Language through Literature

The Malefactor


Ежели б я рельсу унёс или, положим, бревно поперёк ейного пути положил, ну, тогды, пожалуй, своротило бы поезд, а то… тьфу! гайка!

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If I had carried off a rail, or, let’s say, laid a log across its track, well, then, maybe, the train would have been turned over, but this… pah! a nut!

Where it stands

— Ну! — Well, now!

Уж сколько лет всей деревней гайки отвинчиваем и хранил господь, а тут крушение… людей убил… For ever so many years the whole village has been unscrewing nuts and the Lord has preserved us, and here it’s a wreck… killed people…

The words in this sentence

е́жели
if (archaic/colloquial for если)
б
would (conditional particle, short for бы)
я
I
ре́льсу
rail (dat sg) — рельс
унёс
carried away, took away (past masc.) — унести
и́ли
or
поло́жим
let's say, suppose (1pl of положить) — положить
бревно́
log, beam
поперёк
across, crosswise
е́йного
her, hers (arch./dial. gen m) — ейный
пути́
way, path (gen/dat/prep sg) — путь
положи́л
put, placed (past m of положить) — положить
ну
well!, come on (particle)
тогды́
then (dial./arch. for тогда) — тогда
пожа́луй
perhaps, very well
свороти́ло
turned aside; knocked askew (past n) — своротить
бы
would (conditional particle)
по́езд
train (nom/acc sg)
а
and, but (conjunction)
то
that; then (если... то)
тьфу
pah! ugh! (interj. of disgust)
га́йка
nut (for a bolt) (nom sg)

А. П. Чехов, «Злоумышленник», 1885 · sentence 35 of 73

This is one sentence of «Злоумышленник» — 73 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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