Language through Literature

A Horsey Name


И в доме, все наперерыв, стали изобретать фамилии.

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And in the house everyone, vying with one another, set about inventing surnames.

Where it stands

Перебрали все возрасты, полы и породы лошадей, вспомнили гриву, копыта, сбрую… They went through every age, sex and breed of horse; they called to mind the mane, the hooves, the harness…

В доме, в саду, в людской и кухне люди ходили из угла в угол и, почёсывая лбы, искали фамилию… In the house, in the garden, in the servants’ hall and in the kitchen, people walked from corner to corner and, scratching their foreheads, searched for the surname…

The words in this sentence

и
and; also, even
в
in, into
до́ме
house (prep sg) — дом
все
everyone, all (pl) — весь
напереры́в
vying with one another, all at once (arch.)
ста́ли
became; began (past pl of стать) — стать
изобрета́ть
to invent, devise
фами́лии
surname (gen/dat/prep sg); surnames (pl) — фамилия

А. П. Чехов, «Лошадиная фамилия», 1885 · sentence 31 of 56

This is one sentence of «Лошадиная фамилия» — 56 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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