Breakdown of Не те щоб малина не стигла, але вона просто дорога.
вона
she
не
not
дорогий
expensive
просто
simply
Questions & Answers about Не те щоб малина не стигла, але вона просто дорога.
What does не те щоб ... але ... mean in this sentence?
It is a common pattern meaning something like It’s not that ... but ... or Not exactly that ... it’s just that ....
Here, the speaker rejects one possible explanation and replaces it with a different one:
- not the issue: малина не стигла
- actual issue: вона просто дорога
So the whole sentence has the nuance of: The problem isn’t really that the raspberries aren’t ripe; they’re just expensive.
Why are there two не words? Is that a double negative?
Not in the usual sense. The first не belongs to the expression не те щоб, and the second не negates стигла.
So the structure is:
- не те щоб = it’s not that
- не стигла = not ripe
Together: It’s not that the raspberry/raspberries are not ripe...
This is not a mistake and not an unusual double negative. It is a normal idiomatic construction.
Why is малина singular? In English we would often say raspberries.