Posts tagged w/ Russian language

Russian Word of the Week: «Домашний» [Homey, Domestic; Indoor]

Posted by Josefina
Oct
17
2009

Have you ever wondered what the difference between the noun «дом» and the adverb «дома» is? Read and compare the use of the words in the following sentence: «Для большинства людей это просто достаточно старый, деревянный дом» [To most people this is just a rather old, wooden house], «а для некоторых он же - дома» [but for some people it is home]. Get it?

This week’s Russian word is very simple yet at the same time of great importance in the broad context of Russian culture. Since Russians have a tendency to take their personal relationships more serious than anything else in life, it makes sense that they also care much more about what’s going on within their own family and thus also in their own home than, for an example, «в Кремле» [in the Kremlin]. The fact that Russians put their home life and loved ones before anything else can not only be seen in society, but also in Russian language. Russian has many different words one can use when talking of the people closest to one’s heart: not just the obvious «семья» [family]. When talking about your loved ones in Russian you can also make use of adjectives like «близкие» [folks, one's family (informal)], «родные» [relatives; people who are so close to you that they feel like members of your family even though you're not really related at all], «свои» [literally a pronoun meaning ‘their, belonging to them', but should in this context be translated as family members, relatives; good friends; people living with you] or the word of the week: «домашние» [lit. ‘people sharing one home', not necessarily relatives, could be roommates too].

The word of the week is «прилагательное» [an adjective] - «домашний» [homey, domestic; indoor; domiciliary; pet] - made both from «существительное» [the noun] «дом» [house, home; establishment; dwelling, residence] and the «наречие» [the adverb] «дома» [at home, at one's residence; within the home; home; in]. Basically speaking, you should be able to use the adjective together with any Russian noun when you want to point out that this noun has something to do with your home. Or someone else’s home, for that matter! Here are a few examples of the most common ways in which this adjective is used in Russian:

«домашний телефон» - [home phone].

«Можно позвонить вам по домашнему телефону?» - [May I call you on your home phone?]

«домашнее задание» - [homework].

«Почему всегда дают так много домашних заданий?» - [Why do they always give so much homework?].

«домашние дела» - [house work (and not just literally!)].

«Дома меня ждёт куча домашних дел…» - [At home pile of house work is waiting for me...].

«домашнее хозяйство» - [housekeeping].

«Это не муж, а мечта - так прекрасно он занимается домашним хозяйством!» - [He's not a husband, but a dream - that's how wonderfully he takes care of the housekeeping!].

«домашняя хозяйка» - [housewife].

«В детстве я мечтала стать домашней хозяйкой» - [As a child (lit. in childhood) I dreamed of becoming a housewife].

«домашний арест» - [house arrest].

«Его на самом деле брали под домашний арест?» - [Did they really place him under house arrest?].

«домашнее животное» - [house pet].

«У тебя есть домашнее животное?» - [Do you have a (house) pet?].

«мои домашние» - [my family].

«Передай привет твоим домашним!» - [Say hello to your family!].

The last sentence is without a doubt the most important to know in Russian language. Always a good way of saying good-bye and end a nice conversation!

 
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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’…

 
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How to Make Russians Do as You Say, or Mastering «повелительное наклонение» [imperative]

Posted by Josefina
Sep
22
2009

This peculiar note I came upon on the wall of the restroom at the university today and couldn’t help but to share it with you, first and foremost because it is packed with information necessary for today’s grammatical note: «повелительное наклонение единственного числа» [imperative in singular]. «Если не сможешь сделать это аккуратно - лучше не начинай!!! Оглянись, возьми щётку и убери за собой!!! Спасибо!!!» [If you can't do this carefully - it's better not to start!!! Turn around, take the brush and clean up after yourself!!! Thank you!!!]

Sometimes you’re faced with the challenging task of having to ask a Russian to do something. How do you make a Russian do as you say? Luckily for us the Russian language has thought about this long before we realized it would be a problem for us and thus it has invented the practical «повелительное наклонение» [imperative, imperative mood] for this purpose. The adjective «повелительный» comes from the verb «велеть» meaning ‘order; say; will’ and the noun «наклонение» means ‘inclination; declination; nutation; mood’, which makes this «словосочетание» [collocation; combination of words] translate into English literally as ‘the ordering declination’. Knowing this we can easily figure out that this form of the Russian verb is used for a special purpose - to give orders to Russians (and other «русскоговорящие» [Russian speakers] for that matter). Knowing that doesn’t, however, make it any easier to give an order to a Russian. In order to do that (ha! word play!) we must learn what exactly happens to the Russian verb in imperative. And that’s what we’re going to do today!

