How is the idea of «girlfriend material» naturally expressed in Russian?
Elle n’est pas de l’étoffe dont on fait les copines.
То express the idea of «she’s not (X)girlfriend material«, «she’s not cut out to be anyone’s (X)girlfriend«, in French you say something like above with the word «étoffe» corresponding to «material / fabric«.
In conversation, I’d probably say something like:
Хорошая из нее девушка не выйдет.
How is this idea commonly/idiomatically expressed in Russian?
7 Answers 7
You got the idiom right.
«Not smbd./smth. material» would be плохой из него выйдет кто-то/что-то, with выйдет frequently omitted:
He’s not employee material // Скверный из него работник
He’s not scientist material // Учёный из него не ахти
However, there is one complication in your particular example.
There is no single word in Russian which would (unequivocally) translate to English «girlfriend» without any additional clarifications, and if you want to use девушка, you should specify моя девушка or его девушка for this to mean «girlfriend» and not just a «girl».
Without this specification, your phrase would mean «she’s not girl material» and this is not exactly what the English phrase means.
To fix it, you could stuff the possessive into this phrase somehow:
Неважная из неё выйдет ему девушка
, but that would mean she’ll not a girlfriend material for him (although she might make someone else happy).
As @M.Herzkamp noticed, you can turn it into a negative statement:
Не выйдет из неё никому хорошей девушки
Alternatively, you could make it not about her but about the relationship:
Серьёзных отношений с ней не выйдет.
Не годится она тебе в подруги / пассии (this is high register, sounds too posh)
Не выйдет из неё хорошей подруги / пассии (same as above) / тебе пары
As Quassnoi has noted in this context this concept would usually be expressed in a way whereby suitability of qualities is judged with a particular person in mind rather than generally.
But this could mean both she is too good or too bad for you depending on intonation.
Она не из того теста.
It will suit different contexts.
Russian does pretty well without naming concrete materials in such expressions. Still often, but mostly in colloquial speech, the word коленкор, ‘calico, a kind of textile to cover book binding’, is used in Russian in situations similar to the one you described.
Generally, it is a synonym of дело, ‘thing, business’, and very often it is used in the phrase не тот коленкор meaning ‘of a different kind; made of different clay/material/fabric’, for example:
Она точно не работает ни в каком журнале, это ясно. Не тот коленкор. Бабы там совсем не такие, не такие аферистки. [Людмила Петрушевская. Слабые кости (1992)] — She definitely doesn’t work for the magazine, that’s clear. She’s of a different kind. The women who work there are different, not such frauds [as she is].
As for your girlfriend example, I’d put it this way:
Не выйдет из неё хорошей подруги, не тот коленкор.
100% Russian idiom is [не из того теста].
Хорошая из нее девушка не выйдет.
There is a problem with my Russian mentality.
I do not understand what [good girlfriend] is.
I do understand what [good wife] is, but I do not understand what [good girlfriend] is.
Let’s think from other side.
If there is such thing as [good girlfriend], there must be such thing as [bad girlfriend].
But in my mentality [bad girlfriend]-s do not exists at all.
If I feel negative about my girlfriend she is not [bad girlfriend] is not [girlfriend] anymore, she is [ex-girlfriend].
— Do you have a girlfriend?
— Yes, I do.
— Is she a good girlfriend or a bad girlfriend?
I just can not imagine such a question at all.
In my Russian mentality, if the answer for the last question is [My girlfriend is a bad girlfriend] is 100% the same, as to say that [I am totally stupid idiot].
So, to have a girlfriend is already [good girlfirend] meaning included.
To have a [bad girlfirend] is already [i am an idiot] meaning is included.
The whole meaning to have a girlfriend is to find out if this woman can be a [good wife] or not. If it turnes out, that current girlfriend does not fit to be a [good wife], that does not mean, that she is a [bad girlfriend]. It just means, that the test of relations have failed.
To test future possible marriage relations is the whole meaning of girlfriending. But the object for testing is [wifing], not [girlfriending].
How is this idea commonly/idiomatically expressed in Russian?
I do not feel to use any idiom here to express this meaning.
Girlfriend material что это
Boyfriend material, is usually a term that means they fit the standards to be that persons boyfriend.
Символ показывает уровень знания интересующего вас языка и вашу подготовку. Выбирая ваш уровень знания языка, вы говорите пользователям как им нужно писать, чтобы вы могли их понять.
Мне трудно понимать даже короткие ответы на данном языке.
Могу задавать простые вопросы и понимаю простые ответы.
Могу формулировать все виды общих вопросов. Понимаю ответы средней длины и сложности.
Понимаю ответы любой длины и сложности.
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