Question
24 Dec 2017
- Spanish (Mexico)
- English (US) Near fluent
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Japanese
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Russian
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Portuguese (Brazil)
Question about Russian
In which cases do you use "и" and "а"?
For example
Маша "и" Лена
Хорошо, "а" ты?
Or what's the difference?
In which cases do you use "и" and "а"?
For example
Маша "и" Лена
Хорошо, "а" ты?
Or what's the difference?
For example
Маша "и" Лена
Хорошо, "а" ты?
Or what's the difference?
Answers
24 Dec 2017
Featured answer
- Russian
«И» uses when enumeration.
«А» uses when opposition.
Opposition ((union (Маша+Лена) хорошо), а ты?)
Union=Маша и Лена.
Opposition in comparison between girls and you.
Example. 1. Маша и Лена хорошо, а я нет. Mary and Helen are good, but I am not.
2. Маша и Лена хорошо, и я тоже. Mary and Helen are good, and I am too.
3. Q: Маша и Лена хорошо, а ты?
A1: Я тоже.
A2: Я нет.
Read more comments
- Russian
Маша и лена здесь (в этом здании)
Маша здесь, а где Лена?
Или другой пример
Я в порядке, и ты в порядке (это не вопрос)
я в порядке, а ты? (не известно в порядке ты или нет)
- Russian
they are close to each other.
However, "а" adds some contrast, oppose/set against the first and the second object like "but" and "however" do in English.
- I have come there in time, BUT you haven't.
- Я пришёл туда вовремя, а ты - нет.
- Хорошо, а ты?
- I'm fine. BUT how about you?
- Spanish (Mexico)
- English (US) Near fluent
@proger4ever in the first example you said, can you use "но" instead of "a"? or is it always "a"?
- Russian
«И» uses when enumeration.
«А» uses when opposition.
Opposition ((union (Маша+Лена) хорошо), а ты?)
Union=Маша и Лена.
Opposition in comparison between girls and you.
Example. 1. Маша и Лена хорошо, а я нет. Mary and Helen are good, but I am not.
2. Маша и Лена хорошо, и я тоже. Mary and Helen are good, and I am too.
3. Q: Маша и Лена хорошо, а ты?
A1: Я тоже.
A2: Я нет.
- Russian
Похоже на использование "sino" в испанском:
no quiero agua sino jugo
я хочу не воду, а сок
- Russian
@MiriamDavis “но” should be used in another situations.
Я хочу пойти на вечеринку, но родители не разрешают. I want to go at the party, but parents don’t let me go.
Ты можешь управлять машиной в России, но для этого нужно иметь водительское удостоверение международного образца. You can drive a car in Russia, but it needs to have a driving license of international standard.
- Spanish (Mexico)
- English (US) Near fluent
@chingachguckru how can I know when to use one and when the other?
- Russian
@MiriamDavis
Only practice, only practice and experience :)
I would say that "но" и "а" are interchangeable.
You can say: "Я хочу пойти на вечеринку, а родители не разрешают."
Sounds good too (for me)
- Russian
@chingachguckru
Как Вы считаете, можно ли использовать "а" в Вашем предложении?
Мне кажется, да. Звучит нормально для меня :)
- Russian
@proger4ever конечно можно, но во втором примере про водительское удостоверение больше подходит «но», хотя можно и «а» если очень хочется.
- Russian
@MiriamDavis
I think, а=и+но
So, if you want to oppose strongly, use "но". When you want to add a bit of opposition/contrast, you should use "а".
And when you want to say just "and" you should use "и".
- Russian
@MiriamDavis I think “но” sounds more strong opposition then “а” like “must” then “may”. Its my opinion.

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