# Sama



## Jaroh

Hi, I don't speak Russian or know very much about the language. I know a man that speaks Spanish and is originally from Russia or Ukraine, I'm not sure. When he speaks he always says "sama" after everything he says. I've been told that this is a filler word like um or uh. The context of how he uses it though seems more like how Mexican Spanish speakers use buey, or English speakers say dude, or man. Could someone give me some clarification on this. I have searched on the internet and found nothing. 

Thank you.


----------



## Moro12

It seems the word you mention is "сама" - roughly meaning "herself".
At least, it implies one of the interlocutors is feminine, otherwise "сам" ("himself") would be used.
But still, the whole word usage (as you descibe it) seems strange to me. Could you provide some more details of the phrases where he/she keeps using it?


----------



## Explorer41

She meant "самое", I think. Two unstressed vowel sounds at the end of the word can be heard almost like a single vowel.

*Jaroh*, "это самое" is indeed a filler word/filler expression.


----------



## Jaroh

Here are some typical examples. 
Spanish: ¿Comó estás sama? Me da, sama, mucho gusto conocerte sama. 
English: How are you sama? I'm pleased, sama, to meat you sama.

I'm spelling sama phonetically how you would in spanish. English it would be something like Sawmaw.


----------



## Explorer41

"Как ты, самое? Мне приятно, самое, встретить тебя, самое."

I can imagine it very well. If the stress is on the first syllable, then it is definitely "самое". If the stress is on the second syllable, then it is definitely "сама" or even "сома" () (and then I would be astonished very much, for both "сама" and "сома"). Anyway, the word "sama" is absolutely unnecessary there.


----------



## morzh

Jaroh said:


> Here are some typical examples.
> Spanish: ¿Comó estás sama? Me da, sama, mucho gusto conocerte sama.
> English: How are you sama? I'm pleased, sama, to meat you sama.
> 
> I'm spelling sama phonetically how you would in spanish. English it would be something like Sawmaw.



I think he uses something, (and, judging by how he uses it, it does not matter what it is) as a filelr word, without really understanding why he says it, or understanding it the wrong way.
It does sound as "это самое" with obliterated "это", but though it is a filler, hence a bad thing, even this he uses wrong.


----------



## Explorer41

morzh said:


> It does sound as "это самое" with obliterated "это", but though it is a filler, hence a bad thing, even this he uses wrong.


 Use fillers right!


----------



## morzh

Ну, можно себе представить, конечно, такое использование:

- Как дела, это самое? приятно, это самое, познакомиться, это самое.

Бр-р-р.. уж лучше бьi он "бля" употреблял.


----------



## Syline

Мне, например, вообще непонятно, почему он "это самое" (если это оно, конечно) употребляет не в русской речи, а в английской и испанской. Равносильно: Как дела, дуд? Приятно, дуд, познакомиться, дуд. О_о


----------



## Explorer41

*Syline*, я пытаюсь представить себе человека, который учил бы иностранные слова-паразиты, чтобы использовать их в речи!!.

EDIT: Т.е., например, русского, изучающего испанские слова-паразиты для испанской речи, как Вы предложили.


----------



## Syline

*Explorer41*, по словам автора треда, говорящий родом из России или Украины.


----------



## Jaroh

Thank you all for responding so quickly, but as I stated earlier, I do not know Russian. I speak Spanish and English. I appreciate your responses, but I don't understand them.(the ones in Russian) The man I know speaks to me in spanish, but always says sama. Sometimes the first vowel is stressed and sometimes the last vowel is stressed. He uses it so much, I assumed it was a very commonly used word.


----------



## Syline

Explorer41 said:


> *Syline*, я пытаюсь представить себе человека, который учил бы иностранные слова-паразиты, чтобы использовать их в речи!!.
> 
> EDIT: Т.е., например, русского, изучающего испанские слова-паразиты для испанской речи, как Вы предложили.


Слова-паразиты не изучаются, это обычные слова, которые начинают употребляться с завидной частотой по делу и без. Кстати, легко перенимаются из чужой речи.
Мне вообще вся ситуация кажется странной и маловероятной: вставка русского "(это) самое" в англ. или исп. речь, да практически через слово. 

*Jaroh*, are you sure "sama" in the man's speech has Russian origin? I find it very strange that he uses this filler (э́то са́мое) when speaking Spanish or English. But then you say that the stress sometimes falls on the last syllable. In this case it can't be a filler.


----------



## Manuel Lucero

that is pretty funny. sama (сама) cannot be used in this way.


----------



## LilianaB

He probably says : suka - a female dog, a slightly derogatory word.


----------



## viesis

My guess is that " 'sama" is a filler (stress is on the first syllable "sa"). By the way, this filler usually sounds as "eta'sama", "ta'sama" or " 'tsama". Maybe in this case it is reduced to " 'sama".


----------



## LilianaB

Yes, eto samoje is highly possible, but not just sama.


----------



## gvozd

Jaroh said:


> "sama" after everything he says.



Which syllable is stressed - the first or the second?


----------



## morzh

Syline said:


> *Explorer41*, по словам автора треда, говорящий родом из России или Украины.



Simple. A person wants to somehow make his ethnicity shown (believe it or not, but it is way more popular in places where there are lots of mutts and where people do not feel much resentment towards other ethnicities). So he starts using a Russian word.


----------



## LilianaB

Unless he says: _son of a gun_, to put it lightly.


----------



## morzh

LilianaB said:


> Unless he says: _son of a gun_, to put it lightly.



How did that get here?


----------



## LilianaB

Well, if the Russian man lives in the United States and speaks Spanish as well, he may well be saying son of... every second word.


----------



## morzh

LilianaB said:


> Well, if the Russian man lives in the United States and speaks Spanish as well, he may well be saying son of... every second word.



Why would a Russian person say "sonuvagun"? He'd say something stronger and shorter.


----------



## Explorer41

Syline said:


> Слова-паразиты не изучаются, это обычные слова, которые начинают употребляться с завидной частотой по делу и без. Кстати, легко перенимаются из чужой речи.


Ah, yes, now I think you may be right. There are some "cool" words in others' speech which can turn out to look very pleasant in someone's eyes -- like Archie Goodwin's "see" from the movies.


Syline said:


> *Jaroh*, are you sure "sama" in the man's speech has Russian origin? I find it very strange that he uses this filler (э́то са́мое) when speaking Spanish or English. But then you say that the stress sometimes falls on the last syllable. In this case it can't be a filler.


As you can see, it can, in any case. 

Overall, it looks like a very interesting phenomenon. I guess, this is "са́мое" in either case, but the word gets influenced by the surrounding Spanish speech. In Spanish, as far as I know, there are no reduced vowels like the last vowel/the last two vowels in the word "самое". In Russian, on the contrary, it's impossible to pronounce a last unstressed vowel without overly reducing it. So the vowel gets levelled with either norm: it gets a stress, and it becomes non-reduced. The previous vowel wouldn't become so highly reduced after losing the stress even in Russian.


LilianaB said:


> He probably says : suka - a female dog, a slightly derogatory word.


Not slightly, at least to my ear. But an English and Spanish speaker would not confuse "suka" with "samoe".

*Jaroh*, so the answer is: a) the word you hear is a filler, whatever the word is; b) it's not derogatory in any way; c) the situation is very interesting to us, unusual.


----------

