# "подъеду где-нибудь"



## PatrickK1

I'm reading a section of a novel in which a character books a flight over the phone.

"Да...это меня устроит. Спасибо. Подъеду где-нибудь через час."

Is this some sort of colloquial/slang usage of где-нибудь? Shouldn't it be туда, or к вам, or к аеропорту, if not just "Подъеду через час"?


----------



## morzh

Here "где-нибудь" means "somewhere around / in about" meaning the point of time. That is, the time is treated as a line trajectory, and it has a point in it, which I'm talking about.

That is "I will be there in about an hour".


----------



## Maroseika

Где-нибудь means approximate time: где-нибудь через час - in about an hour (colloq.).


----------



## LilianaB

No, it is right I think. The phrase refers to the time period not to the location. I will come in about an hour.


----------



## PatrickK1

Gotcha. Thanks!


----------



## Saluton

...This is indeed colloquial usage of где-нибудь


----------



## pracadomowa

morzh said:


> Here "где-нибудь" means "somewhere around / in about" meaning the point of time. That is, the time is treated as a line trajectory, and it has a point in it, which I'm talking about.
> 
> That is "I will be there in about an hour".



когда-нибудь
где-нибудь 


It looks like a risk of missing the proper meaning of  где-нибудь. где-нибудь refers to a place. когда-нибудь refers to a time or some time. 

I'll be / I'll go / I'll drive


anywhere (somewhere) you want me to / where you want me to
anywhere (somewhere) I can get

Подъеду *где-нибудь* через час.
I'll be *wherever (is needed / I have to / you want me to)* in an hour.


----------



## Explorer41

*pracadomowa*, it's a very nice Russian colloquial expression. You can't write like that in an official letter (there you can write only "примерно через час"), but it's very fine in the spoken language. I like very much its metaphore.


----------



## morzh

pracadomowa said:


> когда-нибудь
> где-нибудь
> 
> 
> It looks like a risk of missing the proper meaning of  где-нибудь. где-нибудь refers to a place. когда-нибудь refers to a time or some time.
> 
> I'll be / I'll go / I'll drive
> 
> 
> anywhere (somewhere) you want me to / where you want me to
> anywhere (somewhere) I can get
> 
> Подъеду *где-нибудь* через час.
> I'll be *wherever (is needed / I have to / you want me to)* in an hour.



One thing I can say:

1. I haven't understood a thing of what you've been saying.
2. You are obviously new here, and your native language is neither Russian, no it is English.
3. Look at the thread, see that all three natives who translated this practically 100% agreed on the translation, and do realize you do not have enough expertise to argue about it in either language.
4. Having realized that, you will understand that whenever you in this situation and having doubts about the translation, it is almost always better to phrase your doubts as question, asking for explanations, rather than to make statements that are incorrect.

OK, it's four things.


----------



## pracadomowa

morzh said:


> One thing I can say:
> 
> 1. I haven't understood a thing of what you've been saying.


Try again.


morzh said:


> 2. You are obviously new here, and your native language is neither Russian, no it is English.


Well, last time I spoke with Russians in Warsaw I had to show them my Polish ID because they thought I'm Russian.


morzh said:


> 3. Look at the thread, see that all three natives who translated this practically 100% agreed on the translation, and do realize you do not have enough expertise to argue about it in either language.


I was really surprised to find out that all of you "natives" have agreed on "it". 


morzh said:


> 4. Having realized that, you will understand that whenever you in this situation and having doubts about the translation, it is almost always better to phrase your doubts as question, asking for explanations, rather than to make statements that are incorrect.


 Looks like your job has a bit to do with teaching some newcomers manners and a bit less with languages. However, thank you for teaching me how to behave "well" and another thank you for giving me the opportunity to tell a joke about how I was taught languages by "a senior member", which I truly appreciate. Anyway, they used to teach me at school and wrote in dictionaries:
*neither ... nor... 
*So your 





morzh said:


> _your native language is *neither* Russian, *no* it is English._


would need a little (and humble) correction just to make it a bit like:

_your native language is *neither* Russian, *nor* it is English._


 Don't feel insulted anyway. I think that being wrong is one of fundamental human rights as well as being right. I just made a point of your messing with Russian, which is about 5 times more difficult to learn than English as it takes about five times longer to have learned Russian if compared to having learned English. 

I noticed your having difficulty in understanding what I'm humbly writing here, so please let me (just in case) say a few words more (and again).



morzh said:


> One thing I can say:
> 
> 
> 1. I haven't understood a thing of what you've been saying.
> 2. You are obviously new here, and your native language is neither Russian, no it is English.
> 3. Look at the thread, see that all three natives who translated this practically 100% agreed on the translation, and do realize you do not have enough expertise to argue about it in either language.
> 4. Having realized that, you will understand that whenever you in this situation and having doubts about the translation, it is almost always better to phrase your doubts as question, asking for explanations, rather than to make statements that are incorrect.
> 
> OK, it's four things.




