Headword
Language Russian · aspect pair продавать (imperfective) / продать (perfective) · converse покупать / купить on this page, not a separate entry
Four places · shared inventory with English sell · Russian cloth · working claim, revisable
Voice[SellerNOM] + ApplHAVE(BuyerDAT, Themegoods ACC) + за-MeasurePPrice
A sale has a seller, the goods, a buyer, and a price. They are not four equal sisters of продавать. Voice adds the seller, the nominative subject. The goods are the one object, accusative. Ozhegov, Ushakov, and Kuznetsov’s Большой толковый словарь print the government кого-что on perfective продать. The imperfective they name is продавать. A low ApplHAVE is the working home of the buyer. The buyer is a morphological dative: Ozhegov’s gloss has кому-н., Wiktionary’s imperfective gloss has кому-либо, Kuznetsov prints П. покупателю, знакомому, туристу, and Chekhov, as Wiktionary quotes him, has тебе. That dative is not a slot in the government label кого-что. Lines without it are also printed, so the dative is optional in the printed frame. за selects the price. Kuznetsov: Картину продали за сто рублей. English spells that price with for.
Where this frame leaves the English gloss sell. English sell Chris a mower puts a bare noun phrase in the first object, and sell a mower to Chris puts the buyer in to. Russian gives the verb one object, the goods, and puts the buyer in the dative. There is no bare second object, and there is no to-phrase in the lines read. The price is за plus an accusative measure (за сто рублей, definition за плату), where English uses for. A second price cloth is по plus dative. Kuznetsov’s imperfective line is П. товары по сниженным ценам: по governs ценам, a price level. That phrase is not the transaction sum under за. A numeral unit price such as по рублю is unprinted. П. по кредитной карточке is the means of payment, the same preposition, not that price.
The other party changes the lemma and the case. On продавать / продать the buyer is dative. On the converse покупать / купить the seller is у plus genitive, a source. Wiktionary’s antonym of the commercial sense of продать is купить, and of продавать is покупать. Chekhov, in the Wiktionary quotation: купить у вас. Teffi, in the same entry: купила у вдовы. English buy from is that source. Ozhegov’s and Ushakov’s entries for купить print кого-что and do not print у. The reflexive продаваться is Kuznetsov’s passive label Продаваться, -ается; страд. and Wiktionary’s быть в продаже. Where the goods are the subject, the buyer is not. English Chris was sold a lawnmower promotes the buyer. No such promotion is printed.
Ozhegov, Ushakov, Kuznetsov, and Wiktionary do not put a named seller, a dative buyer, accusative goods, and за plus a numeral in one clause. Kuznetsov’s picture line has the goods and за сто рублей, and no buyer. Chekhov’s sponge line has a dative and accusative goods, and no price. The collocation покупателю has the dative and does not spell the goods. The four-place string with Пат and Крис below is constructed from those pieces. It is not a dictionary line.
Printed · dative buyer · accusative goods · no price
✓ Продаёт тебе губку или золотую рыбку Wiktionary · продавать · Chekhov, «Свадьба», 1889 · the entry marks the quotation НКРЯ
sells · you.DAT · a sponge or a goldfish · accusative
Printed · accusative goods · за + the sum · no buyer · agent unprinted
✓ Картину продали за сто рублей. Kuznetsov · Большой толковый словарь · продать sense 1
the picture.ACC · they sold · for a hundred rubles
Printed · по + dative of a price level · not the sum under за
✓ П. товары по сниженным ценам. Kuznetsov · imperfective продавать · по governs ценам
sell · the goods · at reduced prices
Printed converse · seller is у + genitive · English from
✓ купить у вас четвертей пять овса Wiktionary · купить · Chekhov, «Лошадиная фамилия», 1885
buy · from you.GEN · five quarters of oats
| Place | Introduced by (working) | Russian marking | Case status | English marking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seller | Spec,Voice (outer) | nominative subject of продавать / продать | structural · the picture line is продали, with no nominative printed · on купить this party is у+genitive, not the subject | subject of sell |
| Buyer | low ApplHAVE | dative (кому-н., кому-либо, покупателю, тебе) | oblique dative · not in the government кого-что · optional: omitted in П. товар and in Картину продали за сто рублей · never a bare second accusative | bare first object (DOC) · to |
| Goods | complement of the root (Theme of eHAVE) | accusative · government кого-что (товар, картину, губку, мебель) | structural · the one object · a genitive of that object under не is unprinted · on продаваться the goods can be the subject; no priced example is printed | direct object in the to-frame · second object in the DOC |
| Price | за selects one MeasureP | за + accusative measure (за сто рублей, за плату) | PP · one phrase · рублей after сто is the genitive of the unit inside the phrase, not a second case of the verb and not genitive of negation · по+dative is a different cloth | for + MeasureP |
Marking map. One letter can belong to several heads. Read the head, then the marker.
