Have some tea or tea? How to talk? Someone will be puzzled by this question between things, for a moment, and forget it. And someone is interested in asking friends on social networks or in search of an answer scouring the Internet.
Anyway, there are people who would like to know the truth - in the modern language, both versions of the named phrase are acceptable? And how is it right to say?
Which option is allowed in modern language
Using phrases such as a few (people - people), a bag (sugar - sugar), a glass (tea - tea), where the dependent words are masculine nouns of the second declension in the singular and in the genitive, Russian people of bygone times chose the form of the genitive case with ending - with (at ), with the quantitative value of material nouns, the value of part of the whole.
In the absence of a quantitative value, a form with the ending - a (s) was used:
- the will of the people;
- sugar sweetness;
- the smell of tea .
According to the observations of linguists, today the forms with the ending - at (are) are declining, the value of part of the whole is ignored, and the option "glass of tea " is quite usable and even more preferable than "glass of tea " . Especially reinforced is the form with the ending - a (s) by the presence of an adjective in the noun:
- a glass of aromatic tea ;
- pack of cane sugar.
However, in phrases by type of control (when the noun depends on the verb), the ending of material nouns -u (s), as a rule, is preserved:
- pour soup;
- pour tobacco;
- drink poison.
Thus, the question of how to drink tea or tea correctly is resolved more definitely. But where does this duality of the genitive come from?
Quantitative Separation
Some languages (for example, Finnish, Estonian) are characterized by the grammatical case partitive, or partial case, which serves to indicate part of the whole.
In Russian, partitive also takes place. By some prominent Russian linguists (A. A. Shakhmatov, V. V. Vinogradov, V. A. Bogoroditsky), it is designated as a quantitative-separation case. It is also called the second genitive, since not everyone recognizes the independence of the quantitative-separation case. It serves only abstract nouns and nouns with the meaning of materiality. For instance:
- move - go;
- fear to fear;
- honey - honey;
- tea - tea .
According to many, it makes no sense to single out the quantitative-separation case as an independent case, because the use of its forms in -u (-y) has sharply decreased. Many of our contemporaries do not see sin when they say: "I want to drink tea." They simply do not puzzle over it. What is called a language is developing. But others, for some reason, are overwhelmed by doubts: drink tea or tea?
How is it right?
Despite all the liberalism of modern linguistics, writing off systemic grammatical errors to the development of the language, the latter himself defends its own rules. And this is easy to see. One has only to give a diminutive form to the nouns considered above, and doubts about the option of their use disappear:
- bring a cup of coffee;
- put sugar;
- to drink a seagull;
- pour brandy.
The forms of the genitive case in-here are simply ridiculous. Also definitely the second genitive is indicated in phraseological units:
- without a year a week;
- ask the pepper;
- what is the spirit;
- succumb to heat , etc.
So, to conclude is simple. Have some tea or tea? Of course, tea.