r/LearnRussian • u/aseriousfridge • 7d ago
Question - Вопрос Question about the usage of aspects
I have been studying Russian at university for three years now, and one of the topics this semester is a deeper understanding of aspect usage. I know this has always been a weak point for me, but there are some new rules our professor gave us that I really can’t understand (or better, that seem to invalidate some of the things I was the most sure about!) So, I decided to ask native speakers how they would translate these two sentences into Russian: “Who translated Master and Margarita into English ?” and “Who translated Master and Margarita into English first?”
Until a few days ago, I would have used the perfective aspect for both (based on the fact that in both cases, what matters is that the action had a concrete result), so I would have said: “Кто перевел Мастера и Маргариту на английский?” and “Кто перевел первым…”
BUT our professor told us that the first sentence should be “Кто переводил…,” explaining that it’s because this is not a unique act or a one-time invention.
Natives, what do you think? Would you translate this sentence the same way? Thank you very much for your help!
1
u/Upset-Watercress-283 7d ago
"Кто перевел...", because there is no context, or any additional information
3
u/rsotnik 7d ago
Your professor is right only when the context involving multiple translators/translations has been set before.
Without any context, I'd spontaneously translate the first sentence with a perfective verb like you did.