Looking through pictures from a couple of absolutely lovely and lazy summer days spent with my friend Marina’s family «в Кургане» [in Kurgan] in July, I came across this one: «Кафе Старая Прага. 20 июля в 18.00. Вход бесплатно (ХАЛЯВА) :-)» [Café Old Prague. July 20^th at 18-00. Entrance free of charge (FREEBIE) :-)]. And that’s when I realized that this word – «халява» – is perfect for Word of the Week this week! I have also seen almost the same thing written «на маршрутках» [on those special, most typical Russian mini-buses; on ‘marshrtukas’] since the beginning of the «кризис» [crisis] last fall and they had to lower the price of a ticket from 20 rubles to 10 rubles: «Халява, господа!» [Freebie, good people!]

After opening up the old faithful «Этимологический словарь русского языка М. Фасмера» [M. Fasmer’s Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] it became clear to me that the etymology of the highly useful Russian word «халява» [freebie] is unclear. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t use it! Of course we must use it. «Халява» might not be in all Russian-English dictionaries, and I’m not sure that I’m completely content with the translation of it as ‘freebie’. Therefore I think we should take a look at some of its synonyms in Russian:

«Бесплатно» – [free of charge; free; gratis]. This one is the most obvious one and a word that you probably already knew! (And if you didn’t know it before, then make a note of it now because it will surely come in handy!) There’s nothing wrong with repeating since after all there is a famous Russian proverb that proudly proclaims: «Повторение – мать учения!» [“Repetition is the mother of learning!”].

«Даром» (also «задаром») – [free; gratis; free of charge; for nought]. If we in this adverb can find the noun «дар» [gift; donation; grant] it will start to make a lot more sense.

«Дармовщина» – I couldn’t find in my Russian-English dictionary, but I know that it also a synonym and that it translates into Russian as «то, что получено бесплатно или за чужой счёт» [that which is received for free or paid for by someone else].

If you notice that they’re handing out samples of «шоколад» [chocolate] or «конфеты» [candy] at your local «супермаркет» [supermarket], all you need to do to make the one you’re shopping with understand what’s going on is to point in the correct direction and say: «халява!» If you receive something for free, like for example «поездка на двоих в Турцию» [a trip for two to Turkey (why not? It could happen!)], you should use the following construction when bragging about it in front of your Russian friends: «Я получил/а эту поездку на халяву!» [I received this trip for free!].

And there’s of course a piece of Russian phraseology using this most valuable word, since everybody – including Russians, «конечно!» [of course!] – love to get something for free (or to have it paid by someone else for that matter…):

«На халяву и уксус сладкий» – [“Anything that’s free is good”; lit. “Even vinegar is sweet if it’s free”].

But «халява» doesn’t just mean something that’s a ‘freebie’, it can also mean that something is just ‘easy’, something that one doesn’t have to work much for – effortless, in other words. «Халява» is used in this meaning in the phrase «Учёба здесь – халява!» [‘it’s really easy to study here’; or ‘it doesn’t take much brains to study here’]. And don’t forget that this noun also has an adjective – «халявный»! So now you can say «халявный ужин» [free dinner] if you didn’t have to pay for dinner, and «халявная работа» [easy job] if you didn’t have to put any effort into it at all. Very practical, isn’t it?

Going through pictures from my visit to beautiful Kurgan in July, I came across this one of a very special place – «Музыкальный киоск Высоцкого» [Vysotsky’s Musical Kiosk]. What is it? It is a kiosk that plays the music of Vladimir Vysotsky 24/7! Definitely a place not to be missed «в столице Зауралья» [in the capital of ‘Behind the Urals’]!