Breakdown of Такие совпадения редки, но делают жизнь романтической.
Questions & Answers about Такие совпадения редки, но делают жизнь романтической.
The subject is такие совпадения (“such coincidences”), from the first part of the sentence.
In Russian, if the subject is already clear, it doesn’t have to be repeated:
- Такие совпадения редки, но (они) делают жизнь романтической.
The они is simply omitted because it’s obvious that они = такие совпадения.
Russian normally drops the present-tense form of быть (есть) in simple “A is B” statements.
So:
- Такие совпадения редки literally is: “Such coincidences rare”
but it means: “Such coincidences are rare.”
You would only add есть in special cases for emphasis or contrast. In neutral speech, you just say X + adjective, with no есть.
Редки is the short-form adjective (краткая форма) of редкий.
- редкие совпадения – long form, attributive (“rare coincidences”)
- совпадения редки – short form, predicative (“coincidences are rare”)
Short-form adjectives in Russian are mostly used in the predicate (after the subject) and often sound a bit more “statement of fact” or literary.
Редкими would be instrumental plural and would not fit here in this role; you’d use it in patterns like:
- Сделать совпадения редкими – “to make coincidences rare”
Not in this structure.
- Редки is an adjective describing the subject: “Such coincidences are rare.”
- Редко is an adverb: “rarely”.
If you use редко, you need a verb it modifies:
- Такие совпадения редко случаются. – “Such coincidences rarely happen.”
So:
- Такие совпадения редки. – correct.
- Такие совпадения редко. – incorrect; a verb is missing.
After делать in the sense “to make [something] [something]”, Russian usually puts the resulting quality in the instrumental case:
- делать жизнь романтической – “to make life romantic”
- сделать его счастливым – “to make him happy”
- сделали комнату уютной – “(they) made the room cozy”
Pattern:
делать / сделать + Accusative (object) + Instrumental (resulting state)
So:
- жизнь – accusative (what is being made)
- романтической – instrumental (what life is being made into)
Both are possible and grammatically correct. The nuance is stylistic:
- романтической – more “bookish” / literary; often tied to “romantic” as in romance, ideals, atmosphere.
- романтичной – more everyday, subjective; “romantic” in the emotional, sentimental sense.
In this context:
- делают жизнь романтической – sounds slightly more literary/poetic.
- делают жизнь романтичной – sounds a bit more colloquial / emotional, but still normal.
Meaning-wise, they largely overlap.
Такие agrees with совпадения in:
- number: plural
- gender: совпадения is neuter plural, but такие is the shared plural form for all genders
- case: nominative (subject of the sentence)
So:
- такой совпадение – wrong
- такое совпадение – singular neuter
- такие совпадения – plural nominative (“such coincidences”)
Такие is simply the plural form of такой / такая / такое.
Yes, Russian word order is flexible, though the default is:
- Такие совпадения редки, но делают жизнь романтической.
Other acceptable variants:
Такие совпадения редки, но они делают жизнь романтической.
(Explicit они, slightly more emphatic.)Такие совпадения редки, но делают романтической жизнь.
(Still correct, but emphasizes жизнь a bit differently; less neutral.)Такие совпадения редки, но жизнь они делают романтической.
(Stronger emphasis on жизнь and они.)
Но жизнь делают романтической without any subject nearby can sound a bit odd or poetic; in neutral prose it’s better to keep делают close to its understood subject.
Both но and а can be translated as “but”, but:
- но = strong contrast, often like “but however / yet”.
- а = contrast or comparison, sometimes closer to “whereas / while”.
Here we have a stronger logical contrast:
- Такие совпадения редки, но делают жизнь романтической.
“Such coincidences are rare, but they make life romantic.”
Using а is not wrong, but но is more natural because the second part is “despite this, they still…” – a classic но contrast.
Делают – imperfective, present tense, general fact:
- …но делают жизнь романтической.
“but (they) make life romantic” (in general; this is what they do).
Сделают – perfective, future tense, one-time or result-focused action:
- …но сделают жизнь романтической.
“but (they) will make life romantic” (at some point / as a result).
In a general statement about how such coincidences affect life in general, Russian prefers imperfective present: делают.
No, совпадение is neutral by itself. It simply means:
- совпадение – “coincidence”, “match”, “correspondence”
Examples:
- Какое совпадение! – “What a coincidence!”
- совпадение вкусов – “a coincidence / match of tastes”
- совпадение дат – “overlap / coincidence of dates”
In Такие совпадения редки, но делают жизнь романтической, the romantic color comes from the context: these are “such” coincidences that (by their nature) make life romantic. The word совпадения itself is not inherently romantic.