# "Did she say anything about friends who are boys?"



## Downeasta

I was recently having a conversation with a russian friend of mine, who mentioned that her mother said "You are too busy to have a boyfriend!!"

I tried to answer with "Did she say anything about friends who are boys?" in Russian, but realized it may sound a bit odd. Do you see what I was trying to do there? Splitting "boyfriend" up into boys, who are your friend. How would one say that in russian?

Basically, I'd like a translation of 

""Did she say anything about friends who are boys?""

Thanks!!


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## Memphis9489

Downeasta said:


> I was recently having a conversation with a russian friend of mine, who mentioned that her mother said "You are too busy to have a boyfriend!!"
> 
> I tried to answer with "Did she say anything about friends who are boys?" in Russian, but realized it may sound a bit odd. Do you see what I was trying to do there? Splitting "boyfriend" up into boys, who are your friend. How would one say that in russian?
> 
> Basically, I'd like a translation of
> 
> ""Did she say anything about friends who are boys?""
> 
> Thanks!!



I'm going to take a shot at this just for the fun of it. I'm sure I'm wrong because my Russian is not very good.

Сказала ли она что-нибудь о _мужских_ друзьях?

может быть

Сказала ли она что-нибудь о друзьях мужского пола?


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## eni8ma

BTW, I'm a beginner as well   Here's my two bob's worth:

Сказала ли она что-либо о друзьях?
Did she say anything at all about your male friends?

Сказала ли она что-либо о подругах?
Did she say anything at all about your female friends?

Russians use a different word to denote female friends.

друг - male friend
подруга - female friend
подружка - girlfriend


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## Natalisha

Downeasta said:


> I was recently having a conversation with a russian friend of mine, who mentioned that her mother said "You are too busy to have a boyfriend!!"
> 
> I tried to answer with "Did she say anything about friends who are boys?" in Russian, but realized it may sound a bit odd. Do you see what I was trying to do there? Splitting "boyfriend" up into boys, who are your friend. How would one say that in russian?
> 
> Basically, I'd like a translation of
> 
> ""Did she say anything about friends who are boys?""
> 
> Thanks!!


How did you say that in Russian?


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## rdimd

IMHO, this woman said something like (literally) 'You are too busy to have a guy/young man (парень, молодой человек)' which means 'to have a boyfriend' but has nothing to do with boys. So, you can ask 'Сказала ли она что-нибудь о просто друзьях'

However, maybe instead of 'иметь парня' she said 'встречаться с парнем' (literally to go out with a guy) or 'дружить с парнем' (literally to be guy's friend). Then you can ask the same question but maybe you should remember that 'дружить' can mean both being friends and two persons having relationship.

In some languages, word 'friend' has in fact two meanings - 'friend' and 'boy/girlfriend' and instead of 'guy' or 'young man' word 'friend' is being used.


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## Maroseika

- Моя мама сказала, что я слишком занята (загружена учебой) для того, чтобы иметь мальчика.
- А о мальчиках, которые просто друзья, она ничего не сказала?

Мальчик in the context of иметь мальчика means boyfriend.


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## Memphis9489

eni8ma said:


> BTW, I'm a beginner as well   Here's my two bob's worth:
> 
> Сказала ли она что-либо о друзьях?
> Did she say anything at all about your male friends?
> 
> Сказала ли она что-либо о подругах?
> Did she say anything at all about your female friends?
> 
> Russians use a different word to denote female friends.
> 
> друг - male friend
> подруга - female friend
> подружка - girlfriend



I was thinking about going that route, too - realizing that there аre actually two words for friend in Russian (друг/подруга); however, "друг" is often generically used and did not seem to emphasize gender, especially when using it in the plural (i.e. друзья)

For instance, if you had 5 friends with you - you might say "Это мои друзья" even though some of them may be male and some may be female.

This is why I thought using the adjective мужской might be appropriate here.


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## Maroseika

Memphis9489 said:


> This is why I thought using the adjective мужской might be appropriate here.



Unfortunately, мужские друзья is not used in Russian and looks very strange. Even gramatically it rather means 'friends of men' then 'male friends' (cf. мужская одежда, мужские забавы).


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## rusita preciosa

eni8ma said:


> Сказала ли она что-либо о друзьях?
> Did she say anything at all about your male friends?


That will not work; the first thing one thinks when hearing *друзья* would be a group of friends, which can be mixed, all-male or all-female. You would have to emphasize that they are male friends.

In addition, since we do not have a specific word for boyfriend, in certain contexts *друг *can mean boyfriend. 

I like Marosieka’s suggestion, with the emphasis on “просто”. 

- А о молoдых людях, которые просто друзья, она ничего не сказала?


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## morzh

Maroseika said:


> - Моя мама сказала, что я слишком занята (загружена учебой) для того, чтобы иметь мальчика.
> - А о мальчиках, которые просто друзья, она ничего не сказала?
> 
> Мальчик in the context of иметь мальчика means boyfriend.




The very usage of "иметь" in this sense notwithstanding, "Иметь мальчика" sounds kinda dubious, doesn't it?


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## Maroseika

morzh said:


> The very usage of "иметь" in this sense notwithstanding, "Иметь мальчика" sounds kinda dubious, doesn't it?


Yes, it does (if one wants), but I meant the phrases like у меня есть мальчик, у меня нет мальчика.


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## morzh

Maroseika said:


> у меня есть мальчик, у меня нет мальчика.



Better.

Yes, I heard phrases like "иметь кучу женихов" (I'm not sure it is not strictly colloquial), just have trouble modifying it for "мальчик", especially in a single qty.


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## Maroseika

morzh said:


> Better.
> 
> Yes, I heard phrases like "иметь кучу женихов" (I'm not sure it is not strictly colloquial), just have trouble modifying it for "мальчик", especially in a single qty.



It's quite the same as my case. You can tell иметь кучу женихов, иметь мальчиков, but you never say in this sense она имеет женихов, мальчиков.
Иметь is just a general way to describe the situation when somebody has boys or whatsoever, right?


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## morzh

Not sure. I think "иметь кучу женихов" is more or less stable, habitually used phrase.
Make it "мальчиков" - may be I am wrong, but it sores my ear.


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## Maroseika

В твоем возрасте еще рано иметь мальчиков (ухажеров, женихов, воздыхателей, поклонников etc.) - sounds quite natural, doesn't it?


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## morzh

Maroseika said:


> В твоем возрасте еще рано иметь мальчиков (ухажеров, женихов, воздыхателей, поклонников etc.) - sounds quite natural, doesn't it?




Possible...as a colloquial, maybe.

Let's wait 'til my daughter grows up (she is screaming right now, being a hungry 3-mos old -  time to feed her - tengo que irme)  - I will tell you in about 16 years what I will say to her


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