Ways of expressing the meaning of the english articles in russian

The meaning of the English article may sometimes be expressed in Russian by means of: (a) cases Pour the water into the glass.      Налейте воду в стакан. -- Pour some water into the glass.    Налейте воды в стакан. (b) word order. A woman came up to me and asked what time it was. Ко мне подошла женщина и спросила, который час. The woman has come. Женщина пришла. (c) the   words   един,   какой-то,   какой-нибудь   (the   indefinite article), этот, тот самый (the definite article). A man is waiting for you downstairs. Вас внизу ждет какой-то человек. Do you know Nina? Yes, I do.  I like the girl immensely. Вы знаете Нину? Знаю. Мне очень нраиигся эта девушка. SPECIAL   DIFFICULTIES   IN THE   USE   OF   ARTICLES

• nouns day, night, morning, evening.

WITHOUT ARTICLE	A/AN	THE
if   day and   morning = 'light';  night   and evening= 'darkness' an   night   and eveningmean 'darkness' Day is meant for work, night for sleep. day, at night, from morning till night.It is easier to work by day than at night. the nouns morning and evening are modified by the adjectives early and late. It was early   morning.	the noun is modified by a descriptive attribute. I spent a sleepless night.	the nouns are modified by a particularizing attribute or when the situation makes them definite. He will never forget the day when he met her. in the morning in the afternoon in the evening.

• names of seasons. 1) without articles if they show a certain time of the year ( It was spring. I like spring) and modified with early and late 2) with definite article - modified by a particularizing attribute or when the situation makes them definite. It happened in the spring of 1930. The spring was cold and rainy.

• 3) the indefinite article is used when these nouns are modified by a descriptive attribute. It was a cold spring.

• school, college, bed, prison, Jail, church, town, university

1)        When these nouns denote concrete objects the articles are used according to the general   principle. The school was large and light. A new hospital was built last year.  I live in a small town.

2) When they lose their concrete meaning and express the purpose for which the objects denoted by these nouns serve, no article is used.      school - учеба                                 I go to School №4.

          hospital - лечение                           She was taken to hospital.

          bed - сон или болезнь                    It's time for you to go to bed.

          prison - заключение                        He was sent to prison.

          church - вера/молиться                   She is very religious and goes to church.

          town - городская местность            I'll go to town tomorrow.

• The names of meals

• Names of meals are used without articles. When did you have dinner? Is dinner ready?

• The definite article is used when the nouns are modified by a particularizing attribute or when the situation makes them definite. The dinner we had today was very substantial.

• The indefinite article is used if the name of a meal is modif'ied by a descriptive attribute. After a hearty breakfast the four gentlemen sallied forth to walk to Gravesend

• The names of languages. Names of languages when they are not followed by the noun language are used without articles: She knows English (but she knows the English language).

Note the peculiar use of the definite article in: (!) It is a translation from the English (the French etc.), (2) What is the English (the French etc.) for 'сосна'? The definite article is used if the noun is modified by a particularizing attribute: The English of America differs from the English of England.