«Масленица» begins and that’s why «готовим блины!» [we’re making Russian pancakes!]

Posted by Josefina
Feb
8
2010

Today is «8 (восьмого) февраля» [the 8th of February] and a Monday but not just any Monday - today is the Monday on which «Масленица» [‘Maslenitsa'; carnival, shrove] begins - also known as «сырная неделя» [cheese week] - in Russia. This used to be a «языческий праздник» [pagan holiday] back before Russia became a Christian country, a celebration of the sun and a way of marking the «конец зимы» [end of winter] and the «начало весны» [beginning of spring]. Since back in the days this ‘pagan party’ has been made to fit well into the Christian calendar, and is now celebrated during a whole week «до Великого поста» [before Lent]. Lent 2010 starts «17 (семнадцатого) февраля» [17th of February] and ends on «4 (четвёртого) апреля» [the 4th of April]. The year 2010 will be a most interesting year as it will be the year when «Пасха» [Easter] is celebrated by «православные» [Orthodox Christians], «католики» [Catholics] and «протестанты» [Protestants] on one and the same day - the 4th of April!

But before Easter there’s Lent. And what exactly do Russians eat before giving up such things as meat, dairy and alcohol for lent? I bet you already knew: «блины» [pancakes] of course!

Without a doubt, I am a very lucky girl. One of the reasons for this is because I have a good friend here in Yekaterinburg, «Саша» [Sasha] - or «Александр Александрович» [Alexander Alexandrovich] - who is «повар» [a cook]. Whenever I come over to his place, I always find him in the kitchen cooking me «что-нибудь вкусное» [something tasty].  About a week ago I asked him if he wouldn’t mind giving me a hand with preparing for «посты про русскую еду» [the posts about Russian food], and he agreed. Today I have the honor of bringing our very first culinary creation to my dear readers’ and fellow Russophiles’ attention! I present to you Sasha’s very own recipe for what he calls «сибирские блины» [Siberian pancakes]:

Start by pouring «1 (один) литр молока» [1 liter of milk] into a big bowl.

Then put into the same big bowl «700 (семьсот) грамм муки» [700 grams of flour]. (If you already can tell «мука» [flour] apart from «мука» [martyrdom, torment, agony] just by the way they’re pronounced - well, you’re a better person than I am! I still get them confused… and it’s just as much fun for the Russians every time).

You’ll need «яйца - 3 (три) штуки» [eggs - 3 ‘pieces']. (I didn’t know you could crack eggs with a knife, but «Саша» says that’s the simplest way and the only way that won’t make a mess of things. He’s the «повар» [cook] so he should know, right?)

After this add «соль по вкусу» [(fem.) salt according to (your) taste] and «0,5 (пол)стакана сахара» [half a cup of sugar] into the dough.

Then pour roughly «0,5 (пол)стакана сливок» [half a cup of (pl.) cream] into the bowl.

 

You’ll need «50 (пятьдесят) грамм сливочного масла» [50 grams of butter] «и чуть-чуть растительного масла» [and just a little vegetable oil] (pictured above is only the vegetable oil - by a brand poetically enough called «Щедрое лето» [The Generous Summer]).

As a finishing touch to make «тесто» [the dough] just the way you like it: pour more or less «1,5 (полтора) стакана воды» [1,5 cup of water], add «щепотка соды» [a pinch of soda] and «можно ещё немножко сметаны» [you can also add a little bit of ‘smetana' (sour cream)] - «и тесто готово!» [and the dough is done!]

And now it’s finally «пора» [time] to start making «блины» [pancakes]!

Careful, careful when flipping the «блин» over… Because the famous proverb «первый блин комом» [the first pancake becomes a clod, lump; ball, globe] didn’t turn up in Russian language out of nowhere but from experience! I hope you can see in the background how «Саша» is keeping a watchful eye on me and the process…

That’s more like it! My friend «Катя» [Katya] shows you how it’s done.

