Breakdown of Сколько лет, сколько зим!
сколько лет, сколько зим
long time no see!
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Questions & Answers about Сколько лет, сколько зим!
Is Сколько лет, сколько зим! a literal sentence, or is it an idiom?
It is an idiomatic exclamation. Word for word, it means something like How many summers, how many winters!, but native speakers use it like Long time no see!
So even though the individual words are ordinary Russian words, the whole expression should be learned as a fixed phrase.
Why does лет mean years here? I thought year was год.
Yes, the basic dictionary form is год. But Russian changes nouns depending on grammar.
With сколько, Russian normally uses the genitive plural, so год becomes лет.
A few examples:
- один год — one year
- два года — two years
- пять лет — five years
- сколько лет? — how many years?
So сколько лет is completely normal grammar.
Why is it зим and not зимы?