Language/Russian/Grammar/Кое-То-Нибудь

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Hello everybody,

In today's lesson you will learn some useful vocabulary about ¨КОЕ ТО НИБУДЬ¨ in Russian.

Feel free to edit this page by adding new words and expressions!

Good learning! :)

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ENGLISH	PRONUNCIATION ENGLISH	RUSSIAN	PRONUNCIATION BRAZILIAN PORTUGUESE	BRAZILIAN PORTUGUESE
----------------- КОЕ
I WANT TO TELL YOU SOMETHING			Я хочу тебе кое-что сказать – I want to tell you something	EU QUERO TE DIZER ALGUMAS COISAS
YOU KNOW, I MUST TELL YOU SOMETHING			Знаешь, я должен тебе кое-что сказать…» - You know, I must tell you something	ENTENDEU, EU TENHO QUE DIZER ALGUMAS COISAS
I WAS WALKING IN THE PARK, DADDY, AND SOME PEOPLE CAME UP TO ME TO ASK THE TIME			Я гулял в парке, пап. Кое-кто подходил и спрашивал, который час – I was walking in the park, daddy, and some people came up to me to ask the time.	EU TAVA ANDANDO PELO PARQUE, PAPAI.. E ALGUMAS PESSOAS APARECERAM E ME PERGUNTARAM A HORA
--------------- ТО
LOOK ! SOMEBODY IS KNOCKING THE DOORBELL			Посмотри, кто-то звонит в дверь! - Look! Somebody is knocking the doorbell.	VEJA ! ALGUÉM TÁ
WE ARE GOING TO GO SOMEWHERE IN THE EVENING - PARENTS ARE DISCUSSING IT FOR WHOLE DAY			Вечером мы куда-то поедем – мама и папа уже весь день обсуждают это. -  We’re going to go somewhere in the evening – parents are discussing it for the whole day.
------------- НИБУДЬ
I CAN NOT OPEN THE DOOR, CALL SOMEBODY			Я не могу открыть дверь, позови кого-нибудь! -  I can’t open the door, call somebody
GIVE ME SOMETHING NOW !			Дай мне что-нибудь! Сейчас же! – Give me something! Now!
YOU DON´T KNOW THE MATERIAL AT ALL			Ты совсем не знаешь материал. – You don’t know the material at all.
WHAT WILL YOU SAY ?			Что ты скажешь? – What will you say?
I WILL INVENT SOMETHING			Что– нибудь придумаю – I’ll invent something

In the frame of this lesson let us discuss a very important topic referring to usage of particles ‘-то’, ‘-нибудь’ and ‘кое-‘ in the Russian language. The topic may be difficult for foreign students to master because the usage of each particle depends on exactly what they want to express or say. When we are going to inform about some object or place, without naming it, we should find out whether the speaker knows the object or place he or she is talking about.

кое

When he or she knows, we use a particle ‘кое-‘, for example: кое-кто, кое-где, кое-куда, кое-откуда, кое-кому, etc.

We use it when:

We want to keep things from other people

• Я хочу тебе кое-что сказать – I want to tell you something

Let us have a closer look at this example. Here we can see that the speaker definitely knows what he or she is speaking about, but he or she does not want other people know it. Study this example.

You have just seen a hooligan crushing your best friend’s car a little way from the school. You want to stop him but he manages to go away. So you head to your friend and tell him:

• Знаешь, я должен тебе кое-что сказать…» - You know, I must tell you something.

You of course know what you are going to say, but you notice that your friend is not alone when you approach him; there is his father behind him. You don’t want his father to hear your message, so you use ‘Кое-что’ to hide it.

We do not want to name it because of the quantity of the objects.

The idea is pretty simple: You walk into the park and some people once or twice approached to you to ask the time. You came home and tell to your daddy:

• Я гулял в парке, пап. Кое-кто подходил и спрашивал, который час – I was walking in the park, daddy, and some people came up to me to ask the time.

We use ‘кое-то’ because we know who approached, but they were many of them so we don’t want to mention each we just say that some people (we know who exactly) approached to you.

то

Alright, now let us have a look at the situation when we don’t know an object or a person, or a place we want to denote. Here we have the choice:

We can use ‘то’ if have already chosen the object but we still don’t know it. For example:

• Посмотри, кто-то звонит в дверь! - Look! Somebody is knocking the doorbell.

We don’t know who this is, but we have already chosen the object (someone behind the door), so we are talking exactly about the one behind the door although we don’t really know who this is.

The ‘-то’ particle is commonly used with the verbs in the past tense because in the past the object is tend to be determined by the speaker.

In the future tense we use ‘то’ when the object has already been chosen, for example:

• Вечером мы куда-то поедем – мама и папа уже весь день обсуждают это. -  We’re going to go somewhere in the evening – parents are discussing it for the whole day.

We don’t know the place, but there’s no options, we know that we’re going to go to the right place, it has already been chosen by parents.

нибудь

if we don’t know the object and it’s not determined we use ‘-нибудь’.

• Я не могу открыть дверь, позови кого-нибудь! -  I can’t open the door, call somebody!  

Remember that in the Imperative we commonly use ‘-нибудь’

• Дай мне что-нибудь! Сейчас же! – Give me something! Now!  

• Ты совсем не знаешь материал. – You don’t know the material at all.           

• Что ты скажешь? – What will you say?

• Что– нибудь придумаю – I’ll invent something

Quiz

So, it’s time for a short quiz, isn’t it?

1. Иди сюда, я должен тебе (1) …сказать.
2. Я хочу (2) ... съесть. Я очень голоден.
3. Эй, дед, машина не заводится, позови (3) …
4. Я сидел дома, и вдруг (4) … позвонил в дверь.
5. (5)... знает ответ?
6. Что мне сказать  президенту? - Не знаю, скажи (6) …
7. Эй, Ксюша, (7) …  пришёл и хочет тебя видеть.
8. Почему у неё такая ужасная причёска? - Её парикмахер всегда делает свою работу (8) …
9. Я не хочу изучать русский …(9), я хочу изучать хорошо.
10. Мари! - Да, Марк, ты хочешь мне (10)... сказать? - Да, ты наступила мне на ногу!

I hope this short lesson has helped you understand the difference among these three particles and made the process of choosing much easier. Thank you for your time and attention!