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Language through Literature

The Death of a Clerk


Когда так, не стану же я больше извиняться перед этим фанфароном!

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Well, if that's how it is, I shan't go apologizing to this braggart any more!

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Where it stands

— Вовсе тут нет никаких насмешек! There's no mockery in it at all!

Генерал, а не может понять! A general, and he can't understand!

Чёрт с ним! The devil take him!

Напишу ему письмо, а ходить не стану! I'll write him a letter, but go in person I shall not!

The words in this sentence

когда́
when
так
so, thus
не
not
ста́ну
I will/become (fut 1sg of стать) — стать
же
emphatic/contrastive particle: but, however, indeed
я
I
бо́льше
more, bigger
извиня́ться
to apologize (impf inf)
пе́ред
before, in front of (+instr)
э́тим
this/these (instr sg / dat pl) — этот
фанфаро́ном
braggart/swaggerer (instr sg) — фанфарон

А. П. Чехов, «Смерть чиновника», 1883 · sentence 35 of 46

This is one sentence of «Смерть чиновника» — 46 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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