 My serving suggestion: «красная икра» [red caviar] (because we can’t afford «чёрная икра» [black caviar]), «сметана» [‘smetana'; sour cream] and «петрушка» [parsley]. I have always thought that eating pancakes like this would be the ‘real’ and ‘true’ Russian way, but it turned that out none of my Russian friends had ever heard of this combination before… And now they claim I will give birth to a new myth «о русской кухне» [about Russian cuisine].

 «Вася» [Vasya (Sasha's brother)], «Саша» and «Катя» all know that the only right way «начать празднование Масленицы» [to begin the celebration of ‘Maslenitsa'] is «с улыбкой» [with a smile]! (In the glasses is a most tasty desert with jelly made from champagne and whipped cream on top…)

And now there’s nothing left to do but to «наслаждаться едой» [enjoy the food] and try to eat enough «перед Великим постом» [before Lent] so that you’ll last all the way «до Пасхи» [to Easter]…

 
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«Кем быть?» [Who to be?]: The beginner’s guide to using the verb «быть» in both future and past tenses but leaving it out of the present tense altogether

Posted by Josefina
Feb
5
2010

It is imperative for everyone to learn to be happy about the smaller things in life. An example of a small thing that can (and should!) bring happiness into everyone’s life is the fact that Russian verbs only have «три времена» [three tenses]: «настоящее время» [present tense], «прошедшее время» [past tense] and «будущее время» [future tense]. When it comes to asking «когда?» [when?] something took place in Russian language, all you really need to differ between is «сегодня» [today], «вчера» [yesterday] and «завтра» [tomorrow]. You don’t have to be anymore specific than that (this is after all not a post «о видах русского глагола» [about the aspects of the Russian verb] so wipe that frown off your face!). Now feel happy about this tiny fact of Russian grammar at its most simple for a while!

Okay, so have you felt happy for a little while now? And are you now ready to face some harsher facts of Russian grammar? Let’s go then!

When speaking about the three tenses of Russian verbs one must always first and foremost pay specific attention to one verb that breaks this simple flow of otherwise oh-so-easy-to-learn rules. This is the seemingly harmless verb «быть» [to be, exist]. The thing is that this verb has ‘lost’ its form in the present tense (and thus also place in such a sentence). There’s just no way of putting «быть» into a sentence with the present tense. «Сегодня» [today] one cannot use «быть» [to be, exist]. Don’t even try! Not even in the privacy of your own home! Of course, some of you might argue that the present tense form «есть» of it still remains in Russian language today, and that it is sometimes used by Russian themselves in phrases like «это не есть хорошо» [this is no good]. But I would not recommend that you go around saying that anyway - even if the Russians sometimes do it - learn to be more frank about things and name them by their proper names by firmly stating: «это плохо» [this is bad]. The present tense form can be found in the construction ‘to have something’ which can be directly translated as ‘at my place (or disposal) I have something’. That’s found in sentences like «у меня есть личный самолёт» [I have a private airplane] or «у меня есть четыре двоюродных братья» [I have four (male) cousins]. Also in more formal language you can find this form of the verb used in present tense with the meaning of ‘to be’ - but that’s it! That’s as far as the present tense of «быть» goes. What does one do then in Russian language, if you cannot use this form? Well, the easy answer does prove to be the correct one: leave it out of the sentence altogether!

Present tense: «Свежие следы в новом снегу» [Fresh steps in the new snow]. Past tense:
«Были свежие следы в новом снегу» [There were fresh steps in the new snow]. Future tense: «Будут свежие следы в новом снегу» [There will be fresh steps in the new snow].

At first it will be strange to speak without using any verb whatsoever. Trust me, you’ll get used to it. And you’ll even come to like it. I bet you’ll start liking it so much that you will wonder why other languages haven’t done this as well. Leaving out the verb in a lot of what is said and written on a daily basis does save a lot of time. But before we go any further, we should get a bit acquainted with the forms of this verb in past and future tenses. As we all know (or should at least have heard about by now) the Russian verb changes according to the person performing a task, or - as is the case with «быть» - simply ‘is’ or ‘exists’. To keep things comprehensible we’ll focus first on what «я» [I] does to the verb (everybody likes to mostly talk about themselves anyway). The future tense of «быть» is «я буду» [I will, I will be]. The past tense of «быть» is «я был» [I was (if you're a man)] and «я была» [I was (if you're a woman)].

