Peculiarities of the Russian vocabulary that SHOCK foreigners

How to determine what ‘stands’ & what ‘lies’

Many foreigners are shocked that, in Russian, a glass ‘stands’ (‘стоит’; ‘stoit’)) on the table, but a spoon or fork ‘lies’ (‘лежит’; ‘lezhit’)). One might assume that ‘standing’ and ‘lying’ are connected to the logic of ‘vertical vs. horizontal’. But, a flat plate or frying pan also ‘stands’, it doesn't ‘lie’!

Figuring out what stands, what lies or even what ‘sits’ (like a bird on a branch), is not so simple! But, we did try to provide you with a couple of tips here. 

Words & expressions with too many meanings

Some words in Russian are exceptionally polysemous (have multiple meanings). For example, ‘davay’ is a universal word that’s used in almost any situation:

• “Давай погуляем!” (“Davay pogulyaem!”) This is a suggestion: "Let's go for a walk!"
• “Давай!” (“Davay!”) This is an agreement: "Okay!", "Let's do it!"
• “Ну всё, давай!” (“Nu vsyo, davay!”) This is a farewell: "That’s it, see you later!"

Double negation

“Unlike Russian, many European languages don’t have a double negation or it is used less frequently,” writes Andrey Gorshkov, editor at Gramota.ru.

The Russian phrase “Никто не приехал” (“Nikto ne priekhal”) would be literally translated into other languages as “Никто приехал” (“Nikto priekhal”):

• English: “Nobody came.”
• Spanish: “Nadie vino.”
• German: “Niemand ist gekommen.”

And how should one understand the expression “Да нет, наверное” ("Da net, navernoye")? Both affirmation, negation and assumption are heard all at once (It roughly translates to: "Well, probably not" or "I guess not").

Historically formed phrases

Some features of lexical collocation can only be understood in the context of historical realities: In Russian, we ‘fry’ (‘жарим’; ‘zharim’) potatoes, scrambled eggs and toast, but we ‘bake’ (‘печём’; ‘pechem’) pancakes, as if in a stove.

“The thing is, in the past, food was mostly cooked in stoves (and the majority of the country's population were peasants) and, most likely, pancakes retained this collocation, because they’re one of the most traditional Russian dishes,” Andrey Gorshkov explains.