когда-нибудь - sometime (which refers to a period of time)
 где-нибудь - somewhere (which refers to a place)

However, your sentence regarding my native language made me wonder about your use of English. You have written:



morzh said:


> your native language is *neither* Russian, *no* it is English.



which probably should have been like that:

_your native language is *neither* Russian *nor* English.

_I mean your phrase *neither ... no ...* is (seemingly) incorrect, at least according to the (multiple) grammar books and dictionaries of English I have at home (and at hand).


----------



## morzh

Holy...."скумбрия". So much about a typo?
One who knows language well enough usually is able to discern between a typo and an incorrect usage. Typos are usually pretty obvious. Building an answer around it, instead of answering directly, is what we call "нечем крыть" in Russian, or "demagoguery", I think, is close enough word in English.   (This is being typed with very humble feelings).


----------



## pracadomowa

morzh said:


> Holy...."скумбрия". So much about a typo?
> 
> One who knows language well enough usually is able to discern between a typo and an incorrect usage. Typos are usually pretty obvious. Building an answer around it, instead of answering directly, is what we call "нечем крыть" in Russian, or "demagoguery", I think, is close enough word in English.   (This is being typed with very humble feelings).



With so many (attributed to me by morzh) inclinations to so much (attributed to me by morzh) demagoguery I have to withdraw desperately having the very last chance to support my view with the most kindly helpful Mr (or Mr. in American English) Oжегов, a (notoriously?) keen writer of (demagogical?) dictionaries full of (misleading?) entries and (leading astray?) explanations, such as the following two:

*КОГДА-НИБУДЬ* - В какое-нибудь неопределенное время - настоящее, прошедшее или будущее. (in some indefinite period of time - present, past or future.)

*ГДЕ-НИБУДЬ *- В каком-нибудь, точно не известном, месте. Где-нибудь встретимся. (in some, though not specified, location. We'll meet somewhere.) 

 The quotation from The Oжегов's Dictionary does not seem to contradict the message of my initial post, which goes as follows:

_"когда-нибудь
 где-нибудь 


 It looks like a risk of missing the proper meaning of где-нибудь. где-нибудь refers to a place. когда-нибудь refers to a time or some time. 

 I'll be / I'll go / I'll drive


 anywhere (somewhere) you want me to / where you want me to
 anywhere (somewhere) I can get

 Подъеду где-нибудь через час.
  I'll be wherever (is needed / I have to / you want me to) in an hour."
_

Sometimes explaining a simple thing twice is not enough to get the message through, but much enough to have got accused of "demagoguery" and "нечем-крытьe", However, thank you for so much fun and so many compliments, mainly because I'm *neither* a native speaker of English *nor* a native speaker of Russian.


----------



## Syline

Pracadomowa, you shouldn't compare "подъеду где-нибудь через час" (our case) and "встретимся где-нибудь через час". In the second phrase there can be some ambiguity due to the lack of context, but in the first one it is quite clear that "где-нибудь" refers to time, not place, and means "приблизительно / примерно" because if it referred to place one would say "подъеду *куда*-нибудь".


----------



## LilianaB

I do not believe Pracadomova that you have been accused of those things based on your native language: It is simply a wrong interpretation. _где _does not mean the same as the Polish gdzie. It refers only to static situations. Where is the bridge, for example. Where have you been, but not where are you going?


----------



## justAnote

pracadomowa said:


> когда-нибудь
> где-нибудь
> 
> Подъеду *где-нибудь* через час.
> I'll be *wherever (is needed / I have to / you want me to)* in an hour.



Сказать по-русски "Подъеду *где-нибудь* через час", подразумевая "подъеду _куда-нибудь_, и это будет через час", нельзя. 
Мы подъезжаем _куда-нибудь, а не "где-нибудь ".
В предложении "Подъеду *где-нибудь* через час" "где-нибудь через час" это однозначно "in an hour or so". Форма разговорная и употребимая (как уже все об этом сказали). На письме такое лучше не употреблять.  

Однако, можно сказать "Где-нибудь через час я уже буду где-нибудь"  
("In about an hour I'll be somewhere")
Например если сейчас вы in the middle of nowhere (в лесу , и скоро выйдете к поселку.

мои 2 копейки.


----------



## estreets

Well, I can be another Russian native speaker to support this use of _где-нибудь_. May I?
The matter is that dictionaries especially older ones may contain incomplete information about meanings and uses of words. It's just your case. So, it's better not to teach native speakers how to speak their own language but to take note of it.
The updated database of http://www.gramota.ru provides details of this particular use:
ГДЕ-НИБУДЬ, нареч.
1.
В каком-нибудь месте; где-либо. Встретимся г.
2. Разг.
Примерно, приблизительно (*в пределах указанного времени, срока*). Встретимся г. часов в восемь. Я приеду г. в сентябре. Ты проиграешь партию, г. через пять ходов.
http://www.gramota.ru/slovari/dic/?...x&az=x&pe=x&word=%E3%E4%E5-%ED%E8%E1%F3%E4%FC


----------



## morzh

estreets said:


> Well, I can be another Russian native speaker to support this use of _где-нибудь_. May I?..So, it's better not to teach native speakers how to speak their own language but to take note of it.
> .....




