# за чаем



## Gulse

*Поговорим о любви за чаем
**Мы за чаем* не скучаем 
Что тут значие За Чаем ? 
Значит во время/когда пьём чай что ли ?


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## Drink

Gulse said:


> *Поговорим о любви за чаем
> **Мы за чаем не скучаем*
> 
> 
> Что тут значит За Чаем ?
> Значит во время/когда пьём чай что ли ?



В первым примере, да. По-английски можно сказать "over tea", и предложение монжно перевести так: "We will talk about love over tea.".
Второй пример можно перевести на английский либо "We don't miss tea." либо "We don't miss [people] over tea."


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## rwils79

Да, это значит "в то время, когда (мы) пьём чай".


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## Gulse

So can we say *also *for 2nd one ; We do not get bored drinking/while drink tea ?


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## Drink

Gulse said:


> So can we say *also *for 2nd one ; We do not get bored drinking/while drink tea ?



Yes. But don't forget that it is ambiguous because "за ___" is used with the verb "скучать" ("to miss") to indicate who/what you are missing.


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## Angelo di fuoco

Gulse said:


> So can we say *also *for 2nd one ; We do not get bored drinking/while drink tea ?



"We do not get bored over tea" (with variations) is the only correct translation, not "we don't miss people over tea" or "we don't miss tea".


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## Drink

Angelo di fuoco said:


> "We do not get bored over tea" (with variations) is the only correct translation, not "we don't miss people over tea" or "we don't miss tea".



How then do you propose to translate "We don't miss tea." into Russian?


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## Angelo di fuoco

Drink said:


> Yes. But don't forget that it is ambiguous because "за ___" is used with the verb "скучать" ("to miss") to indicate who/what you are missing.



In Standard Russian it's "скучать по кому/чему". "Скучать за кем/чем" is regional (Southern Russian and Russian in Ukraine, although I also heard that from people from Novosibirsk) or very colloquial. "We don't miss [people] over tea" is very far-fetched.


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## Angelo di fuoco

Drink said:


> How then do you propose to translate "We don't miss tea." into Russian?


Мы ПО чаю не скучаем, sea my explanation above.


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## Drink

Angelo di fuoco said:


> Мы ПО чаю не скучаем, sea my explanation above.



Touché. "Скучать за" must be colloquial then, but it is still used.


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## Angelo di fuoco

I know it's used. My grandma (from Krasnodar) and my sister-in-law (from Donetsk) use it all the time.


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## Drink

Angelo di fuoco said:


> I know it's used. My grandma (from Krasnodar) and my sister-in-law (from Donetsk) use it all the time.



And therefore, "Мы за чаем не скучаем." can also mean "We don't miss tea."


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## Angelo di fuoco

They use it only when speaking about people, not about things.


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## Drink

Angelo di fuoco said:


> They use it only when speaking about people, not about things.



Maybe they only use it for people, but others use it for things as well.


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## Angelo di fuoco

I fear you don't understand what's the different between good literary Russian and colloquial Russian.
"Мы за чаем не скучаем" with its rhyme is quite obvious literary (standard) and not colloquial Russian, therefore there's only one possible interpretation: not getting bored over tea.


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## Drink

Angelo di fuoco said:


> I fear you don't understand what's the different between good literary Russian and colloquial Russian.
> "Мы за чаем не скучаем" with its rhyme is quite obvious literary (standard) and not colloquial Russian, therefore there's only one possible interpretation: not getting bored over tea.



I agree that in the most likely scenario, it means "We don't get bored over tea." But I disagree that a rhyme implies literary language.


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## Angelo di fuoco

Хлебом-солью всех встречаем,
Самовар на стол несём.
Мы за чаем не скучаем,
Говорим о том, о сём.


Из стихотворения В. Берестова "Матрёшкины потешки"
It's from a poem, moreover: a poem meant to be read to/by children. Those are usually particularly careful in using correct language (except when imitating colloquial speech).

​


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## Drink

Angelo di fuoco said:


> Хлебом-солью всех встречаем,
> Самовар на стол несём.
> Мы за чаем не скучаем,
> Говорим о том, о сём.
> 
> 
> Из стихотворения В. Берестова "Матрёшкины потешки"
> It's from a poem, moreover: a poem meant to be read to/by children. Those are usually particularly careful in using correct language (except when imitating colloquial speech).
> 
> ​



In the context of the poem, you are right, but the poem does not have a monopoly on this phrase.


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## Maroseika

Drink said:


> Второй пример можно перевести на английский либо "We don't miss tea." либо "We don't miss [people] over tea."



I agree with *Angelo di fuoco**http://forum.wordreference.com/member.php?u=398198*, this  can by no means signify "We don't miss tea." Colloquial or regional cкучать за кем-либо in the sense "to miss smb." is used only with people. Скучать за чем-либо means Скучать, делая что-либо.

More generally, the sense of preposition *за + noun* here is "in the process of smth":
за обедом - at dinner
за чаем - in the process of drinking tea
Я застал его за работой - I found him working.


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## punctuate

Drink said:


> How then do you propose to translate "We don't miss tea." into Russian?


 Нам не жалко, что нет чая. Мы не соскучились по нашим вечерним чаепитиям. Без чая вполне нормально. Можно и без чая пожить. Снова покупать чай ещё рано. Обойдёмся без чая. Do I get the meaning right? To tell truth, мы не скучаем по чаю is a strange thing to say, I don't imagine why one would want to say that. Only if one has his sentimental reasons to feel dearly about tea, or rather about tea drinking; but even then it would be way too special. The considerations about literary/colloquial language do not quite matter here, in my opinion, but this consideration about being sensical does. The rhyme implies that the place and the action are connected, that's why it feels as yet another consideration for the interpretation by Angelo di fuoco: there is no reason to rhyme the object to miss and the action of missing (apart from there is no reason to say that thing of feeling dearly about tea at all).


Drink said:


> Touché. "Скучать за" must be colloquial then, but it is still used.


It's not used in my area. At all. To the degree it sounds impossible, not just quirky. "Нам без тебя скучно" is. "Мы очень по тебе скучаем", too.


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## blind pew

imho ,  "за чаем"  means_ in passing, by the way_, _superficially_.
So "Поговорим о любви за чаем " -  We will talk about love incidentally.
"Мы за чаем не скучаем" - We do not get boarded at all.


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