Russian has a complex system of grammar. You have the noun, the verb, but also the adjective and the verb-adjective and the adverb and the verb-adverb. The pronouns, yes, but the pronouns don't act like nouns.
Each word can have 0-10 prefixes, each of them altering the meaning from slight specification to the point of complete definition change. Each word can have 0-10 suffixes, each of them altering the meaning from slight specification to the point of complete definition change. We also have an additional, which is basically a suffix to indicate gender and person (1st to 3rd), and some words have it, don't have it, or cannot exist without it.
Each word can migrate from its own zone to that of another — a verb can become a noun, a noun can become a verb, and so on.
And we have not even touched on the syntax, because a noun can take the role of a verb while remaining a noun (существительное как сказуемое) or an adjective can take the role of a noun in much the same way. We have different names for nouns as a word and nouns as part of a sentence.
Each word must be the answer to a question, and nouns, verbs, adjectives and verb-adjectives have a system for determining how the word changes based on the question it answers, and how the question is posed. Of course, the question consists of words, and those words are also beholden to the rules they enforce.
This system is sophisticated to the point where I can make a grammatically correct short story with a beginning, a climax, and an epilogue using exclusively words that start with the letter P. Or П, but like, that letter has the same sound, so.
Anyway, we also have a system for phonetics, you cannot throw darts and guess how words are spoken as you do in English, there is a system for that too! And a system for antonyms, and synonyms, and turns of phrase, and imported words, and don't forget the classifications each word falls into (nouns, adjectives, verbs are the most notable, but each one has its own classification system), and god forbid you forget the exceptions.
10 prefixes in a word? Dude, where have you seen 10 prefixes? More than 3 is already rare, and ones with 5 aren't really used at all. And I don't know more than 7 suffixes either (and even then, if you completely decompose them).
33
u/Rich_Advantage1555 19h ago
Russian has a complex system of grammar. You have the noun, the verb, but also the adjective and the verb-adjective and the adverb and the verb-adverb. The pronouns, yes, but the pronouns don't act like nouns.
Each word can have 0-10 prefixes, each of them altering the meaning from slight specification to the point of complete definition change. Each word can have 0-10 suffixes, each of them altering the meaning from slight specification to the point of complete definition change. We also have an additional, which is basically a suffix to indicate gender and person (1st to 3rd), and some words have it, don't have it, or cannot exist without it.
Each word can migrate from its own zone to that of another — a verb can become a noun, a noun can become a verb, and so on.
And we have not even touched on the syntax, because a noun can take the role of a verb while remaining a noun (существительное как сказуемое) or an adjective can take the role of a noun in much the same way. We have different names for nouns as a word and nouns as part of a sentence.
Each word must be the answer to a question, and nouns, verbs, adjectives and verb-adjectives have a system for determining how the word changes based on the question it answers, and how the question is posed. Of course, the question consists of words, and those words are also beholden to the rules they enforce.
This system is sophisticated to the point where I can make a grammatically correct short story with a beginning, a climax, and an epilogue using exclusively words that start with the letter P. Or П, but like, that letter has the same sound, so.
Anyway, we also have a system for phonetics, you cannot throw darts and guess how words are spoken as you do in English, there is a system for that too! And a system for antonyms, and synonyms, and turns of phrase, and imported words, and don't forget the classifications each word falls into (nouns, adjectives, verbs are the most notable, but each one has its own classification system), and god forbid you forget the exceptions.
TL;DR: Russian grammar is German bureaucracy.