Posts under Soviet Union

«С праздником!» or: How to Congratulate Russian Style

Posted by Josefina
Nov
5
2009

Yesterday was the 4th of November and «выходной день в России» [a day of rest, day off, holiday in Russia]. Yes once again it was time to celebrate the mysterious «День народного единства» [(People's) Unity Day]. There’s no need to pretend that Russians don’t look at this strange holiday in pretty much the same way, since they don’t and in this confusion we can finally meet and truly understand each other. Most Russians don’t even know «почему» [why] this day is celebrated in the country today. Some people - including me since it was during my first year in Russia and humans have a tendency to remember the first year much more than we remember what happened in the following five - have a fuzzy memory of that the day off used to be called something like «день примирения» [Reconciliation Day]. The first time I celebrated this Russian holiday was «в Санкт-Петербурге» [in Saint Petersburg] in 2004 and back then it was still celebrated on the 7th of November and since then I have commented on this experience by using the following words: «я примирилась так, что голова после этого болела три дня» [I reconciled so much that my head hurt for three days afterwards]. In the Soviet Union the 7th of November marked the «годовщина Октябрской революции» [anniversary of the October Revolution]. Some Russians claim that they as a people have just got too used to having a day off in November, and that’s why they had to come up with any kind of excuse to keep it. The 4th of November is today known as «день освобождения от польско-литовских и шведских оккупантов» [the day of liberation from Polish, Lithuanian and Swedish occupants]. Perhaps because of this I have no real reason to celebrate this day (I am, after all, Swedish), even though I tried very hard to make it a special day last year.

No Russian «праздник» [day of celebration, holiday] without «шампанское» [champagne]! If you’re unsure as to what to do with your bottle after you’ve drunk it all together with your best friend «Ваня» [short for «Иван»] out on the street in minus 30, then here’s a tip…

Let’s take today to focus on not HOW to celebrate holidays with Russians (since I’m fully sure everyone already has expertise in this area), but HOW to congratulate Russian with their holidays! We’ll start with the simplest way:

«С праздником!» - Happy Holiday!

Usually you don’t say the whole phrase in Russian when congratulating someone: «Поздравляю вас/тебя с праздником!» - [I congratulate you with the holiday!]

«поздравлять» (impfv.) and «поздравить» (pfv.) - [to congratulate, felicitate; compliment, hail] is always combined with a direct object in accusative: «кого?» [whom?] and an indirect object in the instrumental case: «с чем?» [with what?]. Here are a few examples:

«Надо поздравить Фёдора Михайловича с защитой докторской диссертации!» - [(We) must congratulate Fyodor Mikhailovich with having defended his doctoral dissertation!]

«Я уже поздравила маму с Международным женским днём» - [I have already congratulated my mom with International Women's Day (8th of March)].

«Поздравляю вас с Новым Годом!» - [(lit.: 'I congratulate you with the New Year!') Happy New Year!]

«Поздравляют ли друг друга с Рождеством в России?» - [Do people in Russia wish each other Merry Christmas?]

«Конечно, поздравляют! Но только седьмое января, а не двадцатпятое декабря» - [Of course they congratulate! But on the 7th of January, not on the 25th of December].

Among other important words to know in the same context are the noun «праздник» [holiday, day of celebration] and the verb «праздновать» [celebrate, feast; keep; rejoice; solemnize]. This verb is combined with a direct object in accusative: «праздновать что?» [to celebrate what?] and «праздновать кого?» [to celebrate whom?].

«Как ты обычно празднуешь свой день рождения?» - [How do you usually celebrate your birthday?]

«Завтра будем праздновать Лену, поздравим её с рождением ребёнка!» - [Tomorrow we will celebrate Lena; we'll congratulate her with the birth of her baby!]

From this verb and this noun two very different adjectives exist, and it is important that you try to keep them apart as their meaning is not the same. Though they may look and sound very similar:

«праздничный» means festive, merry, like a feast or festival, while

«праздный» means idle, unoccupied; indolent; vacuous.

That’s all from the Ural Mountains for now. «С праздником всех!» [Happy Holiday everyone!]

