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Russian word of the day: Искупаться
Dec 18, 2019 (see all)
искупа́ться
[ ees-ku-pá-tsa ]
to take a bath, to have a swim
The imperfective aspect
Examples
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Anita says:
Hello, why is reflexive ´хо́чется´ used in the first example? Thanks.
Learn Russian Words says:
Hello Anita,
That’s another way to say that someone wants/wishes/feels-like-doing something. Хотеться is used with the Dative case (same as нравиться).
– Мне хочется искупаться.
I feel like swimming.
– Ему не хотелось разговаривать.
He did not feel like talking.
– Ей хотелось мороженого.
She felt like having an ice-cream.
Anita says:
Thanks. The genitive мороженого in the last example, is it used as partitive or is it because a noun following Хотеться has to be in genitive?
Learn Russian Words says:
The nouns after both хотеть and хотеться usually are in Genitive. We say хотеть(ся) чего?
– Я хочу много денег.
I want a lot of money.
– Он хочет внимания.
He wants attention.
– Нам хочется тепла и солнца.
We want warmth and sun.
Anita says:
What are the situations for using accusative after хотеть and хотеться? I ask this because normally one says ‘Что вы хоти́те?’
Learn Russian Words says:
That’s a good question… We actually say both “Чего вы хотите?” and “Что вы хотите?”. While it is common to hear the Accusative (что?) in questions, in statements, the Genitive case is used most of the times and considered to be a norm.
Having said that, we should not forget about the sentences when хотеть is followed by an infinitive (for example: я хочу посмотреть фильм). Then the case of the following noun/pronoun depends on that infinitive.
I found an article in Russian that talks about these nuances, you can try to translate it via Google if it’s hard to understand: https://rg.ru/2016/10/06/marina-koroleva-kak-pravilno-hotet-i-zhdat.html
Anita says:
Forgot to ask, in ‘Как же хо́чется искупа́ться в э́той прозра́чной воде́!’, Мне is not used, is it automatically implied?
Learn Russian Words says:
Yes, when people use хочется without a pronoun they usually mean themselves. 🙂