# Someone is waiting for me.



## dilwala

Hi!

If I had to leave and I wanted to say, "Sorry, I gotta go now. Someone is waiting for me."
How would you translate the second sentence?
I don't need a literal translation. Just something to convey the meaning. It can be like, "I am being waited for." or "There is someone waiting."


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## DrDIT

"Меня ждут" (I'm being waited) is one of the options.


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## dilwala

Thanks, but wouldn't that mean "They are waiting for me."? I think that ждут is the plural form, not the singular.
I want to say that one person is waiting for me.


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## Rosett

"Меня ждут" does not convey specifically meaning how many people are waiting. It is quite possible, that there is only one person waiting. You can say: "Меня ждёт (один) человек (if you do know the person, but do not want disclose who is it)," or "Меня кто-то ждёт (if you don't know who is it; however, colloquially, it is also possible to say if you do know the person)."


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## dilwala

Hmm, I see. I am surprised by this use of то, because I had only heard it used in sentences like: Вы хотите мне что-то сказать? "You wanna say something to me?" (If a friend of yours calls your name and you turn to him and ask him "You wanna say something to me?")


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## Q-cumber

"


dilwala said:


> Thanks, but wouldn't that mean "They are waiting for me."? I think that ждут is the plural form, not the singular.
> I want to say that one person is waiting for me.


It's a fixed saying.  No matter how many people are waiting.
You can say "Меня человек ждёт", but "Меня ждут" is also fine.

"Извините, мне пора (бежать). Меня ждут / Меня человек ждёт."


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## Rosett

dilwala said:


> Hmm, I see. I am surprised by this use of то, because I had only heard it used in sentences like: Вы хотите мне что-то сказать? "You wanna say something to me?" (If a friend of yours calls your name and you turn to him and ask him "You wanna say something to me?")


Yes, we can use "кто-то" colloquially in the sense of one person who is known to you (or to both of you.)


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## dilwala

Rosett said:


> Yes, we can use "кто-то" colloquially in the sense of one person who is known to you (or to both of you.)



Thanks. What about non-colloquially? I mean formally.
In formal speech where can you use кто-то? Would you use it if you wanted to ask, "Is someone waiting for me?"


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## Rosett

dilwala said:


> Thanks. What about non-colloquially? I mean formally.
> In formal speech where can you use кто-то? Would you use it if you wanted to ask, "Is someone waiting for me?"


In standard Russian, you can say: "Меня кто-нибудь ждёт?", assuming that you either may, or may not, expect one or more visitors. If you say: "Меня кто-то ждёт?", then standard meaning is that you are not expecting visitors.
Please find a much more elaborated talk about the subject below:
Difference between кто-то and кто-нибудь


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## Q-cumber

In my opinion "меня кто-то ждёт" is not applicable in the given context. This wording would sound quite strange. It can be used in some specific circumstances only. If you know that some person is waiting for you, but you have no idea who is that, then you can say: "меня там кто-то ждёт. Я должен идти". Otherwise you'd rather use the pronoun "кое-то".
  If you are a doctor, it is very likely that some patients or their relatives are waiting for you near your office room. However you don't know for sure whether there are any waiters. Then you can say: "Извините, мне надо иди. Меня (наверное уже) *кто-нибудь *ждёт возле кабинета.


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## Awwal12

Q-cumber said:


> In my opinion "меня кто-то ждёт" is not applicable in the given context.


Agreed. In all idioms which I am accustomed to, as well as in the standard language, pronoun "кто-то" explicitly defines that the subject is not known to the speaker (as opposed to "кое-кто", which, however, is not used in the colloquial speech very frequently).


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## Rosett

Awwal12 said:


> Agreed. In all idioms which I am accustomed to, as well as in the standard language, pronoun "кто-то" explicitly defines that the subject is not known to the speaker (as opposed to "кое-кто", which, however, is not used in the colloquial speech very frequently).


Exactly for that reason, in substandard speech, "кое-кто", or "человек" would be often substituted by ungrammatical "кто-то", that is needless to prove here.


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## Q-cumber

Rosett said:


> Exactly for that reason, in substandard speech, "кое-кто", or "человек" would be often substituted by ungrammatical "кто-то", that is needless to prove here.


Does it really make sense to popularize 'ungrammatical' constructions here?