 
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Riding «общественный транспорт» [Public Transportation] the Russian Way

Posted by Josefina
Oct
9
2009

Sometimes «остановка трамвая» [a tram stop] look like this in even a larger Russian city - this picture was taken on the central «площадь 1905 (тысяча девятьсот пятого) года» [‘The Square of the Year 1905'] here in «Ёбург» [‘Yekat', it's Russian slang for «Екатеринбург» (Yekaterinburg) since that takes far too long time to pronounce on a regular basis!]. Above you can clearly see how it’s done here in the wild East: you must both wait and get on the tram in middle of busy «проспект Ленина» [Lenin's prospect] as cars rush by…

Some people do not own a car. Other people do not even have any «водительские права» [driver's license]. These people have to «пользоваться общественным транспортом» [use public transportation]. I am one of these privileged people since «у меня нет ни машины, ни водительских прав» [I have neither a car nor a driver's license]. But what about this makes me feel privileged? Because I have the constant opportunity to choose from the abundance of different means of public transportation here in Russia! Even though I’m really a devoted «пешеход» [pedestrian] and love «ходить пешком» [to walk on foot], there are times in life when one must «ездить на чём-то» [travel on something] in order to get where one is going. Remember the last post, in which I tried to sort out when to use the prepositions «в» and «на» in Russian? Remember how I promised to sort out these «предлоги» in combination with means of transportation in a separate post? Well, this is it! This is the post in which I’ll try to sort things out in this regard. First we must understand that there are many kinds of public transportation in Russia, and that it functions in a different manner then in, for example, Europe. I’ve lived in Russia for more than five years and I’ve seen a «расписание» [timetable; schedule] almost «на каждой автобусной остановке» [on every bus stop] but I’ve never seen buses keeping these times nor Russians expecting them to do so. Public transportation comes and goes as it pleases in this country. For some this might sound crazy (it did to me also in the beginning) but as a matter of fact it is not the least crazy. Russian public transportation WORKS! You never have to wait for «автобус» [the bus] in Russia. If there’s no bus, then there’s always «трамвай» [a tram] or «троллейбус» [a trolleybus]. But if both of there fail to show up one can always jump on «маршрутка» [a ‘marshrutka'] of which there comes about one every minute in average big Russian cities. And then there’s also to possibility of riding «метро» [the subway] in many bigger cities. Therefore one needs not have wheels of one’s own in this country. Not only because you’ll keep getting stuck «в пробках» [in traffic jams] anyway, but because there’s plenty of other - cheaper and more environmentally friendly! - ways of getting around.

«Автобусы» [pl. buses] exist in many different sizes, color and shapes in Russia. Here we have «жёлтый автобус» [a yellow bus] and «зелёно-белый автобус» [a green-white bus]. Very often in Russian cities you can see «старые автобусы из Европы» [old buses from Europe]. For example, «в Перми» [in Perm] there are many buses «из Дании и Германии» [from Denmark and Germany] and for me while riding them it was very entertaining because I felt like I was back in the past century’s Europe…

The preposition used with means of transportation in Russian is «на» [‘on', ‘in', ‘at']. You can also use «творительный падеж» [instrumental case] with the very same means of transportation and the meaning remains pretty much the same. There’s of course nothing wrong with asking someone on the street on Moscow either of the following questions: «Можно добраться до музея Булгакова автобусом?»  [Can you to get to the Bulgakov Museum by bus?] or «А доехать до Большого театра возможно трамваем?» [And is it possible to get to Bolshoi Theatre by tram?]. But let’s keep it simple today and focus with means of transportation in combination with the preposition «на». In all of the examples below I’m going to use the verb of motion «ехать» in all ways it can be changed in present tense:

«Я еду на трамвае» - [I'm going by tram].

«Ты едешь на метро» - [You're going by subway (metro].

«Она едет на автобусе» - [She's going by bus].

«Мы едем на троллейбусе» - [We're going by trolleybus].

«Вы едете на маршрутке» - [You're going by marshrutka].

«Они едут на машине» - [They're going by car].

