# Дайте мне пару-тройку дней



## JONO.

I need some help with this sentence, Google translator interprets it as "Give me a couple of days" But what confuses me is the word тройку being added in there since I believe it means "Three".. Is the translation wrong? Could you please clarify this for me?

Thanks


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## Maroseika

Translation is quite correct. Пара-тройка дней doesn't mean exactly 2 or 3 days, it may result even in 4 or 5 days, otherwise one would just say "give me two days".
I believe 'couple' also doesn't mean exactly 2 days, does it?


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## Oleg_

I agree with Maroseika. In my opinion, when people say:  "дайте мне пару-тройку дней", it means time interval between 2 and 7 days. This expression  is cunning, because it doesn't define exact numbers. 

It also may mean a pair of three days, i. e. 6 days.


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## JONO.

Aha, just as I thought, thanks for clarifying


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## dec-sev

Oleg_ said:


> I agree with Maroseika. In my opinion, when people say:  "дайте мне пару-тройку дней", it means time interval between 2 and 7 days.


Кто больше?  


Oleg_ said:


> It also may mean a pair of three days, i. e. 6 days.


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## Sobakus

Oleg_ said:


> It also may mean a pair of three days, i. e. 6 days.



That would be пару троек.


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## alexzzzz

I think "Дайте мне пару дней" also doesn't mean exactly two days. I'd translate "a couple of days" as just "пара дней".


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## morzh

One can say "a couple of days" or "few days" (not "A few days") and it will mean what "два-три дня" ("пара-тройка дней") mean in Russian.

BTW it can be also said "I need 2-3 days". It is just that while in Russian this is a stable expression (like "a couple of days/few days" un English) "2-3 days" seems to be more of an on-the-spot time estimate and is no different in structure from "5-6 days" or "7-8 days" depending on that estimate.


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## dec-sev

morzh said:


> One can say "a couple of days" or "few days" (not "A few days") and it will mean what "два-три дня" ("пара-тройка дней") mean in Russian.


Правильно ли я вас понял, что вы поставили "=" межу "a couple of days" и "few days", и что последнее означает "два-три дня"?


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## morzh

Я поставил знак "=" между употреблением фразы "2-3дня" и "пара-тройка дней", так как они употребляются для одной и той же цели в одних и тех же ситуациях для практически одной и той же временной оценки, и, соответственно, я поставил знак равенства между "couple of days", "2 or 3 days" и "few days". "Few days" будет означать (в моей практике) "2, 3 или максимум 4 дня" и вполне, КМК, подходит к "паре-тройке дней", потому что "5 дней" уже чаще выливается в "дайте мне неделю" (give me about a week), ибо 5 дней - это раб. неделя, и плохо подходит как под "пару-тройку" в русском, так и под "few days" в амер. английском.


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## dec-sev

morzh said:


> ...соответственно, я поставил знак равенства между "couple of days", "2 or 3 days" и "few days". "Few days" будет означать (в моей практике) "2, 3 или максимум 4 дня" и вполне, КМК, подходит к "паре-тройке дней", .


То есть, другими словами "дай мне пару-тройку дней, чтобы закончить работу" можно перевести как "give me few days to..."?


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## morzh

Вполне. 

Нельзя как "Give me a few days."

"Few" (not "A few") означает "больше одного, но очень мало". Поэтому, (опять же, повторюсь - в моей практике), когда мне говорят "I'll need few days to look into this", обычно это занимает менее раб. недели, т.е. как раз "пару-тройку дней".


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## dec-sev

morzh said:


> Вполне.
> 
> Нельзя как "give me a few days."
> 
> "few" (not "a few") означает "больше одного, но очень мало". Поэтому, (опять же, повторюсь - в моей практике), когда мне говорят "i'll need few days to look into this", обычно это занимает менее раб. недели, т.е. как раз "пару-тройку дней".


Спросил у одного нейтива. Вот его ответ:

"In the sense you are talking about, it is always "_*a*_ few days". "I'll need a few days to look into this," "I'll need a few days to think about it," "it will be a few days before you feel well enough to sing," ... And endless other possibilities. It is a very common expression.
How long is "a few days"?
I don't know if this question has been addressed.
I would be thinking about more than two days and less than a week. I would not be surprised if it turned out to be sooner than "more than two days", but I would be very surprised if it was more than a week".


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## morzh

I have just looked up the Good Old Web and found...guess what....guess where.

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=26677

Right here. An answer by a "нейтив".

I will paste it: (answer from 2005)

Answer by Gringosimo, 
Join Date: Mar 2005
 					Location: Fort Worth, TX, EEUU
 Native language: USA English
 					 					 						Posts: 241 					


Just my perception of what they mean along with a couple of others that I would use to fill the gaps. I don't know that there are any hard and fast rules that define them.

couple of days = 2

few days = 3-4

some days = 3-5

several days = 4-5

about a week = 6-8 		

------

Notice absence of "a" in "Few days".

Now, the guys says "my perception" and this I like - we are talking here about "non-exact" quantification and it is always subject to personal perception.

However I never hear "a few" used to the number of "under a week", and I have had some time to hear it. Again, my perception.


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## rusita preciosa

morzh said:


> couple of days = 2
> 
> few days = 3-4
> 
> some days = 3-5
> 
> several days = 4-5
> 
> about a week = 6-8
> 
> ------
> 
> Notice absence of "a" in "Few days".


Hmmm... There is an absense of "a" in "couple of days" too, but we don't say "give me couple of days".
I honestly don't think I have ever heard "give me few days" without the article... 'give me *a *few days' sounds better to me.


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## morzh

Well, I have no strong objections. 

Maybe you're right.

What I know about "few" usage is that if I say "I have few objections to this", it means "I agree", and if I say "I have a few objections to this", it means I disagree.
I've heard people saying "I need few days" and "Give me a few days". It is possible that I missed the "a" or took it for a naturally occurring short "a" between "need" and "few".

"Few" as a response to a question like "do you have problems with this?" is usually accompanied by mimicking meaning "no, not much".
"A few" as a response to that same questions is typically coupled with facial expression and head movement meaning "yes, I do have some".


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## dustdog104

Musings of a native speaker:

The phrase "I need few days" sounds pretty awkward to me, though I wouldn't call it grammatically wrong. The only way I can imagine it is with the stress on the word 'few'. It isn't stressing the physical amount of time it would take - it's stressing that that time, in the context, is a small amount. I would interpret it as an artificial way of saying "I don't need too many days."

In contrast, "I need a few days" would be taken to mean 2-5 (or whatever) days. It is a rather neutral indicator of the number of days required, with no comparison involved.

Not sure about this explanation.  Two points I can make with more confidence:

a) 'few days' without an article sounds strange and artificial. Its use is much more restricted than 'a few days' and is a subset of it anyway.

b) 'few days' and 'a few days' do not indicate two different actual lengths of time to a native speaker. few is 2-5ish (or whatever), article or not.

Hope this helps!


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## cyanista

*Mod comment*

Please note that this thread is about the Russian expression in title, not the subtleties of English grammar. English Only probably has about a hundred of similar discussions so please feel free to continue your debate in any of those.

Thank you.


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