# я давно знаком с ним.



## wonlon

Just another translation exercise.

Question: *I have known him / am acquainted with him for a long time. (free translation from Chinese)
*
Reference answer: *Я давно знаком с ним.* (use of short-form is one topic of the lesson)
My answer:* Мы с ним давно знакомы.*

Is my answer OK?
As I know, *Мы с ним *= я и он, so I use this construction.


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## Carrot Ironfoundersson

Actually, I like your answer even better.  It is normal Russian.


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## Natalisha

wonlon said:


> Just another translation exercise.
> 
> Question: *I have known him / am acquainted with him for a long time. (free translation from Chinese)
> *
> Reference answer: *Я давно знаком с ним.* (use of short-form is one topic of the lesson)
> My answer:* Мы с ним давно знакомы.*
> 
> Is my answer OK?
> As I know, *Мы с ним *= я и он, so I use this construction.


Yes, the meaning is the same but in the reference answer the emphasis is on _you_. 

_Мы с ним давно знакомы. - We have known each other for a long time._ 

If you think it doesn't matter you can use your sentence because both sentences mean exactly the same.


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## wonlon

* Мы с ним давно знакомы.

*Will this construction be ambigous? Such that it may mean "We have known *him* for a long time." _(_not "_each other")_


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## Natalisha

wonlon said:


> * Мы с ним давно знакомы.
> 
> *Will this construction be ambigous? Such that it may mean "We have known *him* for a long time." _(_not "_each other")_


Any phrase can be ambiguous without any context.


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## Carrot Ironfoundersson

You have to be very inventive to make it ambiguous. In 99.9% cases it won't be.


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## wonlon

(I and he are sitting.)

Which conjugation should I use in this construction?

Мы с ним сид*им*. (agree with мы)

or 

Мы с ним сид*ят*. (Мы с ним treated as one unit = они)


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## Carrot Ironfoundersson

Since "he" in this case is a part of "we", 1st person plural(сидим) is used.


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## wonlon

What conjugation to use for the following?

Вы с братом (You and your brother)
Саша с Наташей (Sasha and Natasha)


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## morzh

Natalisha said:


> Any phrase can be ambiguous without any context.



This has to be carved in stone and gilded with 24 karat gold.


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## morzh

wonlon said:


> What conjugation to use for the following?
> 
> Вы с братом (You and your brother)  - сидите. (agrees with "вы").
> Саша с Наташей (Sasha and Natasha) - сидят (by default), but may be "сидит" (agrees with "Саша")



Similar example:

Парень с девицей целуется (emphasis on "him smooching the girl")
Парень с девицей целуются (they are making out).


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## wonlon

morzh said:


> Similar example:
> 
> Парень с девицей целуется (emphasis on "him smooching the girl")
> Парень с девицей целуются (they are making out).



I thought that there is only one choice, but there are two (based on emphasis)?  это слишком сложно.


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## Natalisha

wonlon said:


> I thought that there is only one choice, but there are two (based on emphasis)? это слишком сложно.


No, wonlon, it's not difficult at all.

*Парень *с девицей целу*ется*. (3rd, sg.) - Он целуется.
*Парень с девицей *целу*ю**тся*. (3rd, pl.) - Они (парень и девица) целуются.


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## morzh

Natalisha said:


> No, wonlon, it's not difficult at all.
> 
> *Парень *с девицей целу*ется*. (3rd, sg.) - Он целуется.
> *Парень с девицей *целу*ю**тся*. (3rd, pl.) - Они (парень и девица) целуются.



I may be mistaken in my analysis, but although "парень с девицей" looks the same, in the 1-st case "парень" is subject and "девица" is object, and in case #2 "Парень с девицей" is subject, and there are no objects.


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## vzakharov

A little off the topic: "девица" has a distinct negative connotation in contemporary usage, so unless it is intended, I would use the word "девушка"


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## morzh

vzakharov said:


> A little off the topic: "девица" has a distinct negative connotation in contemporary usage, so unless it is intended, I would use the word "девушка"



1. It is not "деви́ца" - it is "де́вица", and it has no negative connotation whatsoever. It is only used in idioms nowadays (красна девица, девица-красавица), since the word itself is a bit obsolete.
2. #1 - is a quote from Nekrasov (and the song), #2 - juxtaposed to #1 to illustrate the difference.


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## Natalisha

morzh said:


> I may be mistaken in my analysis, but although "парень с девицей" looks the same, in the 1-st case "парень" is subject and "девица" is object, and in case #2 "Парень с девицей" is subject, and there are no objects.


Absolutely. To define subjects/objects we can ask simple questions.

Парень (кто/что? - именительный падеж) целуется с (кем/чем? - творительный падеж) девушкой.

Only subjects can answer the questions _кто/что?_


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## morzh

Natalisha said:


> Absolutely. To define subjects/objects we can ask simple questions.
> 
> Парень (кто/что? - именительный падеж) целуется с (кем/чем? - творительный падеж) девушкой.
> 
> Only subjects can answer the questions _кто/что?_



My doubts were about the other one. In "Перень с девушкою целуЮтся" I think "парень с девушкой" is "подлежащее".

PS. Just looked up the rules - I think, I am correct:

>>Кроме этого, подлежащее может выражаться:....
Существительное (или личное местоимение) в именительном падеже + _с_ + существительное в творительном падеже.
"Я с ним", "Мы с ним", "парень с девушкой".


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## Natalisha

morzh said:


> My doubts were about the other one. In "Перень с девушкою целуЮтся" I think "парень с девушкой" is "подлежащее".


Oops! But still, your analysis is absolutely correct. 

Подлежащее может состоять из существительного/местоимения в именительном падеже, к которому присоединяется существительное/местоимение в творительном падеже при помощи союза _с_.

PS Oh, I'm a bit late.


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## wonlon

in English please~


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