Behold my beloved: «троллейбус» [trolley bus; large vehicle which operates on electricity]. Since I come from a country where «троллейбусы» [pl. trolley buses] are a thing of the past - sadly - I was astonished the first time I saw one of these «в Санкт-Петербурге» [in Saint Petersburg] «в глубокой моей юности в 2004 (две тысячи четвёртом) году» [in my ‘deep' youth in the year 2004]. While living in Siberia I further developed my love affair with this kind of Russian public transport and if there’s ever an opportunity to ride on of these babies I take it! Though there’s no real logic behind my love for the «троллейбус»… Behind it you should be able to spot the smaller and very orange «маршрутка» [which is short for «маршрутное такси»].

But when we’re using the preposition «на» together with means of transportation in Russian, we’re actually not speaking of location as such, but of a way of moving ahead; getting where you want to be, so to speak. If you want to express location within a mean of transportation in Russian, then the preposition you should use is «в» which in this case translates very simply into ‘in’ or ‘on’. Does that sound tricky to you? Let’s have a look at two helpful sentences using the word «поезд» [train] which I’m sure will clear up things a little bit at least:

«Вика любит путешествовать НА поезде» - [Vika loves to travel by train].

«Вика познакомилась со своим мужем В поезде» - [Vika met her husband on/in a train].

Of course I had to save the best - and worst! - to last. What is this, you wonder? Let me explain! This little square thingy is called by «русский народ» [the Russian people] for «пазик» [‘pazik'] which is made from the abbreviation «ПАЗ» standing for «Павловский автобусный завод» [Pavlovo Bus Factory]. In some Russian cities ‘pazikis’ perform the role of local ‘marshrutkas’. That’s okay. But very often here in the Urals they also traffic roads between smaller towns and villages and since they are the most uncomfortable mean of transportation ever invented by mankind riding them for more than an hour equals shaking until your insides feels like milkshake. «Не хорошо!» [Not good!]

 
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Perplexing Prepostions: When to Say «в» and When to Say «на»?

Posted by Josefina
Oct
2
2009

Isn’t Russian language a most confusing language? And wouldn’t you agree that the most perplexing part of it all is «предлоги» [pl. prepositions]? If you don’t think so, then take a close look at the picture above (you might have to sneak a peak under the leaves) and read what’s written on the sign: «Приглашаем вас на занятия в наши секции» [(We) invite you to classes in our sections]. Why must one use the preposition «на» together with the word «занятие», while «в» goes together with «секция»? And things become even more perplexing when you put these two words in the same case - «предложный падеж» [prepositional case} - and receive «на занятии» [in class] and «в секции» [in section] and realize that in translation there’s no difference at all…

When finding something in a foreign language that’s different from one’s native language, like the case with «на» and «в» in Russian language, BOTH of which can be translated into English as ‘on’, ‘in’ or ‘at’, one tends to search for a logical rule to help one tell them apart. Now if this had been Swedish language I would have been able give you such a logical rule («на» [Swedish ‘på'] is used when the location is a public space) but I’m afraid it is not. This is Russian and we’ll just have to learn when to say «на» and when to say «в». Today’s post will only discuss these two prepositions in the way they’re used «в предложном падеже» [in prepositional case, also known as locative case (did you see how I just placed the case itself in its OWN case? «Хитро!» [craftily, foxily; intricately!])], even though we’ll remain aware of the fact that BOTH of them can be used «в винительном падеже» [in accusative]. When followed by the accusative these two prepositions describe «движение куда-то» [movement somewhere], like «в библиотеку» [to the library] and «на вечеринку» [to a party] in the following sentence: «Утром пойду в библиотеку, а вечером на вечеринку» [In the morning I'm going to the library, and in the evening to a party]. If you’re talking not about «направление куда-то» [direction somewhere] but want to express «нахождение где-то» [location somewhere] the case you must put to use is «предложный падеж» [prepositional case]. As an easy example we can take the same sentence as above, just changing the verb to «быть» [to be] and its tense to «прошедшее время» [past tense] and look what we have: «Утром я был/а в библиотеке, а вечером на вечеринке» [In the morning I was in the library, and in the evening at a party]. Generally speaking, the question one must ask oneself in order to receive an answer «в предложном падеже» [in prepositional case] is «где?» [where?]. And that’s the question we’ll try our best to answer today: «где?»