Before giving an order to a Russian there are TWO (2) important things you must first find out about the situation in which you are about to do this:

1) Are you «на ты» with this particular Russian, i.e. you’re close friends, or close in age, or just enjoy an informal relationship with each other? Or are you two «на Вы», i.e. the other person is much older than you, or a stranger, or someone with whom you have a formal relationship?

a) If you’re «на ты» with this person, then you should use the «единственное число» [singular] form of the verb in imperative, meaning that the verb form you use should end on «й» or «и» (most likely, though there are verbs that end on «ь» [the soft sign] in imperative, like, for example «режь!» [cut!]). For example:

«слушай!» [listen!], «смотри!» [look!], «читай!» [read!], and «подожди!» [pf. wait!]

б) But if you’re «на Вы» with this person, you must use the «множественное число» [plural] form of the verb in imperative, which means that the verb form you use ends on «ТЕ». Here are some examples to illustrate this - a little more formal - way of ordering people around in Russian (note: this form is also used when you’re asking MORE THAN ONE Russian to do something):

«слушайТЕ!» [listen!], «смотриТЕ!» [look!], «читайТЕ!»  [read!], and «подождиТЕ!» [pf. wait!]

(Did you see how the verb forms in plural are different from the ones in singular in Russian, while the verb remains the same in English translation no matter if it’s plural or singular? Good! Now noticing this might be easy, remembering it is the tricky part!)

2) As always when faced with Russian verbs, one must pick one out of the two possible «вида глагола» [verb aspects]. Also when using imperative we must make the hard choice between «несовершенный вид» [imperfective aspect] and «совершенный вид» [perfective aspect]. Deciding between the two is much harder than deciding whether or not you’re close friends with someone, and that’s why I’m not going to get into this on a detailed level today. Let’s start out «потихоньку, помаленьку» [silently, little by little], as the Russians themselves would say!

a) «Несовершенный вид» [imperfective aspect] is the neutral way to command someone to do something. You should use this aspect when it is the action itself, and not its result, that you’re after:

«Сидите тихо!» - [sit quietly! (plural)]

The imperfective aspect also the aspect used when you’re not commanding through imperative, but actually expressing a polite invitation:

«Заходи!» (sing.), or «Заходите!» (plural) - [Come in!]

«Бери печенье, наливай сам (сама) кофе!» (sing.), or «Берите печенье, наливайте сами кофе!» (plural) - [Take some cookies, pour yourself some coffee!]

When you DON’T want someone to do something, imperfective aspect is also the one used:

«Не закрывай/не закрывайте окно!» - [Don't close the window!]

«Не говори/не говорите плохо про людей, которых не знаешь/не знаете!» - [Don't talk bad about people you don't know!]

«Сиди/сидите, не вставай/вставайте!» - [Sit, don't stand up!]

«Не звони/звоните мне больше!» - [Don't call me anymore!]

б) «Совершенный вид» [perfective aspect] is the most frequent form used when hoping for a positive reply as you’re commanding someone to do something in Russian language. When using the perfective aspect you’re most concerned with the result of the action, and the action as a whole:

«Пожалуйста, открой/откройте дверь!» - [Please open the door!]

«Скажи/скажите как проехать на улицу Маяковского!» - [Tell me how to get to Mayakovsky street!]

«Прочитайте/прочитай дома первую и вторую главы!» - [Read (through) the first and the second chapters at home!]

The perfective aspect is also used when you’re asking to be brought something in a restaurant or in a shop:

«Передайте/передай мне, пожалуйста, соль» - [Please pass me the salt!]

«Принесите/принеси мне, пожалуйста, воды» - [Please give me (a glass of) water!]

«Покажите/покажи мне, пожалуйста, янтарные изделия» - [Please show me the amber products!]

And so it is time to sum up today’s lesson and try our best to apply what we’ve learnt to make Russians do what we want. Let’s say you have a Russian pen pal that hasn’t written to you in a while and you really want them to write you a letter. Which form of imperative should you use? Well, let’s have a look!

«Пиши мне!» - [Write me!]: using this kind of phrase means you consider yourself a) a close friend of your pen pal, and б) that you just want them to ‘write’, i.e. you’re not really being that specific, not after any particular ‘result’.

«Напиши мне!» - [Write me!]: with this command you’re still a) close with your pen pal, but б) you want to see a result, and this result that you’re asking them is - most likely - a real letter and not just a simple «привет, как делишки?» ["hey, how you doing?"].

