Language through Literature

Vanka


Он всплескивает руками, пожимается от холода и, старчески хихикая, щиплет то горничную, то кухарку.

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He flings up his hands, hugs himself against the cold and, with an old man's snigger, pinches now the housemaid, now the cook.

Where it stands

Теперь, наверно, дед стоит у ворот, щурит глаза на ярко-красные окна деревенской церкви и, притопывая валенками, балагурит с дворней. Just now, most likely, grandfather is standing at the gates, screwing up his eyes at the bright red windows of the village church and, stamping his felt boots, cracking jokes with the household servants.

Колотушка его подвязана к поясу. His rattle is tied to his belt.

The words in this sentence

он
he
всплёскивает
throws up (her hands) (3sg) — всплёскивать
рука́ми
hands (instr pl) — рука
пожима́ется
shrinks, huddles up (3sg) — пожиматься
от
from, away from (+gen)
хо́лода
cold (gen sg); «от холода» from the cold — холод
и
and; also, even
ста́рчески
in an old man's way, senilely
хихи́кая
giggling, tittering (gerund) — хихикать
щи́плет
pinches, nips (3sg of щипать) — щипать
то
that; then (если... то)
го́рничную
housemaid (acc sg) — горничная
куха́рку
cook, kitchen maid (acc sg) — кухарка

А. П. Чехов, «Ванька», 1886 · sentence 16 of 68

This is one sentence of «Ванька» — 68 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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