Интересно
Most qualitative adjectives that end in -ый can be turned into adverbs by dropping the last two letters of the nominative singular and then adding -о. The adjective интересный ‘interesting’ is no exception, thus интересно means ‘interestingly.’ Of course no one says ‘interestingly’ in English, but the Russians use интересно all the time:
| Мы очень интересно провели время. | We had a good time. Lit., we spent the time interestingly. |
| Профессор очень интересно объяснил формирование солнечной системы. | The professor explained the formation of the solar system in a very interesting fashion. |
What is really interesting is that Russians use this word where Americans use the phrase “I wonder?”
| Интересно, когда наконец-то начнутся летние дожди? | I wonder when the summer rains will finally begin? |
| Интересно, сколько теперь стоит номер в гостинице в Москве? | I wonder how much a hotel room costs in Moscow nowadays? |
1 comment
Oh, man, Don, this is so useful. I tend to think in Russian as much as I possibly can - mostly because I’m not actively studying it at the moment. Kind of a way to maintain my skills without having to do any work, and I often say “I wonder", but up until now I didn’t know how to say it. Totally sweet.
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