I hope this was «полезно» for everyone, and that you understand that just because you’re using the right imperative form doesn’t automatically mean that you’ll actually get Russians to do as you say! But it is always worth a try…

 
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Breaking Russian News: «Авось» Goes International!

Posted by Josefina
Aug
26
2009

Remember the post “«Авось!» or a really Russian Expression” in which I decided to try if «авось» [perhaps; possibly; maybe] works also outside of Russia? In the post I posed the following question: Can one say «авось повезёт» [maybe (I'll) get lucky; perhaps (I'll) have some luck] a day or two before taking the TOEFL test outside of Russia - in my case: «в Стокгольме, столице Швеции» [in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden] - instead of preparing during several months in advance for the test «от которого зависит всё твоё будудщее» [on which your entire future depends]? And «сдать» [pass] it? I didn’t just pose this question - I actually tried it «в действительности» [in reality]. On myself and my own future. And guess what, «дамы и господа» [ladies and gentlemen]? It works, it really works! Now all of you - from the most frail beginners to almost fluent speakers of Russian language - all of the world’s lovers of «русская речь» [Russian speech] that are still just friends with «русская грамматика» [Russian grammar] can use this «исконная русская фраза» [original Russian phase], this «традиционное русское выражение» [traditional Russian expression] in their every day life «вне Российской федерации» [outside of the Russian Federation]. I scored 107 out of 120 on the TOEFL test (my university of preference in the USA asks only more than 68 - but let’s not spoil things with talking about what’ll happen only «через ещё годик в России» [after yet another (little) year in Russia]…). Some of the readers of this blog might argue - and most correctly, too - that it wasn’t really the Russian «авось» which helped me in only making 13 points worth of mistakes, but the fact that I’m almost fluent in English. «Может быть, вполне может быть» [maybe, quite (possibly) maybe] is what I say to them as I add this: But who can exclude a little help of «авось» in a one-time case as this one? What we need to make a firm conclusion is a «широкий статистичексий фундамент» [broad statistical foundation] - anyone out there willing to try «авось» in their own lives?

«Авось и на самом деле всем вам повезёт!» - [Perhaps all of you'll really get lucky!]

Today I thought we’d continue to talk about luck; or more specifically: «русское везение» [Russian luck]. You might be seeing this Russian word for ‘luck’ for the very first time - «везение» [luck; good fortune], whereas you’ve both read, heard and pronounced the word «удача» [luck; success; fortune; stroke of good luck; good innings] many times before. This is the word most commonly used when wishing each other ‘good luck’ in Russian: «Удачи!» [note that when wishing someone something in Russian you always put what you're wishing them in GENITIVE - thus turning «удача» into «удачи» - don't forget!]. But is it worth knowing also «везение» as it comes from the verb «везти» which is used in the expression «везёт кому-нибудь» [someone is lucky; someone has luck]. And since people - even Russians - tend to get lucky from time to time, it is an expression that can come in handy ever so often. The verb «везти» is one of those extremely interesting «глаголы движения» [verbs of motion], and being as such it is imperfect and only in ONE DIRECTION (for movements in many directions this verb has a close friend: «возить»). «Везти» can be translated into English - apart from into ‘to have luck’ - as ‘to wheel; carry; tote; trundle’. When used to tell of someone having luck the following is important to know: 1) always put this verb in THIRD PERSON SINGULAR, i.e. «оно»: thus present tense «везёт» turns into past tense as «повезло»; 2) the sentence’s SUBJECT should always be in DATIVE, for example: «тебе везёт» [you have luck], «мне не везёт» [I don't have any luck] and «им повезло» [they were lucky; had luck]. Using dative is a very smart and subconscious Russian way of taking away all personal responsibility from the subject of the sentence, which means that to have luck in Russian (or why not say ‘to have Russian luck’?) doesn’t really have anything to do with actions you may or may not have taken. And isn’t that really what luck is all about?

Let’s take a look at two pictures as we try to understand this expression even better:

«Утром в Новосибирске нам повезло с погодой - “мороз и солнце, день чудесный″ - прямо как из стихотворения Александра Сергеевича Пушкина!» [In Novosibirsk we were lucky with the weather - ‘frost and sun, what a fantastic day' - just like in the poem by Alexandr Sergeyevich Pushkin!]

«А после обеда в том же Новосибирске нашему везению с погодой пришёл конец, и начался сильный снегопад…» [But after lunch in the very same Novosibirsk our luck with the weather came to an end and a forceful snowfall began...] 

 
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