Each row lines up one English slot with its Russian slot. The alignment type says what happens to the slot: = (same status), or shift (a bare object or a preposition moves to a case). Printed dictionary lines come first. The four-place string and the double accusative are constructed. They show the working alignment. They are not a bilingual corpus.
| Slot | EN form | RU form | Align | EN example | RU example |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seller | SUBJ of sell | nominative of продавать / продать | = | They sold the picture. | продали Kuznetsov · no nominative printed |
| Goods | OBJ | accusative · что | = | the picture · a sponge | картину Kuznetsov · губку Chekhov |
| Buyer (dative) | to + DP | dative | shift · to → dative · not in the government кого-что · optional | to you | тебе Chekhov · покупателю Kuznetsov |
| Buyer (DOC) | DOC first object, a full DP | no bare second accusative | shift · the buyer stays dative | sold Chris a picture | * Пат продал Криса картину constructed |
| Price (за) | for + MeasureP | за + accusative measure | = oblique · PP, not a second object | for a hundred rubles | за сто рублей Kuznetsov |
| Price level (по) | at + a price level | по + dative | a different cloth from за · a numeral unit price is unprinted | at reduced prices | по сниженным ценам Kuznetsov · imperfective |
| Seller on купить | from + DP | у + genitive | shift · another lemma · from → у+GEN · Ozhegov does not print у | buy from you | у вас Chekhov · Wiktionary |
| Four places | to + for, or DOC + for | dative + accusative + за | shift on the buyer · the stack is unprinted | Pat sold Chris a picture for a hundred rubles. | Пат продал Крису картину за сто рублей. constructed |
The strip below is a set of small multiples. Each card holds one frame, with English on top and Russian under it. A buyer on this lemma sits in the dative. The goods are the one object. The price, when it is the sum, sits in за.
EN · RU · printed dative
He sells you a sponge or a goldfish.
Продаёт тебе губку или золотую рыбку
RU · Wiktionary · Chekhov · НКРЯ · dative buyer · accusative goods · no price · the English line is a gloss of that clause
Move English you / to you → dative · not a second object
EN · RU · printed за
They sold the picture for a hundred rubles.
Картину продали за сто рублей.
RU · Kuznetsov · accusative goods · за+accusative · no buyer · рублей is genitive after сто
Agree English for → за · the buyer is omitted, and the omission is printed
EN · RU · printed по
Sell the goods at reduced prices.
П. товары по сниженным ценам.
RU · Kuznetsov · imperfective · по+dative of the price level · not за сто рублей · a numeral unit price is unprinted
Move по+dative is not the transaction sum in за
EN · RU · printed у
buy from you
купить у вас четвертей пять овса
RU · Wiktionary · купить · Chekhov · the seller is у+genitive · Ozhegov’s купить does not print у
Move another lemma · English from → у+genitive · not the dative of продать
EN · RU · four places
Pat sold Chris a picture for a hundred rubles.
Пат продал Крису картину за сто рублей.
constructed · dative of Kuznetsov’s покупателю and Chekhov’s тебе · goods and за сто рублей from Kuznetsov · the names are not a dictionary line · no printed clause stacks the three
Move dative buyer · one accusative · за on the sum · no English double object
EN · RU · no second accusative
Pat sold Chris a picture.