Usually you should put the noun following this verb in everybody’s favorite «творительный падеж» [instrumental case], but you don’t always have to. You can make up your own mind as to whether you want to describe that hot guy you met in the bar last Saturday with the instrumental case: «он был красавцем» [he was good-looker, handsome], or use the nominative instead: «он был красавец» [he was a good-looker, handsome]. The same goes, naturally, for that fascinating girl you danced at the disco with two weeks ago - either say «она была красавицей» [she was a beauty, a pretty woman] or «она была красавица» [she was a beauty, a pretty woman]. Back in the 19th century Russian literature using the nominative case in past tense together with «быть» meant the quality the noun described was a long-lasting one. Using instrumental case, however, meant that the quality was transitory, brief, fleeting and could thus easy cease ‘to be’ in the near future. Nowadays there is no difference between using these two cases after «быть», even though it is clearly more common in everyday Russian speech to use the instrumental case.

Present tense: «Она - исследовательница и литературовед» [She's a researcher and a specialist in literature]. Past tense: «Она была исследовательницей и литературоведом» [She was a researcher and a specialist in literature]. Future tense: «Она будет исследовательницей и литературоведом» [She will be a researcher and a specialist in literature]. The male form for ‘researcher’ in Russian is «исследователь». There is, however, no female version of «литературовед».

Instead of using a verb in present tense in Russian you simplye put « - » in its place. In Russian this is called «тире» [dash, blank]. It is quite easy to use. All you need to do is put it between the pronoun and the noun and hope for the best. When speaking you’ll make a short pause between these two words, as if you were you’re in fact busy during this pause with putting an imaginary «тире» between them. Here’s an example of what happens to the verb «быть» in all three tenses. I’ve chosen the popular profession «космонавт» [astronaut, cosmonaut, spaceman, person trained to travel in a spacecraft] to illustrate it:

Future tense: «я буду космонавтом» [I will be an astronaut].

Past tense: «мой отец был космонавтом» [My father was an astronaut].

Present tense: «Алексей - космонавт» [Aleksey is an astronaut].

The same thing happens to any profession that you pair up with «быть». To illustrate this further we’ll use two other professions, one male «буфетчик» [person who works behind a counter] and one female «лаборантка» [laboratory assistant, person who helps out in a laboratory]. The female and male versions of these professions are «буфетчица» and «лаборант». Just so you know. Not all professions in Russian have both female and male versions, and that’s why we should find the time to rejoice when we find those that have both! Yay!

Future tense: «ты будешь буфетчиком?» [will you be a person who works behind the counter?]

Past tense: «дядя Фома был буфетчиком сорок лет» [uncle Foma (was a person who) worked behind the counter for forty years].

Present tense: «он - буфетчик в крупном магазине» [he works behind the counter at a large store].

Future tense: «мы тоже будем лаборантками!» [we will also be (female) laboratory assistants!]

Past tense: «тётя Люба была лаборанткой во время Великой отечественной войны» [aunt Lyuba was a laboratory assistant during the World War II].

Present tense: «она - лаборантка на химическом заводе» [she is a laboratory assistant at a chemical plant].

Present tense: «На стене фотографии Ленина и Сталина» [On the wall there are photographs of Lenin and Stalin]. Past tense: «На стене были фотографии Ленина и Сталина» [On the wall there were photographs of Lenin and Stalin]. Future tense: «На стене будут фотографии Ленина и Сталина» [On the wall there will be photographs of Lenin and Stalin]. (I took this picture in the summer of 2009 - it is from an office in some remote Russian factory…) 

 
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The Return of «ибо»!

