Posts tagged with "русская грамматика"

Let’s Learn the Learning Verbs

Posted by Natalie 7 Comments
Nov 22 2011


Well, I think it’s finally autumn. For a while, the weather was quite warm, but recently, whenever I walk outside, «мне холодно» [I am cold]. This means I have to wear my «пальто, сапоги, и шапка» [coat, boots, and hat]. And I try not to forget «перчатки» [gloves] either! In the photo: birches near Novosibirsk in autumn. Do you know how to say “birch” in Russian?

The learning verbs in Russian are very, very complicated. I’m in an advanced Russian class and we just went over them, so I thought I would post a little bit about these verbs, including some example sentences, so you can see how they are used.

«Учиться» means to learn and is usually used with general knowledge, such as «учиться писать» [to learn to write] or «учиться музыке» [to learn music]. If you learn from someone specific, use «у кого», such as «Я учился терпению у отца» [I learned patience from my father]. This is the verb you usually use when saying that you study at school or university: «Я учусь в университете» [I study at university]. You can also be more specific and say «Я учусь в МГУ» [I study at MGU (Moscow State University)].

By contrast, if you want to say that you study something specific, one of the verbs you can use is «изучать». You usually use a specific field with «изучать», such as: «историю, английский язык, физику» [history, English language, physics]. The imperfective of this verb is «изучить» and has a slightly different meaning: it means that you have mastered whatever it is that you are studying, whereas «изучать» does not imply that.

«Заниматься» is sort of like «изучать» in that you can use it to say that you study a certain field, but it is not always used in the same way. When people ask me what I study at university, they can say: «Чем ты занимаешься?» [What do you study?] and I answer: «Я занимаюсь историей и русским языком» [I study history and Russian language]. «Заниматься» can also be used in more of a general study sense, such as: «Я занимаюсь обычно дома» [I usually study at home].

I hope this provides somewhat of an introduction to the learning verbs. I have not covered everything by far, but hopefully this is somewhere to get you started.

Questions? Comments? Let me know below!

By the way: birch in Russian is «берёза», in case you were wondering.

Let’s Unite and Learn Russian Grammar!

Posted by Natalie 4 Comments
Oct 21 2011

I am back, «дорогие читатели» [dear readers], ready to explain obscure points of Russian grammar to you. What have I been doing in the past weeks? Many things, all of which relate to school. I am writing «тезис» [a thesis] on a famous Soviet leader and just generally studying for exams (I just took three exams in a week-and-a-half span). Today, I am ready to teach you about a group of Russian verbs that are all translated into English as “to unite”. How do they differ? Read on! In the photo: the eighth party congress of «Единая Россия» [United Russia], Russia’s ruling party, from here.

In my Russian class, we have to report on the news every day («конечно, по-русски» [of course, in Russian]). Today I reported that «Евразийское экономическое сообщество» [the Eurasian Economic Community] discussed «присоединение Киргизии к таможенному союзу» [Kyrgyzstan's joining the customs union]. The word «присоединение» made me think. It comes from the verb «присоединяться/присоединиться», which is often translated as “to unite”. But so are the verbs «объединяться/объединиться» and «соединяться/соединиться». I have never been clear how to use these three verb pairs, so I said to my professor: «Существует ли разница между этими словами?» [Is there a difference between these words?] He answered: «Конечно» [Of course] and proceeded to explain.

The verb pair «объединяться/объединиться» refers to a few things (states, political parties, etc.) all coming together at once. So, in reference to that customs union Kyrgyzstan wants to join, you could say: «Россия, Белоруссия и Казахстан объединились» [Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan united]. Or like this strange headline from 23 August of this year says: «”Справедливая Россия” предложила КПРФ объединиться на выборах» [A Just Russia (a political party) has proposed to KPRF (Communist Party of the Russian Federation) that they unite in the elections].

Let’s say that A Just Russia did unite with the communists and that after this union, suddenly «Правое дело» [Right Cause] wanted to join, too. Then we would say that «Партия “Правое дело” хочет присоединиться к группе» [The party "Right Cause" wants to join the group]. If there is an already-existing union, then you use «присоединяться/присоединиться». It might make more sense to think about this verb pair as meaning “to join”.