* Пат продал Криса картину.
constructed · English double object · the printed buyer is dative покупателю / тебе
Move the buyer does not sit as a second accusative
Argument difference. English can package the buyer and the goods as two bare objects, and the passive can make the buyer the subject: Chris was sold a lawnmower. The price there is for. Russian prints one object, the goods, a buyer in the dative when a line names one, and a transaction price in за. The dative is not in the government кого-что, and several printed lines omit it. по plus dative is a price level, not that sum. The converse купить marks the seller with у plus genitive, against English from. Polish sprzedać also uses a morphological dative and za, and under nie the goods are genitive. Bulgarian продавам spells the buyer with на, and a full noun has no dative ending. German and Dutch keep one object and a prepositional price. Hungarian prints a dative and a price in -ért. See sell, sell · Polish, and sell · Bulgarian.
Dictionary frames and lines · checked · quoted as printed
сов., кого-что. Передать кому-н. в собственность за плату. П. товар, изделие. · несов. продавать Ozhegov · продать sense 1 · government is кого-что · кому-н. is inside the gloss · no numeral · no dative in the examples
совер. (к продавать), кого-что. Отдать за определенную плату. Продать мебель. Продать масло. Продать лошадь. Ushakov · sense 1 · no dative · no numeral за-phrase
св. кого-что. Отдать за определённую плату. · П. покупателю, знакомому, туристу. · Картину продали за сто рублей. · П. товары по сниженным ценам. · Продаваться, -ается; страд. Kuznetsov · Большой толковый словарь · the по line is on the imperfective · the passive label has no money sentence
Продаёт тебе губку или золотую рыбку Wiktionary · продавать · Chekhov, «Свадьба», 1889 · НКРЯ · dative · accusative · no price
Мне этот товар надо срочно продать. Wiktionary · продать · мне is the person who needs to sell · not the buyer
купить у вас четвертей пять овса Wiktionary · купить · Chekhov, «Лошадиная фамилия», 1885 · у+genitive
купила у вдовы портного хорошенький домик с огородом Wiktionary · купить · Teffi, «Страшный прыжок» · у вдовы · accusative домик · no price
кого-что. Приобрести в собственность. К. за большие деньги. Ozhegov · купить · за+accusative · no у
The strings in the stack are constructed, except where a tag says the line is printed. Пат / Крис continue the names on English sell. картину and за сто рублей are Kuznetsov’s words. Крису is the dative shape of покупателю and of Chekhov’s тебе. No dictionary line contains the three together.
✓ Пат продал Крису картину за сто рублей.
constructed · nominative seller · dative buyer · one accusative · за on the sum · not a dictionary line
✓ Картину продали за сто рублей.
Kuznetsov · the dative is absent · the absence is printed · рублей stays inside the measure
✓ Продаёт тебе губку или золотую рыбку
Wiktionary · Chekhov · dative buyer · no за
✓ купить у вас четвертей пять овса
Wiktionary · купить · Chekhov · у+genitive · not the dative of продать
* Пат продал Криса картину.
constructed · English double object · two accusatives · the buyer is Крису
The dative, за, по, and у are markings on participants the dictionaries already name. They do not add a fifth place. Nothing in продать separates. There is no preverbal Focus host of the Hungarian kind on this verb.
The buyer is dative, and the dative is optional. The government label is кого-что. Ozhegov’s кому-н. and Wiktionary’s кому-либо sit in the definition. Chekhov’s тебе and Kuznetsov’s покупателю are the printed datives. П. товар and Картину продали за сто рублей omit the buyer, and those omissions are printed. A question for the buyer, and a question for the price, are unprinted. No за сколько is added.
за сто рублей is one measure phrase. сто and рублей compose inside за. рублей is the genitive of the unit after the numeral. Orthography is not extra arity. There is no further argument “currency name.” The same point is on сдавать, where за тридцать рублей is one phrase and рублей is genitive after the numeral. по сниженным ценам does not contain that numeral. It names the level of the price, in the dative, under по. A numeral unit price under по is unprinted, so this page does not invent по десять рублей as a citation.
у belongs to the other lemma. у вас and у вдовы are sources of купить. They are not a dative of продать with a different preposition. Ozhegov can put за большие деньги on купить and still not print у. The source marking and the price marking are independent, and neither entry stacks them with a dative buyer of продать.
The object under не is unprinted. No negative clause of the commercial sense is in the entries opened. There is no genitive to copy from sprzedać. An accusative under не is not rejected here, because the negation itself is unprinted.