Posted by Josefina
Feb
2
2010

When in Moscow it is a rule to go for a stroll «на Красной площади» [on the Red Square], «ибо это делают все» [because everybody does that] «и туристы, и провинциалы» [both tourists and people from the provinces]. «Провинциал» means ‘provincial, backwoodsman; unsophisticated person’. The female version of the word is «провинциалка».

When I first started studying Russian language some six years ago nobody ever said «ибо» [because, for]. You didn’t hear it in spoken everyday speech at all just a few years back, «ибо» [because] it was considered «устаревший союз» [an outdated, outworn, outmoded conjunction] by everyone. You’d only come across it while reading some Russian 19th century novel, like for example «Преступление и наказание» ["Crime and Punishment"] by «Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский» [Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky], but that was about it. Back then I had to go straight to my old faithful dictionary to find out what exactly «Федя» ['Fedya', diminutive of Fyodor] had meant by using the strange yet cute little conjunction «ибо». The first time I heard «ибо» pronounced out loud was when my «научный руководитель» [(in Russian: scientific) academic guidance counselor] here in Yekaterinburg told me an unsettling and upsetting story from his time as a student back in Soviet time. He had received the grade «хорошо» [good] instead of «отлично» [excellent] for his «дипломная работа» [‘graduation project', the equivalent of a Bachelor's thesis] due to having once in it used «ибо» instead of the more colloquial and commonly accepted «потому что» [as, because]. Now things have changed a lot in Russian society since then (not only linguistically as we all know), and «ибо» is clearly and definitely on its way back!

«Ибо» [for, because] is nothing but a petite synonym to the popular conjunctions «потому что» [as, because] and «так как» [as, because, since, being that, syne, inasmuch as, in that], but with one important thing differing it from these two: it creates a ‘weaker’ link between two parts of a sentence connected logically with each other. And that’s why you can use «ибо» both «после запятой» [after a comma] as well as «после точки» [after a dot]. Here’s an illustrative example of this from the above mentioned masterpiece «Преступление и наказание» ["Crime and Punishment"] by hands-down the most influential on the 20th century Russian writer «Достоевский» [Dostoevsky]:

«Ибо хотя вы и не в значительном виде, но опытность моя отличает в вас человека образованного и к напитку непривычного» [For even though you are not in respectable appearance, but my proficiency distinguishes in you a person who is educated and unaccustomed to liquor"].

When «в Московском метро» [in the Moscow metro (subway, underground railway system)] it is imperative «смотреть вверх» [to look up] «ибо там очень красиво» [because there it is very beautiful]. Not on all stations, of course, but on quite a lot of them - especially in the center…

All of the sudden - that’s what it felt like for me anyway - «ибо» was everywhere! Everyone was saying it! Last fall I started to find it in text-messages from Russian friends all the time. Which is only natural, because «ибо» only takes up three letters in the text-message whereas you’ll spend an entire ten spelling out the long and complicated «потому что». One could also write the synonym «так как» as «т. к.», but that’s also three letters - the same amount needed for «ибо». And let’s face it - «ибо» sounds a lot better. It sounds educated and a bit fancy (a charm which it will surely loose once it gets too accepted and commonly used). People who know more about this than me says «ибо» started its return to Russian language by way of «газетный язык» [newspaper language] and then through that made the brave crossover into «разговорный язык» [conversational, spoken language]. Honestly, I like «ибо» very much. It is a conveniently tiny word that’s fast to write and takes little to no time to pronounce. And you can start a sentence with it without looking like a fool - something you’re bound to give the appearance of being if you try beginning a sentence with «потому что».

