# сидеть на зарплате



## barkingmad

Hi all,

Sorry I can't provide any context, but what could "Они все должны *сидеть* у меня *на зарплате*" mean? Any ideas, however vague, would be very welcome!

I'm wondering if it means "They ought to make do with my salary"? But I'm really not sure. 

Thank you in advance and sorry again for the lack of context.


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## Enquiring Mind

Hi barking, it's difficult without any context. That said, my educated guess is that it means "to live off my wage" and that "у меня" is in my home. In other words they all have to live with me, supported by my wage. But wait for the natives. I suspect they'll need context too. I understand сидеть idiomatically here as "make do with".


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## GCRaistlin

_сидеть на зарплате_ = _получать зарплату _(most likely per-hour salary, not piece-rate pay).


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## Vadim K

As Enquirind Mind said, you never can be 100% sure what it means without any context.

As a native, I would think it means that "_they all have to get a minimum wage, without any bonuses_". This phrase is usually used when a boss isn't satisfied with performance of his/her subordinates, the total remuneration for work of these subordinates consists of a small fixed salary and a large flexible bonus and it's up to the boss to decide how big the bonus should be.


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## Awwal12

Enquiring Mind said:


> and that "у меня" is in my home


Not very likely. "У меня" either refers to who's paying (note that "они должны сидеть на моей зарплате" would rather be a reference to the size of the salary!) or, possibly, to who is expected to control the situation in general (supposing that the sentence is unprojective: <-- "они все у меня должны сидеть на зарплате", in which case it would have a slightly different intonation).


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## vh16

Agree with Awwal12, most likely, the person speaks about paying someone regularly in order to control the situation.
For instance, a _политтехнолог _might say that he has journalists "sitting on his salary", if he pays journalists on a regular basis in order to control their work and conduct smear campaigns.


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## Budspok

I see two obvious variants to translate it:

I'll pay them salaries only. (Meaning no bonuses, extra payments or whatever.)
I'll make it so that they will have to live only on their salaries. (Meaning I'll make sure they will not get any side incomes elsewhere.)

"у меня" (у неё etc.) has other meanings besides  "I have got" (She has got etc.)
For examle:
Они у меня ещё об этом пожалеют. - I'll make them deeply regret it. (some time in the future)
Он у неё ещё попляшет. - She'll make his life pretty hard.

"сидеть на" also has a meaning "to be limited to"
Он сидит на каше. - He eats only (almost nothing but) porridge.


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## Pumpkin spice

Hi! "Они все должны сидеть у меня на зарплате" means "I want all of them to work for a paycheck every pay period."


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## barkingmad

Thank you so much to everybody!


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## Kalaus

There is another possible meaning that I don't see covered in the previous discussion. The speaker could mean that the people he is referring to should be *on his payroll *(rather than, e. g., work as independent contractors).
It's hard to say without further context, though.


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## yakor

barkingmad said:


> Hi all,
> 
> Sorry I can't provide any context, but what could "Они все должны *сидеть* у меня *на зарплате*" mean? Any ideas, however vague, would be very welcome!
> .


Это значит, что директор не хочет платить премии своим подчиненным. Кроме зарплаты ничего более.
"У меня" означает "по моему желанию", так как надо мне.
Например," Ты будешь у меня учить уроки" (ты будешь учить уроки, как я того требую и я буду контролировать это)


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## Awwal12

yakor said:


> Это значит, что директор не хочет платить премии своим подчиненным


Простите, но без контекста в принципе непонятно, кто там чего хочет. Может, он вообще недоволен ситуацией ("должны сидеть у него на зарплате" они могут быть по объективным, никак от него не зависящим причинам).


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## yakor

Awwal12 said:


> Простите, но без контекста в принципе непонятно, кто там чего хочет. Может, он вообще недоволен ситуацией ("должны сидеть у него на зарплате" они могут быть по объективным, никак от него не зависящим причинам).


Автор спросил, есть ли какие идеи. Я подала одну идею. Вы можете подать другую. В чем проблема? Автор не дал контекста. Когда нет контекста, вообще тему модераторы часто закрывают.


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## Q-cumber

Kalaus said:


> There is another possible meaning that I don't see covered in the previous discussion. The speaker could mean that the people he is referring to should be *on his payroll *(rather than, e. g., work as independent contractors).
> It's hard to say without further context, though.


Yes, this was my first association. Kind of 'half the town on his payroll'   



Enquiring Mind said:


> Hi barking, it's difficult without any context. That said, my educated guess is that it means "to live off my wage" and that "у меня" is in my home. In other words they all have to live with me, supported by my wage. But wait for the natives. I suspect they'll need context too. I understand сидеть idiomatically here as "make do with".


Hi EM! Your suggestion would be fine, if it were "на моей зарплате".   "Сидеть у меня на зарплате" can hardly take the meaning 'to live off my wage' (сидеть у меня на шее).


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## Awwal12

Q-cumber said:


> Your suggestion would be fine, if it were "на моей зарплате".


В моем представлении "сидеть на моей зарплате" - это "сидеть на зарплате моего размера". "Моя зарплата" - это практически всегда "зарплата, которую я получаю", а не "зарплата, которую я плачу".


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## Vovan

*"Сидеть на пенсии/пособии/окладе..." *is idiomatic indeed, but it would rarely include a possessive pronoun:
_Ей надоело сидеть на пособии по безработице, и она пошла искать работу._​A fixed sum of money is presumed here.
_Допрыгаетесь у меня - я вас всех посажу на оклад!_​
*"Сидеть на чьей-либо шее" *(or "*сидеть у кого-то на шее"*) is another idiom.

Native speakers of Russian occasionally make a mistake by combining the two idioms ("фразеологическая контаминация", one classical example of which is "играть значение" and "иметь роль" instead of "играть роль" and "иметь значение")
_Она сидит на пенсии (у) матери вот уже год. (understandable in a proper context, but actually not good and may be seen as a mistake by strict teachers of Russian)_​


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## rusita preciosa

Mod note: Since there is limited context, all subsequent contributions are only guesses. The thread is now (belatedly) closed.


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