продаваться does not promote the buyer. The passive label and быть в продаже leave the goods as the thing one can talk about as subject. Wiktionary gives no example. Картина продаётся above is constructed from that label. It has no price and no buyer-subject. Sense 2 of продаваться, a person selling himself or herself, is a different reading.
Aspect labels. продавать / продать, and покупать / купить, and продаваться / продаться, are the pairs the dictionaries print. These are the dictionaries’ aspect labels. They are not a claim about an endpoint.
A causative is a separate outer event. It is not a place of продавать. The revisable note is Causative templates and argument selection. This page does not edit that note. No causative sentence is constructed here.
Each sketch is a working drawing, not a locked analysis. The point is one accusative, the goods, a dative buyer that the government label does not list, a price inside за, and a different preposition по for a price level. On the converse lemma the seller is у plus genitive. Which theta role is the object in this low ApplHAVE domain is the revisable note Causative templates and argument selection. This page does not edit that note.
Constructed declarative · Kuznetsov’s picture line leaves this nominative unprinted
[VoiceP Пат Voice ← Seller = Spec,Voice · nominative … inner layers … продал ]
✓ Пат продал Крису картину за сто рублей. constructed
✓ Картину продали за сто рублей. Kuznetsov · продали · no nominative in the line
The seller of продать is the external argument. On купить that person is not the external argument. The external argument there is the buyer, and the seller is у plus genitive. продаваться, on the passive and “be on sale” readings, does not keep this Voice as a printed buyer-subject.
One buyer · morphological dative · not a second object · not in кого-что
[VoiceP Пат Voice
[ApplP_LOW Крису Appl_HAVE ← Buyer · dative · HAVE the goods
[VP √прод-
[Theme картину ] ] ← Goods · accusative · кого-что
[PP за [ MeasureP сто рублей ]]]] ← Price · за+accusative · outside that object
Chekhov prints тебе and the goods, and no price. Kuznetsov prints покупателю as a collocation, and prints the goods with за сто рублей and no buyer. The tree that holds all four is the constructed packaging. *Пат продал Криса картину puts the buyer in the English bare-object slot. That slot is empty here.
✓ Продаёт тебе губку или золотую рыбку Wiktionary · Chekhov · dative under the imperfective · no за
* Пат продал Криса картину. constructed · no second accusative
Two price cloths · one of them is the transaction sum · neither is a second object
за [ MeasureP [ Amount сто ] [ N рублей ] ] ← Kuznetsov · картину продали
рублей = genitive of the unit after сто · inside the phrase
по [ DP сниженным ценам ] ← dative · price level · imperfective
a numeral по рублю / по десять рублей is unprinted
по [ DP кредитной карточке ] ← dative · means of payment · not the price
✓ Картину продали за сто рублей. Kuznetsov · за on the whole measure
✓ за плату Ozhegov · definition · accusative · no numeral
✓ П. товары по сниженным ценам. Kuznetsov · по+dative · not the sum
сто рублей = one MeasureP. n and the unit compose inside that phrase. за is on the phrase. Composition in this cloth is за(MeasureP), not a second object of the verb. по сниженным ценам is not a second MeasureP sister beside за in any line read. The two cloths are printed apart. German für, Dutch voor, Polish za, and Bulgarian за are prepositions on a MeasureP of the за kind. Hungarian uses the case suffix -ért. Russian uses за for the sum.
Converse lemma · source, not a dative · printed
[VoiceP я Voice ← buyer = subject of купить
[VP √куп-
[Theme домик / овёс ]
[PP у [ вдовы / вас ]]]] ← seller = у+genitive · English from
✓ купить у вас четвертей пять овса Wiktionary · Chekhov
✓ купила у вдовы портного хорошенький домик с огородом Wiktionary · Teffi · no price in the clause
Ozhegov’s government of купить is кого-что, and the price example there is К. за большие деньги. у is the Wiktionary quotations, not that government line. The dative of продать does not reappear as the marker of this seller.