But far from all Russians are as fond of this new-old word as I am. I asked a good friend of mine what she thought of the return of «ибо». She answered: «я ненавижу ибо!» [I hate 'ibo'!] Then I asked her why, and she actually used it in her answer… She said: «ибо это было старомодное слово, а сейчас оно просто модное» [For it used to be an old-fashioned word, but now it is just trendy]. Be that as it may, I still think it is an interesting conjunction worth trying out at least once while learning Russian. Maybe it is just a fad and maybe it’ll go away. But it might as well be here to stay! And that’s why I’ll give the last word to «Михаил Лермонтов» [Mikhail Lermontov] and a sentence from the beginning of his splendid novel «Герой нашего времени» ["A Hero of Our Time"]:

«Я пригласил своего спутника выпить вместе стакан чая, ибо со мной был чугунный чайник - единственная отрада моя в путешествиях по Кавказу» [I invited my companion to drink a cup of tea with me, for with me I had a cast iron teapot - my only comfort while traveling the Caucasus].

 
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Doing it Russian style means doing it «коллективно» [collectively]

Posted by Josefina
Jan
29
2010

The title of today’s post might (actually have been intended to) lead my dear readers’ minds astray. Despite whatever you might have thought that this post was going to be about, let me assure you that «нет, не это я имела в виду» [no, that was not what I had in mind]. What I actually «имела в виду» [had in mind] was something entirely different - the importance of the «коллектив» [collective; group of people] in Russian society and culture. It is not surprising, I guess, that the country which once tried to build «коммунизм» [Communism] would still have some features of the «все за одного, один за всех» [all for one, one for all] type of thinking intact today. How do I know this? you might ask. As a matter of fact, I know this because I learned it while being a part of a «дружный коллектив» [harmonious, united; amicable collective] in Russia during the past year and a half. This united and harmonious collective is the «группа» [group] of students with which I am currently studying «в магистратуре» [in the Master's program] at Ural State University here in Yekaterinburg. But before telling you of how things are done «коллективно» [collectively] in today’s Russia, I must spend a few words explaining «система высшего обрзазования в Российской федерации» [the system of higher education in the Russian Federation]. I’m not going to tell you EVERYTHING about this, though, both because it is impossible (it is really THAT complicated) and because that is beside the point. What I will focus on today - and through which I will illustrate an important aspect of «коллективность» [fem. ‘collectivity'] - is «сдача экзаменов» [passing of exams] in Russian universities.

The process of passing exams is known as «сдача» in Russian, though you might come to find any of the following translations when looking up this word in the dictionary: lease; surrender; delivery; change, money received back after paying for goods; hit back. It is called «сдача» because of the phrases «сдавать экзамен» [impfv. to TAKE an exam] and «сдать экзамен» [pfv. to PASS an exam].

 All students at institutions of higher learning in Russia have the following in their possession: «зачётная книжка» [a student's record book]. Colloquially it is known as a «зачётка». In order to receive your «диплом» [diploma, certificate given upon completion of a course of study (i.e. high school, university, etc.)] after finishing your education you must turn your «зачётка» in and you’ll never see it again in your life. That’s why this picture is almost sad - soon I will have to part with ‘her’ forever…

At the end of every course in Russian universities you are given a «список вопросов к экзамену» [list of questions for the exam]. It is imperative for you to be aware of the fact that this list is never - as is the general practice in most other countries - given to you at the BEGINNING of a course, but only at the very END of it. While taking a class in a Russian university you never can be completely sure what is actually required of you to know in order to pass it. Sometimes you’ll get a «список литературы» [list of literature (required reading)] in the beginning of a class, but far from always. The amount of questions varies greatly - from only ten up to a hundred. On the exam you will be handed what is known as a «билет» [ticket] from the professor. This ‘ticket’ contains a certain number of the questions from the list mentioned earlier. «Если повезёт» [if (you) get lucky] it could be only one question; if you don’t get so lucky then you might have to answer up to five questions… In Russian universities almost all exams are «устные экзамены» [oral exams]. But before you are brought in front of the professor to start explaining the answers to them, you get an hour or two to prepare your answers «письменно» [in writing]. The tricky part about passing exams in Russia is that the professor can always ask you more questions than what was initially on your «билет». Usually they do this if they feel that you haven’t really answered good enough to pass it. Or if they’re unsure what grade to give you - if you actually deserve «отлично» [excellent (the equivalent of A or 5 in other grade systems)] instead of «хорошо» [good (B or 4)]; or «хорошо» instead of just «удовлетворительно» [satisfactory (C or 3)].

