You are a sailor, Mishka! Posted by bota on Feb 23, 2022
Ты одессит, Мишка, а это значит, Что не страшны тебе ни горе, ни беда. Ведь ты моряк, Мишка, моряк не плачет, И не теряет бодрость духа никогда. You are an Odessa native, Mishka, and that means You are not afraid of neither misery nor misfortune. Because you are a sailor, Mishka, a sailor never cries…
The Russian art of spitting Posted by ryan on Feb 18, 2022
As it turns out from Bota’s blog from Tuesday, today is День Пельме́ней in Russia! This dish, of course, is one of my personal favorites, not only to eat, but also to make. But what if you take a bite of a пельме́нь and realize you don’t like it? Or maybe you’re a вегетариа́нец vegetarian…
Pelmeni in Cursive Posted by bota on Feb 15, 2022
The most important February holiday is upon us: восемнадцатое февраля — День Пельменей! (Pelmeni day or Russian Dumpling Day) Фото автора Polina Tankilevitch: Pexels *Если вы не знаете, что такое пельмени, быстро прочитайте этот вкусный рецепт от Елены! (If you do not know what pelmeni are, go ahead and read this delicious recipe from Yelena.) This time-tested…
Racing through prefixes (part II) Posted by ryan on Feb 11, 2022
Why stop where we did? There are still a number of possibilities with гнать. Today I would like to continue the race from last week and demonstrate more prefixes and their meanings within the context of physical motion. So, once again, погна́ли! Прогна́ть/прогоня́ть The prefix про– usually means motion through something. Проходи́ть, for example, means…
Using English slang in Russian Posted by bota on Feb 3, 2022
Англицизмы или Американизмы — не новая тема в русском языке. (English and American English loanwords is not a new topic in Russian). However, it is one thing to hear about it on the news, for example when a Russian politician calls to ban English loanwords from the Russian language. It is a completely different story…
Racing through prefixes Posted by ryan on Jan 31, 2022
One of my favorite ways to learn verbs in Russian has always been to sit down, choose a verb, and run through all its possible prefixes, choosing example sentences to really cement the meaning in my mind. I have found this exercise especially useful with verbs of motion, which can have a broad range of…
Familiar Unknowns II Posted by bota on Jan 27, 2022
We continue to cover Russian idioms that make you say “What?” even though you are 99% sure you have heard them before. For Part I see here. Кануть в лету Definition: to be forgotten or to be long gone, to disappear. No, unfortunately we are not talking about summer (лето). Nor is this idiom about…