Language through Literature

Chameleon


Ни шерсти, ни вида… подлость одна только…

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No coat, no looks about it… nothing but low breeding…

Where it stands

— Я и сам знаю. — I know it myself.

У генерала собаки дорогие, породистые, а эта — чёрт знает что! The General's dogs are expensive, pedigreed, but this one — the devil knows what it is!

И этакую собаку держать?!.. And to keep a dog like that?!..

Где же у вас ум? Where are your wits?

The words in this sentence

ни
not a single; nor (negative particle)
ше́рсти
wool (gen/dat/prep sg) — шерсть
ви́да
look, appearance (gen sg of вид) — вид
по́длость
baseness, vileness (nom sg)
одна́
one; alone (f) — один
то́лько
only, just

А. П. Чехов, «Хамелеон», 1884 · sentence 35 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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