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Не (часть вторая)
After two weeks of studying Russian every student knows that не means not. Thus «Я не говорю по-русски» means “I do not speak Russian.” Seems pretty simple. Nonetheless, не can sometimes be misleading because Russians often use не in offers/suggestions to make them softer, more polite, less pushy. Consider the following sentences and translations:
| Не хочешь пойти в кино? | Would you like to go to the movies? |
| Не хочешь чая? | Would you like some tea? |
| Не будем смотреть телевизор? | Shall we watch TV? |
| Не передашь мне журнал? | Could you hand me the magazine? |
Notice that none of the English translations have ‘not’ in them. The не in the Russian sentence simply makes the request a bit more polite, and therefore the best translation of such sentences often contains could or would in them.
Notice that a beginner might be tempted to translate «Не хочешь чая?» as “Don't you want some tea?” That would be a bad translation. When an English speaker asks “Don't you want some tea?”, he is asking because he is surprised that the other person doesn't seem to want tea.
1 comment
Разве не хочешь пойти в кино? - Wouldn't you like to go to the movies?
Разве не хочешь чая? - Don't you want some tea?
Разве не будем смотреть телевизор? - Won't we watch TV?
The last example won't work this way though because "передашь" is a future tense.
Don responds: Because of the ‘would’ in “Wouldn't you like to go to the movies?”, many speakers of American English would interpret that sentence simply as a suggestion, not as surprise. Разве sentences are often translated with the word ‘really,’ in other words “Do you really not want to go to the movies?” or “You really don't want to go to the movies?” “Don't you want to go to the movies?” also captures the idea of surprise. Your second and third translations are fine. They also have alternative translations with ‘really’: “You really don't want any tea?” and “We really aren't going to watch TV?”
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