-?‚??: a great little intensifying, attention-directing, intimacy-creating particle
A few months ago, before this newspaper's online comments section turned into a troll free-for-all and the kindest post that my columns got was, "Stupid expats can't speak Russian anyway, jerk-head," a thoughtful and curious poster asked about the particle -?‚??, which can be added to words, especially pronouns, usually as an intensifier. I love readers' questions, even though they always turn out to be trickier to answer than I expect.
With -?‚??, there are two tricks: figuring out how to use it in daily speech, and then figuring out how to translate it. These two little letters draw attention to a word, intensify the meaning, or add some emotional color to a phrase or utterance — that is, they do what Russian is great at doing. The problem is: English — not so much.
But some usages of -?‚?? aren't hard to deal with. First, there's the "I don't know exactly" -?‚??. The particle -?‚?? can be added to adverbs like ?????????° (when) or ?????µ (where) to produce "some" adverbs: ?????????°-?‚?? (sometime), ?????µ-?‚?? (somewhere), ?????‡?µ????-?‚?? (for some reason), ?‡?‚??-?‚?? (something). ?’???µ ?‚?€?°?????†???? ?????????°-?‚?? ?????·???????°???‚ ?????µ?€???‹?µ. (All traditions appear for the first time at some point.) ???‚??-?‚?? ?????µ ?????????€???», ?‡?‚?? ???? ?€?°?±???‚?°?µ?‚ ?? ?????‚?µ?€?µ. (Someone told me that he's working in St. Pete.) In all these cases, the -?‚?? means that you know something was done by someone sometime somewhere, but you don't know the specifics.
Then there's the "it's not important" -?‚??. In this case, you add -?‚?? to words, usually pronouns, to indicate that although you might know the details, you're not interested in them. For example: ???? ???‚?°?» ?€?°???????°?·?‹???°?‚??: ?±?‹?» ?‚?°??-?‚?? ?? ?‚?°??-?‚??, ???µ?»?°?» ?‚??-?‚?? ?? ?‚??-?‚??, ?????‚?€?µ?‡?°?»???? ?? ?‚?µ????-?‚?? ?? ?‚?µ????-?‚??. (And he began to tell his story: He was here and there, he did this and that, he met with so-and-so and so-and-so.)
And there's the opposite: the "this is really important" -?‚??. In this case, you add -?‚?? to whatever word you want to emphasize or draw attention to.
In spoken language, the -?‚?? usually gets conveyed by intonation. ????-?‚?? ???????????°?µ?‚! (***He*** understands.) But it's harder to convey on paper. Usually you have to add a lot to make up for those clever two letters: ???»?????°?‚??-?‚?? ???? ???»?????°?», ?° ?????‡?µ???? ???µ ???????????°?». (He might have listened, but it didn't make any difference, he didn't understand a thing.)
?????±?°????-?‚?? ???? ???‹?????»???», ???? ?????‚ ?????µ?€?? ?·?°???€?‹?‚?? ?·?°?±?‹?». (He forgot to close the door, but the dog — he sure remembered to walk that dog.) ?“???????€???‚, ?‡?‚?? ???????±???????‹?… ???‚???»???????? ???µ?‚, ?° ??-?‚?? ?????¶?? ???… ?????»????! (He tells me that there aren't any free tables, but I'm standing there, looking at a lot of them!)
Sometimes the emphasis is hard to grasp. For example, I asked some native speakers to tell me the difference between the phrases "?’ ???±?‰?µ??, ???? ?…???€???????? ?‡?µ?»?????µ??" and "?’ ???±?‰?µ??-?‚??, ???? ?…???€???????? ?‡?µ?»?????µ??." Both mean: In general, he's a good person. But since "?? ???±?‰?µ??" means "by and large, not entirely," when -?‚?? is added to it, the phrase emphasizes "not entirely" and sounds slightly more doubtful. You expect to hear: ???? … (but …).
And finally, there's the "emotional" -?‚??. When added to some words, -?‚?? somehow conveys intimacy or compassion or warmth. ????, ?±?µ???°-?‚??! (Oh, my heavens! That's just so sad!) ?’?????‡???°-?‚?? ???¶?µ ?‡???‚?°?µ?‚! (My smart little granddaughter already can read!)
???°?? ?‚???¶?µ?»??-?‚??! (Man, this is hard!)
Michele A. Berdy, a Moscow-based translator and interpreter, is author of "The Russian Word's Worth" (Glas), a collection of her columns.
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