до чего...

• ДО ЧЕГО...

[Particle; Invar; often used in exclamations]

=====

1. very, extremely:

- [when foll. by AdjP or AdvP] how...;

- so...;

- [when foll. by NP containing a modif]

⇒ what (a)...

     ♦ [Ирина:] Милая наша московская квартира, до чего же ты облезлая! (Розов 3). [I.:] Our darling Moscow apartment, how shabby you are! (3a).

     ♦ "А яблок этих самых - всю зиму лопаем; и мочим, и сушим - никак не справиться, до чего много!" (Федин 1). "And as for those apples, we gorge 'em all winter; and soak 'em, and dry 'em - can't get rid of'em nohow, there's so many!" (1a).

     ♦ До чего умная корова! - и здесь, где скот одичал без выпасов и присмотра... она сама каждый день приходит домой (Распутин 4). What a smart cow!-even here, where the cattle had run wild without pastures or attention...she came home every day on her own (4a).

2. [used with a verb]

⇒ to a very high degree:

- so (very) much;

- how much...;

- so;

- so incredibly <very>;

- [when the verb is translated by AdjP or Part] how (very);

|| до чего ты меня напугал{{}}≈ you scared me so badly;

- you got me so scared;

- you gave me such a scare.

     ♦ "Я тебя искал, кулацкое отродье... чтобы сказать, до чего я жалею, что не упек вас в тридцатом в Сибирь!"(Искандер 5). "I was looking for you, you spawn of a kulak...to say how very sorry I am that I didn't pack you off to Siberia in 1930!" (5a).

3. [used with a verb]

⇒ (to drive s.o.) to an extreme condition, or (to arrive) at an extreme condition (usu. with the implication that the condition in question is undesirable):

- до чего X довёл Y-a ≈ what a (sorry) state X has driven Y to;

- what X has driven Y to;

- the state X has driven Y to;

|| до чего X дошёл{{}}≈ what a (sorry) state X ended up in;

- the state X ended up in;

- [in limited contexts] to what extent X has gone downhill;

- how far downhill X has gone;

- X deteriorated to such an extent that...

     ♦ Посмотри, до чего ты довёл мать: она из-за тебя сон потеряла. Look what you've driven your mother to, she's lost sleep over you.