Archives for: April 2010, 20

Ломать/сломать & ломаться/сломаться

April 20th, 2010 by Tatiana

A little while ago I wrote about words that can have multiple meanings because of their use in Russian slang. The verb «ломать» as well as its reflexive form «ломаться» are also such words.

The main meaning of this verb is “to break”. However, someone could say меня ломает to express a feeling of withdrawal after using drugs or when being sick and running high fever. Consequently, the word for withdrawals is «ломка».

Когда моя кошка опрокинула вазу, тюльпаны упали на пол и их стебли сломались. When my cat knocked a vase over, the tulips fell on the floor and the stems got broken.
— Катя, зачем ты сломала Ленину куклу?
— Потому, что она не давала мне с ней играть!		 “Katya, why did you break Lena’s doll?"
“Because she wouldn’t let me play with it!”
На улице было очень скользко. Я упала и сломала руку! It was very slippery outside. I fell and broke my arm.
— Почему Костя так себя ведёт?
— Его ломает: он пытается бросить принимать наркотики.		 “Why is Kostya acting this way?”
“He’s having withdrawals from trying to quit taking drugs.”

There is also a rather well used idiom using this verb: «ломать себе голову». It means to puzzle or rack one's brains over something.

Я ломаю себе голову, пытаясь понять, как это случилось. I am puzzled trying to understand how it happened.

The reflexive form, ломаться, means to quit working or functioning.

У меня поломалась машина, можешь подвезти? My car broke; could you give me a ride?

However, ломаться can also mean, “crack” when referencing changes in a young’s man’s voice.

У Васи голос уже ломается, он становится мужчиной. Vasya’s voice is cracking; he’s becoming a man.

Also, ломаться has two other meanings in Russian slang. The first one is to "put on airs, while the second one is to "stubbornly refuse to concede".

Ну что ты ломаешься? Не можешь нормально говорить? Why are you putting on airs? Can’t you speak normally?
Дима, тебя все упрашивают, а ты ломаешься! Ну, кто так делает? Dima, everyone is begging you and you are stubbornly refusing! Who does that?

Here's a video from Kira Muratova's movie. Her movies are always very unique. More often than not the main character is played by Renata Litvinova, who is the queen of putting on airs.

If you would like to see a transcript and translation of this clip, click here.

Posted in Slang, Verb pairs, Idioms | 3 comments »