— Вот это хорошо, отлично! — сказали мы все в один голос. — Ну, расскажи ещё про волков.
— Да зачем я буду рассказывать? Вот привезу волчонка, будете сами его воспитывать, и тогда не я вам, а вы мне много интересного расскажете.
What’s the function/force/translation of ВОТ at the beginning of the last sentence?
“That’s good, excellent!” we all chimed, “So tell us some wolf stories.” “Why should I tell YOU about wolves? Once I bring home a cub and you raise it, you’ll be the ones telling ME interesting wolf stories.”
“That’s good, excellent!” we all said in unison, “Well, tell us about wolves.”
“Why should I tell YOU about wolves? When I bring the cub, you’ll be the ones raising it, and then YOU’ll be telling ME interesting wolf stories and not the other way around.”
Why to talk about wolves? I'll get you a wolf cub and you will rear it.
The pattern Вот [я сделаю что-то], и (тогда) [some (un)pleasant consequence for someone] is used to express either a threat or a promise.
There's also some implication of "when" in contexts like this.
- Всё-таки я не до конца уверен в том, что мой перевод правильный.
- Ну подожди, ВОТ вернётся Улий, у него и спросишь.
Going back to the function of ВОТ in your example. To be honest, I hesitate between emphasizing «привезу» (#2)
http://xn----8sbauh0beb7ai9bh.xn--p1ai/%D0%B2%D0%BE%D1%82
and being just an introductory word (#9)
Wait until I bring a wolf cub...
As Tatiana said, it's rather scenario than a firm promise
You’re both right - the three kids in the story have different pets their father brings home from hunting trips. The fourth girl doesn’t have one yet because the father promised her a wolf cub. So I would say the cub is definite (since it’s already been promised and mentioned) in Grumbler’s “Wait until I bring THE wolf cub...” -or- Tatiana’s “When I bring the wolf cub...”
Thank you!
Talgat, you didn’t translate my post. Please remove that.
😉
Wait until I bring a wolf cub...
As Tatiana said, it's rather scenario than a firm promise
But he had already promised her the cub a long time before he said that in the story. The girl would always ask “Where’s my cub?” but he hadn’t found one to bring her yet. In this scenario, we would use THE because it’s THE CUB I PROMISED YOU/I’VE BEEN PROMISING YOU.
Or maybe I’m not understanding something. Does he mean something like “Wait until I actually bring a wolf cub home.” (?)
“Отец постоянно привозил нам с охоты живых зверят. Мы сами кормили их, смотрели за ними и воспитывали их.
У каждой были свои питомцы: у одной — юркий лисёнок, у другой — ослик, а у самой маленькой сестры — морская свинка.
— А тебе я привезу волчонка, — пообещал мне отец.”
Excerpt From: Ольга Перовская. “Ребята и зверята.” Apple Books.
This looks like a correct interpretation to me.
The last one?
Да. Если обещал, то "вот"=когда, как только
Мне почему-то больше нравится as soon as, но могу ошибаться.
once - тоже интересный вариант.
Thank you. ONCE could work, although it expresses an unnecessary immediacy, which may be a bit much for this context seeing that the girls will first raise the cub and feed it, etc. and then be able to tell interesting stories. AS SOON AS is too immediate. It means the minute he walks though the door with the wolf.
I like ONCE - I added another translation using it. Thanks again!
But what if I had promised to find some interesting stories and everyone was expecting them?
Yes - I like the last one. Funny enough, when I saw your question, "when" and "once" and "wait" - they all popped up, but I was having a hard time deciding on one of them. I wouldn't say he meant a specific cub there. That's like in my example above:
- Ну когда же мы уже будем целые истории переводить?
- Ну подождите же! Вот вернётся Улий - он вам и истории интересные найдёт, и переводы исправит.
>But what if I had promised to find some interesting stories and everyone was expecting them?
Aha!
In this story, the father had already promised the wolf cub and the girl always asked him when it would come.
Да, да, поняла. Речь об обещанном раньше волчонке.
Ёсли вы "новый пользователь", какое вам дело до Талгата?!
Шило в мешке не утаишь. Troll, как я сразу догадался
This is probably Talgat himself.
Он, кстати, тоже лайки неимоверно любил