Things only Russians would say
What are things only Russian people would say?
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Log Indominic | 0 points - over 5 years ago
“Давай, спасибо!” or “давай, пока”, or “ну, давай!” - “давай” literally means “Give me”, but in the context of these greetings/goodbyes it changes its meaning and instead means close to nothing, simply becoming a filler.
“Давай” followed by a verb means “let’s do something together” (давай побегаем (let’s jog), давай посмотрим "Игру престолов" (let’s watch Game of Thrones)
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quinton.gutkowski | 0 points - over 5 years ago
Russian language is full of “vague” idioms defying literal translation as they are, well, vague.
“Ага, щас…” (“aha, right away”) - expresses extreme sarcasm and sheer absurdity of the proposed action or request: “Do the dishes!” — “ага, щас”
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deanna | 0 points - over 5 years ago
A doubtful denial that literally sounds like “Yes no, maybe” (да нет, наверное). Any native Russian speaker thinks it's nothing special, but to a non-native it sounds crazy. The closest English equivalent is “probably no, thanks”. The trick is that да (da) in spoken and sometimes literary Russian has not one meaning (affirmation) but also may indicate probability (“rather, probably”) or be just an interjection to focus the counterpart's attention (like "well")
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sommer.kilback | 0 points - over 5 years ago
Oh.. I’ll point one thing that really amazes me.
There is a saying: do or die. The meaning is obvious: it states the the NEED that is vital, and only death saves you from the NEED. However, same saying in Russian says exactly “Die, but do” (умри, но сделай) - pointing out that for Russians there are NEEDS that are more than vital, and even death won’t save you from it.
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