Разбираться/разобраться
One of the verbs I really like in Russian is разбираться. It has several meanings, but the one I have in mind today is the equvialent of "to have insight into, to understand". In this sense the verb is only used in the imperfective. For instance,
| На рынке: — Девушка, я плохо разбираюсь в пельменях. Не объясните, какая разница? — Это пельмени с мясом, а это не пельмени, а вареники с вишней, а это грузинские хинкали с мясом и бульоном. |
At the market: "Miss, I don't understand all the types of pelmeni. Could you explain the differences?" "These are meat-filled pelmeni, whereas these aren't pelmeni, but rather vareniki with cherry filling, and these are Georgian khinkali that have meat and broth in them." |
| — Я не знаю, как решить это уравнение. Не поможешь? — Саша наверно поможет. Он хорошо разбирается в математике, а я нет. |
"I don't know how to solve this equation. Could you help me?" "Aleksandr will probably help you. He understands math pretty well. I don't." |
| Люди с синдромом Аспергера плохо разбираются в людях и плохо понимают их мимику. | People with Asperger's syndrome have difficulty understanding people and have trouble recognizing facial expressions. |
As an imperfective/perfective pair the verb can mean "to sort out the details, to figure out what's going on, to clarify the situation":
| Хаус удивительный врач. Он хорошо разбирается в самых сложных заболеваниях. | House is an amazing doctor. He is quick to figure out the most incomprehensible cases. |
| Мы посылаем специалистов в Мексиканский залив. Как только они разберутся в ситуации там, они сообщат нам, какие меры надо применить. | We are sending specialists to the Gulf of Mexico. As soon as they figure out the situation there, they will let us know what steps have to be taken. |
Here is the conjugation of the verb for your convenience:
| Imperfective | Perfective | |
| Infinitive | разбираться | разобраться |
| Past | разбирался разбиралась разбиралось разбирались |
разобрался разобралась разобралось разобрались |
| Present | разбираюсь разбираешься разбирается разбираемся разбираетесь разбираются |
No such thing as perfective present in Russian. |
| Future |
буду разбираться будешь разбираться будет разбираться будем разбираться будете разбираться будут разбираться |
разберусь разберёшься разберётся разберёмся разберётесь разберуться |
| Imperative | разбирайся разбирайтесь |
разберись разберитесь |
Notes: "House" is amazingly popular in Russia. Everyone I talk to here has watched it.
The conversation about пельмени is based on one I had at the Чеховский рынок in Казань. The woman who ran the pelmeni stand was particular gracious and willing to have an extended conversation with a foreigner. It was she who introduced me to хинкали. She was selling mass-produced ones that were very good. I think regular khinkali actually have thinner dough. See this Wikipedia article for a picture.
1 comment
Khinkali are delicious!! at one point I pretty much only ate these in georgia. :-)
thanks for the blog and the sentences. I use them for vocabulary training and its fun to learn a little bit context to the words and their meaning.
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