(no subject)

[kittydesade]

The form поборовши in the Chekov story is old; the final -ши is no longer used except with reflexive endings.

Verbal adjectives: The story also contains verbal adjectives, sometimes called participles. These are adjectives made from verbs. They describe not simultaneous actions but rather people or things in action. There are four kinds of verbal adjectives: present active, present passive, past active, past passive. In the story we see only active verbal adjectives in both the present and past tenses.

Present active verbal adjective describes a person or thing oding something. It can be formed only from an imperfective verb. It can sometimes be translated as who/which is doing something.

В старичке Червяков узнал статского генерала Бризжалова, служащего по ведомству путей сообщения.
In the old man Chervyakov recognized the civil service general Brizzhalov, who served (was serving) in the ministry of communications.

To form present active participles (adjectives), start with the они form. Drop the final т. Then add щий.

The person serving: служа - т -- служа + щ + adjectival ending = служаший, служащая, служащее

Past active verbal adjectives are usually used in past-tense narration. They can be formed frm either an imperfective or a perfective verb. The imperfective form could be translated as "who/which was doing" something, while the perfective form could be translated as "who/which did something."

Он увидел, что старичок, сидевший впереди него, в первом ряду кресел старательно вытирал свою лысину и шею перчаткой.
He saw that the old man sitting in front of him, in the first row of seats, was vigorously wiping off his bald head and neck with the glove.

-- Пошёл вон!! -- гаркнул вдруг посиневший и затрясшийся генерал.
"get the hell out!" suddenly barked the general, who had turned blue and begun to shake.

Start with the past tense. The -л (if present) goes to -в. Then add -ший.

who was sitting: сиде-л -- сиде + в + ший -- сидевший, сидевшая, сидевшее
who went blue: посин-ел -- посине + в + ший -- посиневший посиневшие посиневшая
who began to shake: затряс-ся -- затряс + ший + ся -- затрясшийся затрясшаяся etc.


I can't tell if I'm glad I've rested enough to feel bad about flubbing guitar, Japanese, and writing last night, or if I'm cranky because I flubbed all three. So I guess writing this down will serve as my reminder, this is not a reflection on me as a person. This is not something to be ashamed of. Most likely it means that the last grammar point didn't stick or I didn't understand it as thoroughly as I should have and I was too drained to do much of anything requiring brainpower. Pick myself up, try again, and if it still doesn't make sense, ask for clarification because the resources and people are there. That's what asking is for.

... Oi, sometimes I have serious problems with pride and/or arrogance. And holding myself to stupid standards. This is one of those I'm not Superwoman and there is nothing wrong with that moments, isn't it.

Okay. Well, and I got 8 hours of sleep last night, which never happens during the week. So hopefully that helped, and there will be no link roundup today, so hopefully that will help. I don't think anything was scheduled for today anyway. I hope. Depending on the results of meetings yesterday stoppit Jag we are not thinking about politics today. We are focusing on languages and writing because it is better for us. And possibly will lead to us not talking in the plural. Ahem. God, I'm rested and still getting punchy. Deep breath. Fake worlds are so much easier to fix than real ones.