These arguments clearly won't beat the "Well, last time I spoke with Russians in Warsaw I had to show them my Polish ID because they thought I'm Russian."


----------



## pracadomowa

morzh said:


> These arguments clearly won't beat the "Well, last time I spoke with Russians in Warsaw I had to show them my Polish ID because they thought I'm Russian."



There're a lot of Russians working in Warsaw clubs and restaurants, so it is very easy for me just come around and ask any of them a question. I'll let you know what their answer would be, so just wait patiently for the opinion of the real native speakers of Russian. However, if you really speak Russian so well, please don't hesitate to write bilingually here - I will be amazed to read your "native" Russian put down here together with your "native" English. Happy New Year and Поздравления с Новым Годом !!!


----------



## morzh

pracadomowa said:


> Tso just wait patiently for the opinion of the real native speakers of Russian. However, if you really speak Russian so well,



Dear pracadomowa,

You can ask people's opinion of my Russian right here, as they all are native speakers and most of them reside in Russia.
To your information, my Russian is indeed my native language, and I am, incredible as it sounds (to you), a real native speaker.

The point I am trying to bring across to you is, that even if you are extremely well versed in a foreign language, and even if the natives cannot hear your accent, this coupled with all the dictionaries you bring as your supporting evidence may, of course, give you a notion, that you may start teaching natives (and not just one, mind you, but several) their own language, but the life teaches us that in most cases you will fall flat on your face doing so.

Now, my advice to you was and still is: it is perfectly normal not to understand something, and it is OK not to be able to find a right answer in a dictionary, but a humble (like you have characterized yourself repeatedly) person will ask a question, asking to explain the seeming inconsistency and resolve the doubt, rather than try to prove bunch of native speakers (in this case - all of them), who pretty much have agreed on the meaning of the phrase and explicitly said so in their posts, wrong.

Behaving otherwise is called arrogance.

Arrogance is something people dislike; it is just that most of the natives here are very kind and polite people, and, unlike them, I am neither kind nor polite when it comes to arrogance.

Хау! Я все сказал.


----------



## LilianaB

A little OT, related to native fluency. There are different levels of native speaking. This is not related to your competency Morzh, because I personally think it is very high proficiency, if we can use this word in relation to native language. There are some native speakers of different languages who know maybe 20 percent of what a proficient and educated native speaker is supposed to know. Some of them have wrong ideas about certain grammatical structures and use expressions they are used to at home, or locally. Just the word native speaker does not really guarantee anything, in my opinion, maybe pronunciation if one speaks with a standard accent. C Новым Годом


----------



## gvozd

morzh said:


> and even if the natives cannot hear your accent



Is it really possible? С Новым Годом!


----------



## LilianaB

Yes, it is possible, Gvozd, I think, if the person lived in the country of the target language, for a while and was quite good at languages. It is more the phrases that give out the not being a native speaker than accent, sometimes. I have personally met some Czech people who spoke Polish with an accent you could not tell they did not grow up in Poland, only after some time they used a few strange words, not really Polish. As per Russian, there are so many different accents in Russian, that one can always pass for something. Happy New Year.


----------



## gvozd

LilianaB said:


> I have personally met some Czech people who spoke Polish with an accent you could not tell they did not grow up in Poland



That's not interesting because both the languages are Slavic. What about Russian-Chinese? Russian-English?


----------



## LilianaB

It is sometimes harder to learn another language from the same group not to have both of them totally confused. It is sometimes harder to speak a close language perfectly because the deceivingly similar forms or pronunciation patterns create confusion. If the languages are too close you may not know after a while what is correct in a particular language. Sometimes words that sound similar mean something totally different in another language. I don't know about Russian and Chinese. If they spoke with some accent they could always pass for somebody from Yakutia who spoke Russian.


----------



## er targyn

I would say rather где-то than где-нибудь. And we should not forget that languages change over time.


----------



## morzh

gvozd said:


> Is it really possible? С Новым Годом!



Yes. It is possible.

I personally witnessed such a case, in 1993 on a boat in No. Carolina, in a mostly college student company, where we lived for a week, there came an exchange student from Germany, from Hannover; her name was Anka. 
She spoke US English without any accent whatsoever. I hadn't noticed any, but then the natives did not either. Eventually they told her that no one would ever be able to figure out she was not a native, except that for an 18 year old she used little slang. Use more slang, they said, and you will blend in completely.
Later I noticed this is quite common with young people from Germany - they often have little or no accent when speaking US English.

As for me, I retain some Russian accent (very little, but there is some), but couple of times when I got mildly sauced, I was told by locals I spoke with no accent. When I am completely sober though, the accent is there, but somehow it is not a Russian accent. One time I was mistaken for an Irishman. I am sure the guy never heard an Irishman speak.


----------

