Comments on: Ничего Себе! [Not Bad! Pretty Good! Pretty Well!]

By: Elizabeth H.

Elizabeth H. — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 21:47:19 +0000

Cool blog! I’m fluent in Russian, but can always use the colloquialisms. I got here by searching for “ничего себе.”

By: Mary

Mary — Sat, 09 May 2009 23:28:48 +0000

Thanks. I am using it.

By: jonathan

jonathan — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 21:43:38 +0000

Why do you need ‘себе’? My (limited) understanding is that ‘Ничего’ alone means “Not Bad/Pretty Good”.. is this correct?

By: Anya

Anya — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 17:53:55 +0000

Hi Josephina,

May I correct you on the translation of “Ничего себе” into English? For the situations which you describe, “Wow” would be a more fitting translation. “Ничего себе” has a a stong element of amazement and “Not bad!” does not convey that you are impressed in English. It’s more of an approval statement. Besides, it has a direct Russian equivalent: “неплохо!”

By: Josefina

Josefina — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 07:18:43 +0000

Stas, what would I do without you? Thank you so much for your corrections – as you will notice, I corrected everything but the нуль. I like the ‘у’ sound better than the Russian ‘o’ sound. I don’t know why… That’s just the way it is I guess But now I know that one day I can switch to saying “ниже ноля” and that would also be alright!

Thank you again!