When I began today’s post with the declaration that there’s no ‘logical rule’ in Russian for when to use «на» and when to use «в», I might have been a little too harsh. There is no rule that works for ALL words in Russian, but there are some words that are logically united in a rule that they all need one and the same preposition when expressing location. All four cardinal directions in Russian use the preposition «на»:

«на западе» - [in the west].

«на востоке» - [in the east].

«а севере» - [in the north].

«на юге» - [in the south].

In the same way some certain geographical places within the Russian Federation are always connected with a particular preposition, either «на» like in…

«на Кавказе» - [in the Caucasus].

«на Дальнем Востоке» - [in the Far East].

«на Урале» - [in the Urals].

…or «в» in the following:

«в Крыму» - [in the Crimea].

«в Сибири» - [in Siberia].

Sometimes prepositions connected with geographical places in Russian language can mark a conscious political standpoint. Does that sound strange to you? Well, believe it or not, but I’m of course talking about whether you say «на Украине» [in (the) Ukraine] or «в Украине» [in Ukraine]. A simplified explanation of this way of expressing one’s political views is that «на Украине» makes Ukraine merely a province (this preposition was used predominantly «в совковие времена» [in Soviet times]), whereas «в Украине» gives Ukraine the status of an independent, sovereign state.

Other than this (let’s have an entire post of its own to discuss means of transportation in Russian and the fact that the preposition used for ALL of them is «на», now shall we?) we all have to study each and every word of Russian language separately in order to find out which preposition is used with it. Usually, «слава Богу» [thank God], this is marked in dictionaries. But just so you’ll have a head start, here are some of the most common words «в предложном падеже» [in prepositional case]. Pay attention!

«в школе» - [in school].

«на уроке» - [in class].

«в университете» - [in the university].

«на факультете» - [in the faculty].

«в институте» - [in the institute].

«на занятиях» - [in classes].

«в магазине» - [in the shop; store; magazine].

«на работе» - [at work].

«в конторе» - [in the office].

«на заводе» - [in the factory; mill; plant; works].

«в музее» - [in the museum].

«на фабрике» - [in the factory; mill; plant].

«в министерстве» - [in the ministry; government department; office].

«на почте» - [in the post office].

«в библиотеке» - [in the library].

«на вокзале» - [on the (railroad) station].

«в банке» - [in the bank].

«на концерте» - [in a concert].

«в театре» - [in the theater].

«в кино» - [in the movie theater; in movies; at the movies]

«во дворе» - [in the courtyard].

«на дворе» - [‘outside'].

«на родине» - [in the motherland; one's home and native land may also be spelled with a capital letter: «на Родине»].

«в ресторане» - [in the restaurant].

«на пратике» - [in practice].

«в теории» - [in theory].

«в колхозе» - [in the ‘kolkhoz' - this word is short for «коллективное хозяйство» meaning collective farm].

«на войне» - [in war].

«в деревне» - [in the village or in the country].

«на свободе» - [in freedom].

«в небе» - [in the sky].

Okay, so that was what I could come up with today. Now it’s your turn. What common words did I forget in my list above? Tell me! As always especially welcome are «несклоняемые существительные» [indeclinable nouns], like «в метро», something that could mean ‘to the metro/subway’ as well as ‘in the metro/subway’…

 
Posted under Soviet Union, language
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«Мурка!»: a Russian musical «на мотивы русского шансона» [to the tunes of Russian chanson]

