# Сколько



## jinxnao

Сколько Иван не прибавлял шагу, 
расстояние между преследуемыми и им
ничуть не сокращалось и не успел поэт     
опомниться, как после тихой Спиридоновки
очутился у Никитских ворот. 
What does this sentence mean? And use of Сколько here does not make sense to me true?


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## gvozd

From the translation of Michael Karpelson



> No matter *how much *speed Ivan put on, the distance between him and his targets did not decrease in the slightest. Before the poet could gather his wits, he had run out of quiet Spiridonovka and ended up on Nikitsky Gate...


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## jinxnao

как после тихой Спиридоновки = run out of quiet spiridinovka???  Where do you get the meaning of the " run " here from? and  после = after is not it?


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## gvozd

Buddy, the Russian language is too complicated, and my English is too weak to explain to you these subtleties. But I'll try to do my best.

Как после тихой Спиридоновки=В тот самый момент, как он миновал (пробежал, проскочил) тихую Спиридоновку


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## jinxnao

Ah I think it is a very elegant sentence and I guess I could get it in the end Thank you my dear friend. Now the mystery is solved by your help..


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## rusita preciosa

gvozd offered a literary translation, not a literal one, so it will not help you understand the structure of the sentence. 
как после тихой Спиридоновки = how after the quiet Spiridonovka
The meaning of *сколько не *is highly dependent on the context, in this case it is "no matter how much".


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## gvozd

rusita preciosa said:


> how after the quiet Spiridonovka



Does that make sense in English?


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## rusita preciosa

No. It is a literal translation for the OP to understand the structure of the sentence.


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## morzh

jinxnao said:


> Сколько Иван *не* прибавлял шагу,



Actually, I don't know what what's in the source, and I am lazy enough to go and find it, but it should be "сколько *ни*".

PS. I just found both version of the source; I think "не" is a result of someone's negligent typing.


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## gvozd

morzh said:


> Actually, I don't know what what's in the source, and I am lazy enough to go and find it, but it should be "сколько *ни*".
> 
> PS. I just found both version of the source; I think "не" is a result of someone's negligent typing.



Yes, It should be "сколько ни".


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## Sobakus

*как* here is part of the complex conjunction(?) *не* <...>, *как*, often used in the expression не успел <verb>, как. They both mean "he hardly did <...>", "before he could". Examples:

Не успел я сделать и двух шагов, как снова услышал его голос - Before I even made a few steps I heard his voice again.
Не сказала она и двух слов, как в зале раздался хохот - She hardly said anything when the audience started laughing.

 Note that you can't put a bare verb without успеть, so не опомнился поэт, как is wrong. You have to use a verbal phrase or add at least a particle, for example: поэт ещё даже не опомнился, как.


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## morzh

Sobakus said:


> *как* here is part of the complex conjunction(?) *не* <...>, *как*, often used in the expression не успел <verb>, как. They both mean "he hardly did <...>", "before he could". Examples:
> 
> Не успел я сделать и двух шагов, как снова услышал его голос - Before I even made a few steps I heard his voice again.
> Не сказала она и двух слов, как в зале раздался хохот - She hardly said anything when the audience started laughing.
> 
> Note that you can't put a bare verb without успеть, so не опомнился поэт, как is wrong. You have to use a verbal phrase or add at least a particle, for example: поэт ещё даже не опомнился, как.



I am sorry to tell you that, but you are way off, and what you give as examples has nothing to do with what's been said.


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## Sobakus

morzh said:


> I am sorry to tell you that, but you are way off, and what you give as examples has nothing to do with what's been said.


 I'm confused. What about "не успел поэт опомниться, как после тихой Спиридоновки очутился у Никитских ворот", how's it different?


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## morzh

We are talking of "как ни"...., and you are about "не успел". Still don't see any difference?


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## Sobakus

There's not a single instance of "как ни" in this thread. There's "сколько ни", and there's exactly one post about it, which is #2. Then there's two posts on "не vs ни", that have a whole topic devoted to them somewhere, the conclusion being that both are now considered correct if I remember right. All the other posts here concern "как после ".


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## morzh

OK. "сколько ни". It's still "ни". 

Those are standard expressions,  "сколько ни"/ "как ни", and it is an amplifying particle.

Look in Rosenthal, or something.

) Частица *ни* употребляется перед сказуемым в придаточных предложениях для усиления утвердительного смысла, например: _Слушайтесь его во всем, что ни прикажет_ (Пушкин). _Не мог он ямба от хорея, как мы ни бились, отличить_ (Пушкин). _Куда ни оглянусь, повсюду рожь густая_ (Майков). _Кто ни проедет, всякий похвалит_ (Пушкин).  Частица *ни* и придаточных предложениях  указанного типа примыкает к относительному слову или к союзу, и поэтому  придаточные предложения начинаются сочетаниями: _кто ни, __кто бы ни, __что ни, __что бы ни, _*как ни, как бы ни, *_*сколько ни,* сколько бы ни, __куда ни, куда бы ни, __где ни, где бы ни, __какой ни, какой бы ни, __чей ни, чей бы ни, __когда ни, когда бы ни_ и т. п.  



Again, you are WAY OFF.


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## Sobakus

Right, right, whatever, I'm not even talking about сколько ни/как ни. I'm answering the post #3 as do most of the answers in this thread. I think you need to reread it.


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## morzh

Gotcha.

Can I make a suggestion? Personally, when answering a remote post, especially if it is not the main question, I always quote it, so no confusion arises.
With "не/ни" sub-topic and your "не" example right after mine, I thought you were discussing the one I posted.


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## Sobakus

Yeah, I'll try and be more careful about that.


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