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Hi again all,

Another minor point in Russian that I hesitate about is the use of the suffixes ичный vs. ический. I could be wrong, but I've noticed that, usually with abstract words or borrowings, adjectives are said with both endings, almost interchangably. The only really good example that comes to mind at the moment is  реалистичный / реалистический, but I think there are many more I have come across.

A separate but related observation is that often the two suffixes create slightly different meanings. Am I right about that? For example:
экономичный - frugal, economical
экономический - economic (as in, экономический университет)

Other examples of this would be практичный / практический  and гипотетичный / гипотетический. Is there any pattern to this or way to use them more correctly or do you just have to learn them on a case by case basis?

There seem to be some subtle differences between the verbs угадать and догадаться. Both in English, I think, would be translated as 'to guess.' Can you explain some of the differences between them and give examples of situations in which to use each?

This is something I should know, but have forgotten apparently. When you have a situation where the word is grammatically masculine, but you are describing a woman, isn't the adjective feminine? For example:

Какая / какой ты молодец! - spoken to a woman
Она очень хорошая / хороший бизнесмен.
Она довольно известная / известный профессор.
Моя подруга - очень хороший / хорошая юрист.

Many thanks!

After many years of trips to Russia, this year I've noticed that almost everyone is saying платить по карте, although I do not remember almost ever hearing it before. In the past I recall hearing almost always some variant of the instrumental case:  заплатить картой, заплатить карточкой, заплатить кредитной картой...  Is 'по карте' a new thing? Any reflections on this development?

What does that mean exactly? Listening to the song Весенее танго by Sergey and Tatyana Nikitin(a)

Приходит время, с юга птицы прилетают
Снеговые горы тают и не до сна

Wondering if it's a colloquial phrase meaning "not completely," but I find it odd that сон would be here.

Another question regarding a later stanza:

Сколько сердце валидолом не лечи
Всё равно сплошные перебои
Сколько головой об стенку не стучи
Не помогут лучшие врачи

I'm assuming a good translation would be:

No matter how much you treat a heart with validol
You'll still have complete stoppage (<- not the prettiest word choice here, but...)
No matter how much you hit you head on a wall
The best doctors won't/can't help

So the construction "Сколько ... не + imp." means "No matter how much...," correct? Wondering how common this is used in speech as opposed to what I've heard before, something like "Да не важно, сколько ..., все таки не поможет!" Thoughts?

Hi everyone! I'm sure this has been asked before, but what apps do you recommend for a Russian-English dictionary? I love Multitran and how detailed it is, as well as ABBY Lingvo (when it was still alive...) but I can't seem to find an app from them so I can pull this information easily from my phone. Help? Спасибо заранее!

May be of interest to those who are interested in Russian literature/theatre
https://rbth.com/arts/theatre/2016/07/14/moscow-theaters-go-to-us_610929

(edited spelling)

Hello, all! I have another question about usage. :)

So in this snippet, the two are talking about ice cream. I want to make sure I understand the cases at work in these responses, which appear to me to be elliptical.

1 Mom: что ты хочешь, чтобы мама тебе купила?
2 Kid: мороженое!
3 Mom: какое?
4 Kid: жёлтое.
5 Mom: а шоколадное?
6 Kid: и шоколадное хочу смешать .
7 Mom: а ещё что?
8 Kid: и с ним будет леденец рядом .
9 Mom: ага, ещё что?
10 Kid: ничё
11 Kid: и тебя мороженого!
12 Kid: и милы мороженое!

In line 2, мороженое is an elliptical response in accusative case. Is line 3 also accusative? And therefore line 4? And 5?

In line 11, I think the kid is saying "and ice cream for you!" I think the kid left out "для" in this sentence. This is sort of a minor question, but is there a significant difference between saying "это для тебя" vs "это тебе"?

In a completely separate part of the tape, the child is talking about an episode of a kids' show (Лунтик и его друзья, if you're wondering). In the story, a character dresses up as a ghost in order to frighten his friends. The kid in the recording says the friends run around scared, shouting, "спасение от привидения!" Is that an appropriate thing to shout? As opposed to something like, "спаси меня!" or "помоги! это привидение!"

Thank you for any insight you can provide!

Here's the context:

Mom: а кто там ещё был из деток с вами ?
Kid: раз пять шесть четыре и всё
Kid: нас было пять и ещё . (could also have said всё, it's not clear)
Mom: а детки были из вашей группы ?
Kid: нашей с цыплёнок .

Background info: The kid is talking about her groups at school. Her group, I think, is the chicks group. There's another group called the rainbow group.

This is what I think is being said:

Mom: and who among the children was still there with you?
Kid: one, five, six, four and that's it
Kid: there were five of us and more (or, "and that's it")
Mom: but the kids were from your group?
Kid: (from) our (group) with.. um.. chicken? (THIS IS WHERE I'M LOST)

How can I make sense of the fifth line, or is it another example of ungrammatical (and therefore nonsensical) speech?

Another question: Can садик be a short word for детский сад?

Thank you, all!