Pat sold Chris a picture for a hundred rubles · working, parallel to English sell
[VoiceP Pat Voice ← Seller
[ApplP_LOW Chris Appl_HAVE ← Buyer = bare DOC object
[VP √SELL
[Theme a picture ] ← Goods
[PP for [ MeasureP a hundred rubles ]]]]]
Structural case in the English double object goes to the applied buyer and, in the to-frame, to the goods. The passive can promote that buyer: Chris was sold a lawnmower. Russian spells the buyer as a dative, and the dative is not in the government кого-что. The direct object is the goods. The transaction price stays inside for in English and inside за in Russian. The seller of the converse is from in English and у plus genitive on купить. Polish uses a dative and za, and a genitive of the goods under negation. Bulgarian uses на rather than a dative ending. по plus dative is the price-level cloth, unstacked with за in the lines read.
| Layer | sell (EN) | продавать / продать | покупать / купить |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spec,Voice | Seller | Seller · nominative | Buyer · nominative |
| other party | DOC buyer, or to | dative buyer · optional · not in кого-что | seller · у+genitive · Wiktionary · Ozhegov does not print у |
| Case object | goods (to-frame) · buyer is the other bare object in the DOC | goods · accusative · кого-что | goods · accusative, or a quantity phrase in the oats line |
| Price | for + MeasureP | за + accusative measure · по+dative is a price level | Ozhegov за большие деньги · unstacked with у in that entry |
| pointing | the DOC passive can promote the buyer | no second accusative · продаваться does not print a buyer-subject | the seller stays in у · not a dative |
On продать, the buyer comes to have the goods, and за сто рублей measures the price. On купить, the subject comes to have the goods, and the person who had them is у plus genitive. English keeps both directions nearer one verb sell / buy, with to or a double object on one side and from on the other. Russian changes the lemma and the case together.
Working paper · October 2026 · Russian micro-entry · Beyond Index 2
Commercial transfer in Russian: seller (Voice, nominative), goods (accusative, government кого-что), buyer (dative; not in that government; optional in the printed lines), and price (за plus an accusative measure). по plus dative is a price level, по сниженным ценам, not that sum. A numeral unit price under по is unprinted. On купить the seller is у plus genitive. продаваться is a passive label. продавать and продать are an aspect pair. These are the dictionaries’ aspect labels. They are not a claim about an endpoint.
Same inventory as English sell, Polish sprzedać, and Bulgarian продавам: a seller, a buyer who has the goods, the goods, and a price. Not five places. Not four sisters of one V. A flat grid would predict two bare objects, or a buyer inside the government кого-что, or a price that is a second object, or one marker shared by the buyer of продать and the seller of купить. Russian shows one accusative, a dative that the government does not list, a price in за, and у plus genitive on the other lemma.
сто рублей = one MeasureP. See the MeasureP sketch. по сниженным ценам is not that phrase with the preposition swapped.
What Russian changes, against the English gloss sell, is the cloth of the buyer and the cloth of the price, and the lemma of the converse. The buyer is dative, not a to-phrase and not a bare object. The sum is за plus accusative, not for. The seller of купить is у plus genitive, not from on the same verb. What it does not change is the inventory. The goods are still the theme. The price is still one measure when it is за сто рублей. продавать / продать are an aspect pair. That pair is not a fifth place. These are the dictionaries’ aspect labels. They are not a claim about an endpoint.
In the constructed Пат продал Крису картину за сто рублей, Chris comes to have the picture. That is give-geometry. The price measures the sale. It is not the object that is transferred.
Dictionary frame: Ozhegov, Ushakov, and Kuznetsov’s Большой толковый словарь, headword продать, as Gufo prints them; Russian Wiktionary, headwords продать, продавать, продаваться, and купить; Ozhegov and Ushakov again for купить. Those entries print the aspect pair, government кого-что, a dative in кому-н. / кому-либо / покупателю / Chekhov’s тебе, Картину продали за сто рублей, по сниженным ценам, the passive label Продаваться, -ается; страд., and у вас / у вдовы on купить. They do not print a stacked dative-plus-numeral clause, a numeral under по, a genitive under не, or a buyer-subject passive. Index 2 does not list продать.
Series placement: Russian sense×language twin of English sell, Polish sprzedać, and Bulgarian продавам. Records the dative buyer, за as the sum, по as the price level, and у plus genitive on купить. Does not reopen the causative-templates note.