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From: jcf@world.std.com (Joseph C Fineman)
Subject: Re: Russian accusative with infinitive
Message-ID: <D58xpA.HJo@world.std.com>
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
References: <cto.794821127@olicom> <3jqa65$pfs@overload.lbl.gov>
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 1995 22:41:34 GMT
Lines: 23

veklerov@spindle.ee.lbl.gov (Eugene Veklerov) writes:

>In article <cto.794821127@olicom> cto@olicom.olicom.dk (Claus Toendering) writes:
>>Does Russian have an equivalent of the English accusative with infinitive?
>>In other words, can you translate "I heard him sing" thus: "Ya slyshal
>>yego pet'"?

>No, and it took me a lot of time to get used to English phrases,
>such as "I heard him sing".  The best Russian translation I can
>come up with is "Ya slyshal kak on pel".  Translated back into
>English, it is "I heard how he sang".

Likewise (as best I can recall), "I told him to sing" is "Ya skazal,
chtoby on pel" ("I told in-order-that he [should] sing").

The only accusative-&-infinitive construction that I have encountered
in my small study of Russian is "I asked him to sing", which goes over
quite literally into "Ya poprosil yego pet'".  At any rate, it is much
rarer in Russian than in English.
-- 
        Joe Fineman             jcf@world.std.com
        239 Clinton Road        (617) 731-9190
        Brookline, MA 02146
