TRANSLATION OF DESCARTES QUOTE

[John Dunn]

A quick look at a couple of sources (Mikhel'son's Xodjachie i metkie slova* and a Soviet-era encyclopedia) suggests that the standard translation is Я мыслю, следовательно (я) существую [Ja myslju, sledovatel'no (ja) sushchestvuju].  I would have thought that it was possible to form a grammatical utterence with a zero copula only if both subject and complement were present, while it would also appear difficult to translate this statement using a present-tense form of быть [byt] (есть??/есмь?????? [est'/esm']).  Others, however, may know better.

John Dunn.

*I am using the 1994 reprint.

-----Original Message-----
From: John Langran <john at RUSLAN.CO.UK>
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Date: Wed, 6 May 2009 15:41:19 +0100
Subject: [SEELANGS] TRANSLATION OF DESCARTES QUOTE

This is for a grammar summary of the verb "to be" in Russian.
I have seen the Descartes quote "I think, therefore I am" translated as "Я 
думаю, поэтому я." - "Ya dumayu, poetomu ya.". I wonder, is this a strong 
enough translation? Thanks for any suggestions?
John Langran
www.ruslan.co.uk 

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John Dunn
Honorary Research Fellow, SMLC (Slavonic Studies)
University of Glasgow, Scotland

Address:
Via Carolina Coronedi Berti 6
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Tel.: +39 051/1889 8661
e-mail: J.Dunn at slavonic.arts.gla.ac.uk
johnanthony.dunn at fastwebnet.it

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