Lower Sorbian to Russian: counting two and recognizing a changed reflexive form
A Lower Sorbian dual is not a Russian collective numeral
The Lower Sorbian dual identifies a pair, but Russian двое is not a universal equivalent for every source dual expression. Gramota’s guidance on collective numerals restricts their use with nouns naming female persons. Its answer contrasting descriptions of four women selects четыре женщины rather than the collective alternative. A source grammatical category and a target numeral class do different work.
For a Lower Sorbian message about two people, identify the target noun as well as the actual count. Do not choose a Russian collective merely because the source has a special two-person form. Conversely, using an ordinary Russian cardinal does not imply that the pair has become an unspecified group. The translation can preserve exactly two through a construction whose morphology differs from the source.
A counted noun can have a form that looks like a different relationship
Stone’s Lower Sorbian singular example mam dobrego konja describes having a good horse, with an animate accusative shaped like the genitive. That is a different reason for a genitive-looking expression from the Russian table-counting pattern below: the horse construction has no numeral. When translating an inventory, distinguish animate-object morphology from number government rather than treating every unexpected noun ending as one counting rule.
Gramota illustrates twenty-two tables with двадцать два стола and describes the genitive singular pattern after relevant cardinals in the stated nominative construction. The example asserts a count, not ownership by an unstated possessor. If a Lower Sorbian count becomes a differently inflected Russian noun phrase, check the numerical value and grammatical environment before inventing a possession meaning.
The Russian grammatical overview likewise recognizes quantified subjects whose noun is genitive because the quantifier requires it. A genitive form is therefore insufficient evidence that the phrase cannot be a subject. Source and target participant roles must be recovered from their complete constructions, not inferred from one case ending.
A separate source se can correspond to a joined Russian verb
Stone distinguishes Lower Sorbian myś se, washing oneself, from the nonreflexive washing verb. Russian grammatical documentation illustrates моется as a reflexive verb written as one token. A shorter target word sequence can therefore retain self-reference rather than omit a source participant. The visible space before the Lower Sorbian marker does not require an equivalent space in Russian.
The source marker still needs lexical interpretation. Stone also lists bojaś se, fearing, among verbs whose reflexive form belongs to the lexical construction. Do not assume every source se means that a person physically acts on themselves, or manufacture an independent Russian self-object to account for it.
Together, these contrasts explain why a sentence about two people washing themselves can change in several places at once. Russian counting rules govern the noun phrase, while reflexive verb spelling packages another relationship. Preserving the pair and preserving self-directed action are separate requirements; neither is verified by matching source and target word counts.
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