The verb pair «соединяться/соединиться» simply means “to unite” and is the most neutral. When I search it on Google (Google can be a great language learning tool, my friends), I see it often used in relation with technology, such as: «Не могу соединиться с сервером» [I can't connect to the server].

Any comments about these verbs? Please leave them below!

Prefixed Verbs of Motion: Some Example Sentences

Posted by Natalie 5 Comments
Jul 27 2011

This is the third post in a series about «глаголы движения с приставками» [prefixed verbs of motion]. If you have not read the previous two posts, you can do so here and here. In the photo: «Дон в Воронежской области» [the Don (a river) in Voronezh oblast].

A commenter asked for example sentences with prefixed verbs of motion. I am happy to say that I have found sentences for you. Some I found on the internet, and others are what I or my Russian-speaking friends would say.

  • «Все вышли во двор.» [Everyone went out to the courtyard.] Note how «во» is used because «двор» begins with two consonant sounds.
  • «Я прилетела в Москву сегодня утром.» [I arrived in Moscow this morning.] Since this is a single action, I used the perfective form of the verb.
  • «Завтра она улетит в/на Украину.» [Tomorrow she is leaving for Ukraine.] Ukraine can take «в» or «на». In general, I have noticed that Russians tend to use «на» and Ukrainians tend to use «в», but I do not know if this is a hard and fast rule.
  • «Солнце восходит в шесть часов.» [The sun rises at six o'clock.]
  • «Мы часто заходим к Ольге.» [We often drop in on Olga.]
  • «Дети переходят (через) улицу.» [The children are crossing the street.] Notice how the «через» is optional.
  • «Как пройти на Красную площадь?» [How do you get to Red Square?] This is an excellent question to ask if you are in Moscow, my friends.
  • «Я прошла мимо аптеки.» [I walked past the pharmacy.]
  • «Туристы дошли до Большого театра.» [The tourists walked up to the Bolshoi Theatre.]
  • «Анна увидела свою подругу, когда она выходила из машины.» [Anna saw her friend as she was getting out of a car.]
  • «Он стремительно подходил к половине.» [It rapidly approached the halfway point.] This is a quote from «Белая гвардия, написан Михаилом Булгаковым» [The White Guard by Mikhail Bulgakov]. It is talking about the month of December going by quickly, so perhaps a more poetic translation would be “Mid-month rapidly approached.” I like it because it uses a verb of motion in a more figurative sense (as opposed to these other sentences, which literally involve motion).
  • Я отвёз Сашу в аэропорт.» [I took Sasha to the airport.] With the verbs «нести», «вести», and «везти», the prefix «от» can add the meaning of taking something or someone from one place and leaving it in another.

Questions? Let me know in the comments!

Prefixed Verbs of Motion: Part 2

Posted by Natalie 4 Comments
Jul 20 2011

I was going to make this post about something fun, but that will have to wait until Friday. This is Part 2 of this post. Today, I will be writing about «глаголы движения с приставками» [prefixed verbs of motion]. Last time, we talked about the actual prefixes. Today, I will discuss how some verbs of motion change when prefixed, in addition to two prefixes that can function a bit differently from the others. In the photo: «трамвай в Москве» [a streetcar in Moscow], from here.

You already know from the last post that the verb «идти» changes when prefixed: it becomes «-йти», as in «прийти», «войти», «сойти», and so on. Three other verbs have changes when they have prefixes added.

  • «ездить» [to go by vehicle] becomes «-езжать»: «приезжать» [to arrive by vehicle], «подъезжать» [to approach by vehicle], «доезжать» [to go up to by vehicle]
  • «плавать» [to swim] becomes «-плывать»: «приплывать» [to arrive by swimming], «уплывать» [to swim away]
  • «бегать» [to run] has a stress change when conjugated with a prefix. Though it is «бегаю» [I run], it becomes «прибегаю» [I run (with an implied meaning of arrival)].