Posted by Josefina
Sep
20
2009

Russia doesn’t just have a people with a ‘wide soul’ - «широкая душа» - but also a wide and diverse culture - «русская культура широкая и разная». Today’s post is about a part of Russian culture that is not among the first things you might find out about this country, but a part that is larger than one imagines it to be initially and has a strong influence on many other parts of society as well. This part of Russian culture is called «блатная музыка» [‘thieves' music'; ‘music from the criminal world']. The adjective «блатной» translates into English as ‘rouge; thieves” and is used to define any noun that is connected with the Russian criminal world. Most of Russian traditional «блатные песни» [‘songs from the criminal world'] belong to a musical genre known in Russia as «шансон» [chanson], or even «русский шансон» [Russian chanson] since it differs some from the French music genre it originally took its name from. «Шансон» is loved by many, many people in Russia today; the most popular radio station «в Свердловской области» [in Sverdlovsk Region] where «Екатеринбург» [Yekaterinburg] is located, is none other than «радио шансон» [Radio Chanson]. Over 50% of all people in our region listen to this radio station on a daily basis. This radio station doesn’t only play «блатная музыка» but sometimes it is difficult to define what is what, especially for someone like me who first came in touch with the Russian «блатной мир» [criminal world] through the works of «Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский» [Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky] and «Варлам Тихонович Шаламов» [Varlam Tikhonovich Shalamov]. Both of these writers collected «выражения тюремного жаргона» [prison jargon expressions] while serving their sentences, but dealt with the material they gathered in completely opposite ways. Dostoevsky used them in almost all of his later works while Shalamov principally cleared everything he ever wrote from any word or phrase that sounded like «блатной язык» [‘criminal language']. Both of these opinions - Dostoevsky’s positive and Shalamov’s negative - are still current in Russian society today. Either Russians say this kind of culture is okay, or they don’t want to have anything to do with this part of society at all. This I knew before I went to see «Мурка! мюзикл на мотивы русского шансона» [Murka! a musical to the tunes of Russian chanson] this evening with my Russian friend Марина [Marina] and my Korean roommate Вика [Vika]. I received three free tickets on Friday afternoon while I was being treated to «кофе с коняком» [coffee with brandy] by one of my friends who happens to be both «преподаватель биологии» [a teacher of biology] and «мой студент шведского языка» [my student of Swedish language] at the university. A young woman was offering university teachers free tickets to see this new Russian musical and my friend said that he would never go since he «к шансону никак» [doesn't like chanson at all] and because he thinks spreading this negative culture is «плохо» [bad]. Now as you see, my Russian friend agrees with Shalamov and would rather wish this part of Russian society didn’t exist at all; at least he doesn’t want to look in that direction and acknowledge it. But I don’t agree with him and so I asked to give me some tickets instead. Why did I do that? Because I am a huge fan of criminal elements? No, but because I find this culture extremely fascinating. After all I am but a humble philologist and since Russian «блатари» [criminals] have their own «слова» [words] and «фразелогия» [phraseology] I cannot help my curiosity. And since I am not an expert on Russian chanson - except for what I’ve heard here and there due to have lived here for long enough - I thought it would be an excellent opportunity to brush up on my knowledge of classical tunes such as «Таганка» ["Taganka"] and «Мурка» ["Murka"; (did you know that «Мурка» [Murka] is short for «Маруся» [Marusya] that’s short for «Мария» [Maria])]?

Outside of «дворец культуры железнодорожников» [the railroaders' recreation center] before the show this Sunday evening. «Слева на право: я, Вика, Марина и снова я» [from right to left: I, Vika, Marina and once again I].

Upon entering a very average looking «дворец культуры» [recreation center] - anyone who has ever visited one of these traditional Soviet buildings knows that the saying ‘if you’ve seen one, then you’ve seen them all’ can be applied to them - I didn’t know what to expect. Neither did my friends know what to expect. All we knew was that we were going to hear Russian traditional songs in new versions and that’s what we received in the end. The musical was great! I might be a bit biased, though, since I have to confess to being both «большой любитель мюзиклов» [a big fancier of musicals] and «большой ценитель оперы» [big appreciator of opera]. This means that a show where people suddenly and/or continuously sing and/or dance cannot fail to be liked by me. But this show was somehow different; and perhaps it was the music that made that difference. As always in Russia, the actors and the dancers were all great performers and the singing was impressive. Both my friends were very impressed by the show and the evening was very pleasant. On our way out of the «дворец культуры» people all around us were singing the tunes from the musical and some were even dancing… That’s what great an impression it made on the audience! Can’t be anything but a good sign, right? And I couldn’t get the best song of all - «Таганка» ["Taganka"] - out of my head during our ride home «на троллейбусе» [on the trolley bus] so the first thing I just had to do when I got home was to find it on youtube… Which I did in a very nice version by «Михаил Шуфутинский» [Mikhail Shufutinsky] that I’m posting below, as well as the lyrics in Russian together with my very own translation in English. Now you can learn the words and sing along too! (P.S. «Владимир Высоцкий» [Vladimir Vysotsky] also has a version of this song on youtube, maybe you’ll like his version more…)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFARFG4RYSQ

Цыганка с картами, дорога дальняя.

