Language through Literature

Chameleon


У меня у самого брат в жандармах… ежели хотите знать…

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Show the English

I’ve a brother of my own in the gendarmes… if you want to know…”

Where it stands

У него в законе сказано… It is laid down in his law…

Нынче все равны… Nowadays everyone is equal…

The words in this sentence

у
at, by; belonging to
меня́
me (gen/acc of я) — я
само́го
himself; the very (gen/acc sg) — самый
брат
brother (nom sg)
в
in, into
жанда́рмах
gendarmes (prep pl) — жандарм
е́жели
if (archaic/colloquial for если)
хоти́те
you want (2pl) — хотеть
знать
to know (inf); knowing, evidently (colloq)

А. П. Чехов, «Хамелеон», 1884 · sentence 33 of 53

This is one sentence of «Хамелеон» — 53 sentences long, and the whole story reads like this: every word glossed where it stands, the English out of your eyeline until you ask for it. Free, no account.

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