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blackbootz  ·  2816 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Writing With Refugee: Day 3

Russians have two words, or sensibilities, for the verb "to want." I want -- where I is the subject, is written Я хочу... (pronounced YA HAchoo). I want this thing, whatever it is, and it is the object of my wanting.

Мне хочется (pronounced menYE HOchetsa), although a verb with a similar root, has a different subject and object. Now me is the object, and the subject is this thing, whatever it is. The difference is the assignment of responsibility. The latter verb could almost be translated as This thing causes great likeness in me. It's subtly different. But whereas I was the agent in the former scenario, in the latter, this thing was so irresistible that I'm not even to blame. Which is truer?

Today, instead of loving my job, I imagined a job I loved, and thought about sentence structure.