[A Gupsy woman with playing cars; a distant road.]

Дорога дальняя, казённый дом.

[A distant road; a house belonging to the state.]

Быть может старая, тюрьма центральная

[Maybe the old, the central prison]

Меня, парнишечку, по новой ждёт.

[awaits me, laddie, with a new term.]

Быть может старая, тюрьма центральная

[Maybe the old, the central prison]

Меня, парнишечку, по новой ждёт.

[awaits me, laddie, with a new term.]

 

Припев: [Refrain:]

Таганка, все ночи, полные огня,

[Taganka, all the nights full of light,]

Таганка, зачем сгубила ты меня?

[Taganka, for what have you ruined me?]

Таганка, я твой бессменный арестант,

[Taganka, I am your permanent prisoner,]

Погибли юность и талант в твоих стенах.

[youth and talent got lost inside your walls.]

Таганка, я твой бессменный арестант,

[Taganka, I am your permanent prisoner,]

Погибли юность и талант в твоих стенах.

[youth and talent got lost inside your walls.]

 

Я знаю, милая, больше не встретимся…

[I know, honey, we won't meet anymore...]

Дороги разные нам суждены.

[Different roads are destined for us.]

Опять по пятницам пойдут свидания

[Again on Fridays there'll be meetings]

И слёзы горькие моей родни.

[and my relatives' bitter tears.]

Опять по пятницам пойдут свидания

[Again on Fridays there'll be meetings]

И слёзы горькие моей родни.

[and my relatives' bitter tears.]

 

Припев: [Refrain:]

Таганка, все ночи, полные огня,

[Taganka, all the nights full of light,]

Таганка, зачем сгубила ты меня?

[Taganka, for what have you ruined me?]

Таганка, я твой бессменный арестант,

[Taganka, I am your permanent prisoner,]

Погибли юность и талант в твоих стенах.

[youth and talent got lost inside your walls.]

Таганка, я твой бессменный арестант,

[Taganka, I am your permanent prisoner,]

Погибли юность и талант в твоих стенах.

[youth and talent got lost inside your walls.]

 I don’t know why I came to like this song so much. There’s something about its «настроение» [mood], I guess… But then again, we don’t always have to understand everything.

 
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Word of the Week: «Время» [Time]

Posted by Josefina
Sep
4
2009

Sometimes Russian Blog’s Word of the Week is solely grammatically interesting, sometimes purely culturally or historically fascinating. Seldom can our Russian word of the week be both. But this week’s word is actually both! The Russian word «время» [time] is grammatically interesting because it is a neuter noun despite ending on «я» [ya] (which is usually the marker for feminine nouns) and has a highly intriguing declension in the six cases (just wait for it!) that might confuse you the first time but is well worth learning by heart. The Russian concept «время» [time] is culturally and historically fascinating since Russia is an enormous country with a total of eleven time zones. And that’s even though the entire «европейская часть России» [European part of Russia (that's all of Russia in front of the Ural Mountains)] has one and the same time - colloquially as well as officially known as «московское время» [Moscow time]. Historically the time in Moscow has been more important than the time in the rest of the ten Russian time zones; for example, all train times are according to «московское время». Though on your train tickets you’ll see that this is written as «время московское» [the change would make it correct to translate as ‘the time is Moscow time']. On plane tickets, however, the time marked for take-off and landing is always «время местное» [local time]. In Russia one often meets Moscow time on TV (news are often broadcast according to the capital), and also on the radio - yet after a while you will have learned to ignore it and apprehend that the popular provincial saying from the Soviet times: «Что Москва? Москва далеко» [What about Moscow? Moscow's far away], is very true indeed.

