Конфеты

[janetlin]

Okay, so teachers should totally not hand out candy in class.

Lately, мой любимый профессор has been bringing us candy: Kit Kats, Tootsie Pops, Starburst, etc. Dunno why but hey I'm not complaining. But today for some reason the sugar just really hit me. This unit is about giving directions, and describing various modes of transportation (which means we're dealing with the ever-so-lovely verbs of motion). Well, one of the verbs for "to go" (unidirectional, imperfective, by vehicle) - ехать - conjugates awfully similarly to the verb for "to eat" - есть. So, "Today I'm going to work by means of/in a taxi," = Севодня, я еду на работу на такси. ((bold indicates the stressed syllable))

So профессор looks around the room and asks, "Why couldn't you say, 'я еду на такси'?"

I helpfully reply, "Because that means, like, 'I'm eating the taxi.'" And I get this image of, like, Cookie Monster happily munching on a taxi, and it gives me the giggles like you wouldn't believe. I think I might have actually made a munching sound in the midst of the giggles, too. Профессор grins at me and then asks the rest of the class, "Where'd the candy go? I don't think we have enough sugar over here." *facepalm*

And elven_alchemist, why is it на автобусе, на машине, etc.? Why на + prepositional? Shouldn't it be instrumental: автобусом, машиной? Like пешком is instrumental. It makes more sense, since it's the case for "by means of..." expressions. But my учебник doesn't even mention the possibility. Is using the instrumental case in situations like this completely wrong, or just archaic or something?

Comments

[janetlin.livejournal.com]

Huh. A Google search gave me nothing, so I made one for you. Though, since I'm here, a transliteration of words used in this entry:

Конфеты = "konfyeti" ~ candy
мой любимый профессор = "moy lyubimiy profyessor" ~ my favorite (most loved) professor
ехать = "yehhat'" ~ to go (unidirectional, by vehicle, imperfective)
есть = "yest'" ~ to eat
Севодня, я еду на работу на такси = "sevodnya, ya yedu na taksi" ~ today, I go to work by taxi
я еду на такси = "ya yedu na taksi" ~ (is not actually a real sentence, as it literally translates to "I eat at the taxi")
на автобусе = "na avtobusye" ~ by bus
на машине = "na mashinye" ~ by car
пешком = "peshkom" ~ by foot
учебник = "uchyebnik" ~ textbook

[janetlin.livejournal.com]

bah, emphasis is on the "ye" in "yehhat'"

I knew I had to have missed one...

[cat-i-th-adage.livejournal.com]

Thanks mightily. I was getting frustrated not being able to hear the Russian words in my head. (But I could work out (Professor)! :-D)

[janetlin.livejournal.com]

I almost wrote them transliterated for just that reason, but it totally messes with my head to see Russian words in the Roman alphabet. The vowels are a little tough to do, because they all reduce the farther away from the stress they are. "o" and "a" end up sounding practically the same ("uh")when unstressed.

If you're familiar with the Greek alphabet, Cyrillic isn't that bad. I had to memorize the Greek for induction into an honor society at college in Missouri, and it helped _tons_ when I started learning Russian here in Sac.

[cat-i-th-adage.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah, it was the Greek I was reading and guessing the others, but it didn't work _that_ well. (Partly because I'm not that wonderful at Greek, either. There, I have admitted some more scholarly deficiencies, sigh.)

[janetlin.livejournal.com]

The alphabet is, like, the main reason I wanted to learn Russian. _Years_ before I began studying it, I got one of these, you know, "teach yourself" kits and spent all my time writing English words in Cyrillic, because it looks so cool. I sat down with that thing at least once every six months, and I never got farther than the first chapter.

Now I can converse at about the level of a kindergartener or a first-grader. Woot!

[janetlin.livejournal.com]

And jeebus, I totally omitted the translit for на работу = "na rabotu" ~ to work (preposition, not verb)