Serbian | Message 5 of 28 21 December 2012 at 6:56pm | IP Logged | ||
|
Yeah, and by the way,
откройте окно means you need the result, not the process (открывайте окно). Which means: when you want just the window opened, you say perfective, откройте. If you need the process to start (e.g. you make a video) you say imperfective, открывайте. Edited by Siberiano on 21 December 2012 at 7:01pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Mikael84 Bilingual Pentaglot Groupie Peru Joined 5302 days ago 76 posts - 116 votes Speaks: French*, Finnish*, English, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Arabic (classical), German, Russian | Message 6 of 28 21 December 2012 at 7:54pm | IP Logged | ||
|
Thanks a lot Siberiano and Mapk, it is clearer for me now, although I have to admit it will probably take a lot of time and practice before I use perfective/imperfective like a native!
So if I understand correctly, in the sentence дверь лучше закрывать, потому что сегодня холодно закрыть could also be used, with a different meaning (ie close the door now vs in general, close the door today whenever it is open), although the English translation would probably look the same. I got confused because I only thought of the first possibility and didn't catch the "general" meaning. Concerning обещали / пообещали, am I right to think that the imperfective can be used as long as the promise isn't broken? Ie, you promised and are still promising? Can I say: вы обещали сделать это, а не сделали or, since the promise doesn't hold anymore, should it be: вы пообещали сделать это, а не сделали Thanks again! русский язык очень богат ! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Siberiano Tetraglot Senior Member Russian Federation one-giant-leap.Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6495 days ago 465 posts - 696 votes Speaks: Russian*, English, ItalianC1, Spanish Studies: Portuguese, Serbian | Message 7 of 28 21 December 2012 at 8:01pm | IP Logged | ||
|
No, it's not about still promising. Actually, there's no difference, in this case you can say either way about single or multiple promises - it will have no different meaning, nor in speech style. It's just doesn't really matter.
If you add some details, it may matter; Ты мне весь год обещал починить утюг. Here it's definitely imperfective. Other cases it's interchangeable: Помнишь, в тот день ты обещал ей пожениться? Помнишь, в тот день ты пообещал ей пожениться? 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Марк Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 5058 days ago 2096 posts - 2972 votes Speaks: Russian* | Message 8 of 28 21 December 2012 at 8:06pm | IP Logged | ||
No. Both verbs can be used here but обещать is more natural. I would use но here, not a. About закрыть/закрывать I wrote: " if it is open", it can be "it will be open at some particular moment" too. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