If you don’t live in Moscow and listen to the radio «в провинции» [in the province] you might hear the following: «Сейчас два часа дня по Москве». Probably you understand the part about ‘now it is two o’clock [p.m.]‘ but what does «по Москве» mean? Clearly not “on Moscow”. It is actually short for «по московскому времени» [according to Moscow time].

When talking about «время» [time] in Russian language and culture we could also bring up the Russian approach to time. What makes the Russian approach different from our own (now I mean to compare mostly with European or Western approach to time, since that’s closest to home for me)? Is it simply prejudice to say that «русские всегда опаздывают» [Russians are always late] or is there some truth to it? Speaking from my own personal experience I have to admit that it’s more than just a little bit true; even though one should always keep in mind that «все русские разные» [all Russians are different]. During five years in Russia I’ve learned that it is best to tell Russians to be somewhere at 11.30, for example, if you want to be sure that they’ll have arrived in time for 12.00. I don’t know why a majority of Russians can never be on time - is it because their lives are so full of stress? That they have too much to do? Or is it due to those «бесконечные пробки на улицах» [endless trafficjams on the streets] which we cannot even imagine before we’ve seen them (not to speak of getting stuck in one of them!)? When I discussed this with one of my professors in Yekaterinburg she said that before, «в советские времена» [in Soviet times], people weren’t at all late as often as they are now. She said it’s mostly «молодёжь» [young people; youth] that is never on time in Russia today. I couldn’t argue with her, obviously, since I’ve never lived in the Soviet Union due to being born in the beginning of «перестройка» ['perestroika' - or, more correctly translated as reconstruction; conversion; realignment; alteration]. That’s why I don’t know what kind of approach the average «гражданин Советского союза» [citizen of the Soviet Union] had. Maybe someone of you readers know more about this? Maybe someone has seen ‘time’ in both the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation?

Okay, enough with the cultural ponderings - let’s decline this noun!

A good way of showing what happens to «время» [time] in the six cases depending on whether it’s SINGULAR or PLURAL («времена» [times] - did you see how the stress just jumped from being on the first vowel in singular to the last in plural? Now that’s confusing to me!) is to give twelve sentences in which this word is portrayed in all of its twelve forms. Okay? Let’s do it then!

«ЕДИНСТВЕННОЕ ЧИСЛО» [SINGULAR]:

Nominative: «Время - деньги» - [Time is money].

Genitive: «У меня нет времени» - [I don't have the time].

Dative: «Поезд придёт в Иркутск в пять часов утра по местному времени» - [The train arrives in Irkutsk at five in the morning according to local time].

Accusative: «Какое время года ты любишь?» - [What time of the year do you love?]

Locative: «Он не ориентируется во времени и пространстве» - [He doesn't orientate himself in time and space].

Instrumental: «Со временем ты меня поймёшь» - [With time you'll understand me].

«МНОЖЕСТВЕННОЕ ЧИСЛО» [PLURAL]:

Nominative: «Что за новые времена!» - [What kind of new times are these!]

Genitive: «Кто сейчас помнит нравы старых времён?» - [Who remembers the manners of old times now?]

Dative: «А ты скучаешь по старым временам?» - [(But) do you miss the old times?]

Accusative: «Я-то стараюсь забыть старые времена!» - [I for one try to forget the old times!]

Locative: «Не будем говорить о старых временах тогда» - [Let's not talk about the old times then].

Instrumental: «Всё изменится с новыми временами» - [Everything will change with the new times].

I hope that you found these twelve sentences to be helpful and that you’ll be able to forgive me for only using the word combinations «новые времена» [new times] and «старые времена» [old times] in plural. Suddenly, while writing this post, I came to suffer from instant brain freeze and couldn’t come up with any other combinations in which you use the word ‘time’ in plural in Russian. If anyone else out there has a clue, please leave it in a comment! I love to read your comments; they help me make this blog better. And I really want this blog to be the best - the best for learning Russian and keeping one’s affectionate feelings for Russian culture in the best of shapes.

 
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