Archives for: March 2009, 10

Охота

March 10th, 2009 by Don

One of the meanings of the word охота is desire. The word can be used predicatively, in which case the person who has the desire is in the dative.

Сегодня мне охота съездить в Петергоф. I'm in the mood to go to Peterhof today.
— Почему ты вчера на дискотеку не ходил?
— Мне просто не было охоты.		 “Why didn't you go to the club last night?”
“I just wasn't in the mood.”

Oddly enough, one of the uses of this word is to express the idea of disbelief and surprise that we express in English with sentences like “What the heck did you do that for?” or “Did you really mean to do that?” Examples:

— Вчера я с работы уволился.
— Ну, охота что была?		 “Yesterday I quit my job.”
“Did you do that on purpose!?”
— Вчера я сказала Борису, что он сукин сын и не хочу больше с ним видеться.
— Ну, охота же тебе была!?		 “Yesterday I told Boris that he is a son of a bitch and that I don't want to see him anymore.”
“What the heck did you do that for!?”
— Таня постоянно пьёт на работе.
— Ну, что ей за охота?		 “Tanya constantly drinks at work.”
“What the heck makes her do that!?”
— Не хочу я сегодня на работу. Лучше я пойду в парк, напишу для Тани песню.
— Охота вам!		 “I don't want to go to work today. I'd rather go to the park and write a song for Tanya.”
“Are you really going to spend your time doing that?”

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