After passing an exam the professor will write your grade - by hand! - in your «зачётка» like this. Once a grade has been written in it there’s nothing you can do to change it. You can cry, and you can shout, but it won’t make «хорошо» miraculously turn into «отлично».

So where in all of this does the «коллектив» so proudly stated in today’s title enter into the picture? I’ll tell you exactly how: in how I and my «учебная группа» [study group; group of students] prepared during January for our exam in the subject «История и философия науки» [History and Philosophy of Science]. The «список вопросов» [list of questions] for this exam contained forty questions and we’re twenty students in the group. Thus we divided the questions between us and each person prepared answers to two questions. Then we e-mailed the answers to one girl in our group and she compiled all of our answers into one big document which was sent to everyone. It is not just my group that decided to prepare for exams «коллективно» [collectively]; I’ve heard that it is actually a very common practice found all over Russia. Usually only a few people in a study group go together this way; it is rarer to find such a group like mine where everyone is prepared to take «ответственность» [responsibility] for themselves as well as for the others. Because to do something like this «коллективно» [collectively] is dependent on the fact that everyone delivers - since ALL questions are included on the exam and it will be your fault if you didn’t prepare an answer in time and an other student failed the exam because of it.

On the above-mentioned exam «мне повезло» [I got lucky] - one of the questions on my ticket was one of the questions for which I had prepared the answer… No wonder «я сдала на отлично» [I passed it with the grade 'excellent']!

And I don’t know whether I should feel happy or sad about the fact that I only have ONE exam left to pass here in Russia. In a way, I feel very sad about it because when I turn in my «зачётка» [student's record book] after passing «государственный выпускной экзамен по русской литературе» [state final exam in Russian literature] in a month, I know that it will be «конец эпохе» [the end of an era]. On the other hand, I also feel equally happy because I know a completely new adventure awaits me after all of this has been done (yeah, I did get accepted to Berkeley!)…

 
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Russian Cases: «с чем?» [with what?], or «творительный падеж» [the instrumental case]

Posted by Josefina
Jan
24
2010

«Что это?» [what is this?] This is «книжный шкаф С ПОЛНЫМ СОБРАНИЕМ сочинений Владимира Ильича Ленина» [a bookshelf WITH (THE) COMPLETE COLLECTION of works by Vladimir Il'ich Lenin]. But in order to answer the question «сколько в нём томов?» [how many volumes are there in it (lit. ‘in him' since the noun ‘collection' in Russian is neuter)?] I’d recommend you to count them yourself…

A fairly large amount of time here has been devoted to discuss «падежи русского языка» [the cases of Russian language]. And this is a fact that should not be shocking to anyone, considering that Russian language has no less than «шесть падежей» [six cases] (now THIS kind of information might shock some!). Previously on the blog there have been posts on «винительный падеж» [accusative] and «дательный падеж» [dative]. And so it has finally come to this: «творительный падеж» [instrumental case]. This particular case is also known as Russian language’s ‘wildest case’. To whom is it known as this, you might wonder; who considers it to be «дикий» [wild, savage; barbarous, tameless]? Well, I think it this is such a common thought that it must have crossed anyone’s mind the first time they came face to face with it (implicitly ‘anyone’ in this context means ‘anyone who’s ever tried to learn Russian’, but I think you got that, right?). «Творительный падеж» [instrumental case] is ‘wild’ first and foremost to people with native languages lacking anything like it. It changes the words in ways unheard of to us. Let me give you an easy example of this: take the tiny, nice, masculine noun «путь» [way, path; track, lane; road, avenue] and put it in the instrumental case and you’ll receive something that’s almost completely transformed: «путём»! Did you see that? Did you see how the instrumental case just changed HALF of the whole word? Now if that’s not «дико» [wild] - I don’t know what is!

