? ?°?·-?????° ?? ???±?‡?‘?»????: you can count the number on one hand
There is nothing worse than having a friend tell you the price of something when you have no idea if it's ridiculously expensive or the bargain of the century. She describes the apartment of her dreams and leads up to the great reveal — a ruble price tag with so many zeros your mental exchange rate calculator crashes. You know you are going to be a great disappointment, but all the same you ask: ??‚?? ?????????? ???»?? ???°?»??? (Is that a lot or a little?)
???°?»?? is the word to describe a little of something — here, ???°?»?? ???µ???µ?? (a little money). If you don't like the adverb ???°?»??, you can use other more expressive words: ?±?µ?????? (poor), ???????????? (miserly), ???µ?????????? (not much), ???µ???????¶???? (just a little bit), ?‡???‚??-?‡???‚?? (a tiny bit), ???µ?±?????°?‚?? (not rich), ???µ???????‚?? (low on; literally "not thick"), or ???µ?¶???€???? (sparse; literally "not fat").
These words can be used in a variety of situations. ???µ???????‚?? (not thick) would seem to describe a thin soup, but it can be applied to anything from a meal to a corporate presentation. ?’ ?…?????µ ?????‚?€?µ?‡?? ???€?µ?·?????µ???‚ ???µ???????»?????? ?€?°?· ???????‚???€???»: "?”?°???°???‚?µ ?????????€?µ?‚??????!" ???? ?? ?????????€?µ?‚???‹???? ???€?µ???»???¶?µ?????????? ?±?‹?»?? ???µ???????‚??. (Several times during the meeting the president said, "Give me some specifics!" But specific proposals were few and far between.)
If you don't like those words, you can use that Russian specialty: whimsical combinations of little words with all the verbs and nouns left out: ?????µ???? ?????‡?µ???? (nothing at all), ???µ ?‚?°?? ?‡?‚???±?‹ ???‡?µ???? (not what you'd call very [much]), or ???µ ?‚?°?? ?‡?‚???±?‹ ?????????? (not what you'd call a lot).
You can go left-brain: ???????€?????????????‡?µ???????? (microscopic), ???? ???°?»???†?°?? ?????¶???? ???µ?€?µ???‡???‚?°?‚?? (you can count them on the fingers of one hand). Or you can go right-brain and use various body parts as comparisons: ?????€???‚???° (handful); ???° ???????? ?·???± (for one tooth, said of a small amount of food); or ???°/c ?????·?????µ?† (the size of my little finger).
If you don't like your own body parts as examples, you can refer to nature: ???°???»?? (a drop) or ???°???»?? ?? ?????€?µ (a drop in the bucket; literally "sea"). Or the animal kingdom: ?? ?????»???????? ?????? (the size of a pigeon's beak, ?????»?????° or ?????»?? being variants of ?????»???±??).
More expressive is ???°?? ???»?????? ?±???»???‡???° (like a bun for an elephant). This is said with exaggerated self-pity when asked if you got enough to eat. If you really want to go expressive, try the charming phrase ?????‚ ???°???»?°???°?» (literally "a cat cried"), used with a noun in the genitive case to describe a tiny bit of something — as much as a cat would shed in tears. ?‘?‹?»?? ?‚?€????????: ?????‹?‚?° ?‚???????° ?±?‹?»?? — ?????‚ ???°???»?°???°?», ?? ???µ?€?‹ ?? ???????? ?????»?‹ — ?µ?‰?‘ ???µ???????µ. (It was rough. At the time, I had nada experience and even less belief in myself.)
Another wonderful expression for not much is ?€?°?·-?????° ?? ???±?‡?‘?»????, which means that there were one or two things — and that's it. Usually this is a bad thing: ?????€???????… ???°?€?‚???? ?±?‹?»?? ?€?°?·-?????° ?? ???±?‡?‘?»???? (You could count the good paintings on the fingers of one hand). But sometimes being one of a very few can be presented as a good thing: ???°?????…, ???°?? ?? — ?€?°?·-?????° ?? ???±?‡?‘?»????! (People like me — they're thin on the ground!)
To which one must say: ?? ???»?°???° ?‘??????! (Thank God for that!)
Michele A. Berdy, a Moscow-based translator and interpreter, is author of "The Russian Word's Worth" (Glas), a collection of her columns.