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## Rosett

Q-cumber said:


> Does it really make sense to popularize 'ungrammatical' constructions here?


If you read the thread carefully, you can find how this point was introduced in the discussion.
Unfortunately, those who learn Russian can find a substantial difference between their textbooks and native talks.


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## Awwal12

Rosett said:


> Unfortunately, those who learn Russian can find a substantial difference between their textbooks and native talks.


Unfortunately, the phrase you suggested will likely look really ungrammatical (not merely illiterate) to most Russian speakers, so the point about native talks is hardly valid in my opinion.


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## HotIcyDonut

"Меня ждут" is totally fine. It doesn't mention who exactly is waiting. In such impersonal sentences like this (with accusative noun/pronoun), plural form of a verb is used.

"Меня ненавидИт мой босс" - my boss hates me (subject is specified as singular, so is the verb, gender doesn't matter)

"Меня ненавидЯт мои коллеги" - "my colleagues hate me (subject specified as plural, so is the verb, gender doesn't matter)

"Меня ненавидЯт" - i'm being hated (by a single person or by many, subject is unspecified, but verb is always plural, gender doesn't matter)

Short form of passive participle is also possible, in this case an accusative pronoun is replaced by a nominative noun/pronoun, and a participle agrees with it in gender and number.

"Я ожидаема/ненавидима.." (a female person speaks, a singular feminine short passive participle is used)

"Я ожидаем/ненавидим.." (a male person, a masculine singular short passive participle)

"Мы ожидаемы/ненавидимы.." (multiple persons, plural short passive participle)

P. S. same rules apply to infintive constructions. E.g. for accusative constrictions:

"Меня хотят видеть дома к полуночи" (I'm expected to be at home by midnight), subject is unspecified, plural is used.

But if it's specified, number depends on it ("Мама/папа хоЧЕТ меня видеть дома к полуночи, "Родители хоТЯТ меня видеть дома к полуночи")

For nominative:

Я ожидаЕМ быть дома к полуночи.. (a male is expected)
Я ожидаЕМА.. (a female)
Мы ожидаЕМЫ (multiple)


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## Rosett

Awwal12 said:


> Unfortunately, the phrase you suggested will likely look really ungrammatical (not merely illiterate) to most Russian speakers, so the point about native talks is hardly valid in my opinion.


A similar phenomenon exists invariably in many languages that may be quite different from each other, but it does not impair legibility due to contextual reasons.


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## Q-cumber

HotIcyDonut said:


> "Я ожидаема/ненавидима.." (a female person speaks, a singular feminine short passive participle is used)
> 
> "Я ожидаем/ненавидим.." (a male person, a masculine singular short passive participle)
> 
> "Мы ожидаемы/ненавидимы.." (multiple persons, plural short passive participle)
> ........
> For nominative:
> 
> Я ожидаЕМ быть дома к полуночи.. (a male is expected)
> Я ожидаЕМА.. (a female)
> Мы ожидаЕМЫ (multiple)


These passive constructions don't look natural. "Я ожидаема" would be rather associated with "я предсказуема" (I am predictable), as in "такая реакция вполне ожидаема".
"Я ожидаем быть дома к полуночи" is just ungrammatical.


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## HotIcyDonut

Q-cumber said:


> These passive constructions don't look natural. "Я ожидаема" would be rather associated with "я предсказуема" (I am predictable), as in "такая реакция вполне ожидаема".
> "Я ожидаем быть дома к полуночи" is just ungrammatical.



Maybe. But it's actually used colloquially

Как быть счастливым

Нет, прощать надо не того, кто заслужил прощения: разве так мы ожидаем быть прощёнными Господом

Русология. Хроники Квашниных

А ведь мать зрелая, ожидаема быть с душою..


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## Rosett

HotIcyDonut said:


> Maybe. But it's actually used colloquially
> 
> Как быть счастливым
> 
> Нет, прощать надо не того, кто заслужил прощения: разве так мы ожидаем быть прощёнными Господом


"мы ожидаем" in this example is in 1st person plural present tense and is not colloquial - just plain standard.


