Archives for: March 2009, 24
Уже
March 24th, 2009 by DonThe word уже means already. Be careful to get the stress right because if you say уже that means narrower.
| Я уже смотрел тот фильм. | I've already seen that film. |
| Я уже написала домашнее задание. | I've already finished my homework. |
When уже combines with the negative particle не, we translate the combination into English with the phrases “no longer” or “not anymore.”
| Оля уже не живёт в Москве. | Olya no longer lives in Moscow. Olya doesn't live in Moscow any more. |
| Эдик пять лет работал в итальянском ресторане, он уже не любит есть спагетти. | Ed worked at an Italian restaurant for five years. He no longer likes to eat spaghetti. |
The Russians use уже much more than the English speakers use the word already, and very often the meaning is somewhat attenuated. That kind of “faded” уже is sometimes captured by the word “now” or “really,” and sometimes it's best left simply untranslated.
| Он уже давно живёт в Москве. | He has been living in Moscow for quite some time now. |
| Она уже скоро пойдёт домой. | She'll be heading home soon now. |
| Я хотел сегодня почистить тарелки, помыть полы, и постирать, просто не было возможности. А убирать квартиру уже можно. | Today I wanted to wash the dishes, clean the floors and do laundry, but I simply didn't have the chance. But I can straighten up the apartment. |
| — Боря сказал, что у тебя хорошее лекарство от головной боли. — Это уже не лекарство, а целебные травы, которые обновляют правильную функцию организма. |
“Borya said that you have good medicine for a headache.” “It's not really medicine, but rather medicinal herbs that restore the body's proper functioning.” |
One last quirk is that уже is sometimes shortened into уж. There is also a noun уж that means “grass snake.” So how do you tell when the Russians mean “already” and when they mean “grass snake”? Frankly, if you can't tell the difference between those two things in context, you aren't smart enough to study Russian. Consider switching your major to French.
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