The instrumental case affects (or - even better in my opinion - ‘inflicts’) Russian masculine and neuter nouns in one and the same way: adding to their ending «-ом» (if the noun has a hard ending) and «-ем» or «-ём» (when the ending is soft). I’ll give you a couple of examples to illustrate this:

Neuter with a hard ending: «повидло» [jam, marmalade]:

«Я люблю пироги с повидЛОМ» - [I love pirogues with jam].

Masculine noun with a hard ending: «привет» [greeting; regard; remembrance; compliment]:

«Я пришёл к тебе с приветОМ…» - [I've come to you with a greeting... (the first famous lines from the poem with the same name by «Афанасий Афанасьевич Фет» [Afanasy Afanas'evich Fet])].

Masculine noun with a soft ending: «товарищ» [comrade]:

«Мы с товарищЕМ встречаемся часто» - [I and (my) comrade meet often].

«Что это?» [what is this?] This is «девушка с ружьём» [a girl with a gun]. «Ружьё» [gun, rifle] is a neuter noun with a soft ending.

Feminine nouns are also inflicted with just as much of a ‘heavy’ change in their endings because of the instrumental case. Female nouns with a hard ending receive «-ой» whereas those with soft get either «-ей» or «-ёй» or simply «ю» (the last goes for ALL abstract feminine nouns that end with «ость» and should be considered as kindness on behalf of this otherwise rather cruel case):

Feminine noun with a hard ending: «вода» [water]:

«У тебя есть бутылка с водОЙ?» - [Do you have a bottle of (lit. with) water?]

Feminine noun with a soft ending: «учительница» [teacher]:

«Я поговорил с твоей учительницЕЙ» - [I have spoken with your teacher].

Feminine noun with a soft ending: «земля» [earth; land; ground, dirt, soil; territory]:

«Что под землЁЙ?» - [What is under the (here) ground?]

Abstract feminine noun with a soft ending: «ответственность» [responsibility, accountability, liability; amenability; trust]:

«Необходимо относиться к этому с ответственностьЮ» - [It is necessary to refer to this with responsibility].

«Что это?» [what is this?] This is «дети с воздушными шариками» [children with balloons].

Now so far we’ve only discussed what happens to the three different kinds of Russian nouns in SINGULAR - «в единственном числе» - when they’re forced into the instrumental case. (Some of you diligent learners of Russian language might not think this case at all ‘wild’ or ‘cruel’ like I do, but you actually LIKE it - hey, whatever floats you boat!) The most interesting thing with the instrumental case is, however, what happens to the same nouns «во множественном числе» [in plural]. When we’re talking plural in Russian you don’t have to worry any longer about whether a noun is feminine or masculine or neuter. All plural nouns in Russian are affected (or - once again - inflicted) in the same way by the instrumental case. All you need to remember is whether the ending is hard or soft. If it is hard you add «-ами» to the ending of the word. If it’s soft, then you’ll add «-ями» instead. It is a little bit difficult for me to give you exact examples of this that have not only grammatically but also semantically correct structures, but I’ll give it a try. And you’ll see clearly that even NUMBERS in Russian are also affected by the cases!

Feminine noun with a soft ending: «спальня» (plural: «спальни») [bedroom]:

«У меня квартира с двумя спальЯМИ» - [I have an apartment with two bedrooms].

Masculine noun with a hard ending in singular: «брат» [brother], but SOFT ending in plural «братья» (are you taking notes? well, you should be!):

«Я видела его с тремя братьЯМИ» - [I saw him with three brothers].

Neuter noun with a hard ending: «место» (plural: «места») [place, location, position; standing, role, function]:

 «В поезде купе с четырями местАМИ» - [In the train there are compartments with four places].

In today’s post I’ve tried to focus solely on sentences in which the instrumental case comes after the preposition «с» [here: with]. Of course that’s not the limit of this case in Russian language - far from it! The instrumental case only goes truly ‘wild’ when it is used completely without any preposition whatsoever. But let’s save that grammatical moment for another day, shall we?

 
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