The prefix «с-» can mean movement down from. However, it also has another meaning when used with unprefixed multidirectional verbs of motion. It indicates quick motion somewhere and back. «Например» [For example], with the verb «ходить» [to go by foot], it combines to form «сходить». Note that this is a perfective verb. Some example sentences are: «Она сходила домой за деньгами» [She ran home for her money]. This implies that she went and is now back. «Он сходит в магазин.» [He will run to the store.] This implies that he will go there quickly and then come back.

The prefix «по-» has a similar function when combined with a unidrectional imperfective verb of motion. «Пойти» is a perfective verb that means to set off for a one-way trip. «Они пошли в библиотеку.» [They set off for the library.]

With all these verbs of motion, it is important to discuss modes of transportation. Use «на» + prepositional case to describe what means of transportation used to go somewhere, such as «Я ездила на машине» [I went by car].

I hope this clears up any confusion about prefixed verbs of motion. As always, if you have questions, please do not hesitate to comment.

Prefixed Verbs of Motion: Part 1

Posted by Natalie 5 Comments
Jul 18 2011

«Дорогие друзья» [Dear friends], I have finally returned. «Я вернулась в Америку в июне» [I returned to America in June], but I almost immediately got sick. I am feeling better, so it’s about time for me to return to writing the Russian blog. Today we are going to talk about «самая важная тема» [the most important topic] on our Russian blog: «грамматика» [grammar]. The focus of this post will be «глаголы движения с приставками» [prefixed verbs of motion]. In the photo: «Петрозаводский государственный университет» [Petrozavodsk State University], from here.

«Образование» [Formation]

«Глаголы движения с приставками» [prefixed verbs of motion] are formed by adding «приставки» [prefixes] to already existing verbs of motion. The unidirectional verb will be perfective, and the multidirectional will be imperfective. Let us look at a few «примеры» [examples].

With the verbs «ходить/идти» [to go by foot], the first one is multidirectional and the second is unidirectional. If we add the prefix «при-», which gives the meaning of arrival, the verb pair becomes «приходить/прийти» [to arrive by foot]. Just like most other Russian verbs, the first one in this pair is imperfective, and the second is perfective. Also, we can see that «идти» changes when a prefix is added to it. I will discuss such exceptions further in Part 2 of this post.

So, what are some of the prefixes? We already know «при-», but there are many more. Here are some prefixes that you will encounter, along with prepositions with which they are used.

  • «при- + в/на; к кому»: arriving
  • «у- + в/на что; к кому; из/с чего»: leaving, departing
  • «в- + в/на что»: into
  • «вы- + в/на что; из/с чего»: out of
  • «под- + к кому/чему»: approaching
  • «от- + от кого/чего»: moving away from
  • «вз-, вс-, воз-, вос-»: moving up
  • «с- + с чего»: moving down
  • «за- + к кому; в/на что»: dropping by, stopping in
  • «за- + за кем/чем»: picking someone up, getting something
  • «пере- + через что»: movement across
  • «про- + в/на что; к чему»: getting somewhere
  • «про- что»: passing something unintentionally
  • «про- + мимо чего»: going past
  • «про- + через что»: passing through
  • «про- + по чему»: moving along something
  • «до- + до чего»: moving as far as, reaching something

Both «с-» and «пере-» are associated with some idiomatic expressions. «Сходить/сойти с ума» [to lose one's mind] and «сводить/свести кого-то с ума» [to drive someone crazy] are important expressions to know. «Переходить/перейти на новую работу» [to change jobs] and «переежать/переехать» [to move] are also important (and in the case of changing jobs, common due to the current economic crisis).

There is so much to talk about when it comes to «глаголы движения с приставками» [prefixed verbs of motion], so I am not nearly finished. Part 2 of this post will discuss some changes that happen to verbs of motion when they become prefixed, as well as another use of the prefix «с-». Also, I will discuss modes of transportation.

Questions? Comments? Want some example sentences? Please let me know with the comment form below!

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