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## Sobakus

HotIcyDonut said:


> Я ожидаЕМ быть дома к полуночи.. (a male is expected)
> Я ожидаЕМА.. (a female)
> Мы ожидаЕМЫ (multiple)


This is not valid Russian, do not try to convince yourself otherwise. Russian does not express the passive voice with participles, but with either the active voice (меня ждут) or the reflexive (эксперимент проводится). Passive participles are very rare and have an adjectival (describing qualities), not verbal (describing actions) meaning: "эффект ожидаем – ожидаемый эффект".


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## HotIcyDonut

Sobakus said:


> This is not valid Russian, do not try to convince yourself otherwise. Russian does not express the passive voice with participles, but with either the active voice (меня ждут) or the reflexive (эксперимент проводится). Passive participles are very rare and have an adjectival (describing qualities), not verbal (describing actions) meaning: "эффект ожидаем – ожидаемый эффект".


 I disagree, a counter-example:

Проводимый Россией в 2018 Кубок по футболу по футболу обещает быть зрелищным (or Кубок по футболу, который будет проводим Россией в 2018 if short form is used)

Passive participle "проводимый" is used in verbal sense ("The Soccer Championship that will be hosted by Russia in 2018..."). Sounds fairly natural.


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## Sobakus

HotIcyDonut said:


> I disagree, a counter-example:
> 
> Проводимый Россией в 2018 Кубок по футболу по футболу обещает быть зрелищным (or Кубок по футболу, который будет проводим Россией в 2018 if short form is used)
> 
> Passive participle "проводимый" is used in verbal sense ("The Soccer Championship that will be hosted by Russia in 2018..."). Sounds fairly natural.


I phrased it poorly I guess. Yes, "проводимый кубок" refers to an action, in so far as any other participle refers to an action and a quality at the same time. But the short form in particular cannot take an object, and as such cannot be a verbal predicate of a clause (and the long one can't by default in standard Russian). In the English phrase "the letter is being written by someone", the participle "written" is part of the Present Continuous Passive _verbal tense _which is the predicate of the clause_. _In Russian, the participle "ожидаем(ый)" functions no differently to any adjective and does not form any verbal constructions or tenses.

The phrase "Я ожидаем" does not mean "Someone's waiting for me", it means "I am described as having the quality of being expected". "Я непредсказуем" doesn't mean "Somebody is not predicting me", it means "I am described as having the quality of not being predicted or predictable". Same goes for "кубок проводим".

While it's tentatively possible to stick a verbal object to those participles, on practice it's absolutely ungrammatical: "я ожидаем мамой к обеду", "кубок проводим в Мае", "крыша предсказуема обрушиться" are without a question ungrammatical Russian. Their only usage is in puns. Well, and maybe in self-published books written in pseudo-17th century Russian by slightly crazy avid readers of Велесова книга.


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## Awwal12

HotIcyDonut said:


> I disagree, a counter-example:
> Проводимый Россией в 2018 Кубок по футболу по футболу обещает быть зрелищным (or Кубок по футболу, который будет проводим Россией в 2018 if short form is used)
> Passive participle "проводимый" is used in verbal sense ("The Soccer Championship that will be hosted by Russia in 2018..."). Sounds fairly natural.


The first sentence is fine, but the second one is bad. Normally it should be "который будет *проводиться* Россией" (with the reflexive verb in passive meaning). As Sobakus pretty correctly noted, a passive participle is fine as an attributive, but normally won't do as a predicate.


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## Q-cumber

I'm thinking on whether the verb "ожидать" would also fit into the given context?

Мне надо идти! Меня ожидает посетитель / один человек, etc. 
I'm doubtful about it. What do you think?


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## Awwal12

Q-cumber said:


> I'm thinking on whether the verb "ожидать" would also fit into the given context?
> 
> Мне надо идти! Меня ожидает посетитель / один человек, etc.
> I'm doubtful about it. What do you think?


And why are you doubtful? It's fine (I cannot think about any semantic difference between the verbs ждать and ожидать), except it's considerably more formal. But it should suit some contexts for sure.


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## Q-cumber

Awwal12 said:


> And why are you doubtful? It's fine (I cannot think about any semantic difference between the verbs ждать and ожидать), except it's considerably more formal. But it should suit some contexts for sure.


That's what I was thinking about.... it only suits *some *contexts and I don't clearly understand why. Perhaps the word is a bit too official for daily conversations indeed.


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## AlexSh

ожидать = to have a presentiment, to apprehend, to suppose etc.
Меня ждут.
No matter who is waiting, I need to go.


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