Russian Language Blog

Do you know this just might be the last post on the Russian blog? I’m saying it because tomorrow is December 21st, 2012, роковая дата (fatal date) some people and Hollywood studios believe to be конец света (the end of the world).

Whether you believe in this предсказание (prediction) or think it’s just россказни (tall tale), it is a great opportunity to learn some interesting Russian words and phrases.

Take the adjective роковой (fateful, fatal), for example. It comes from the word рок (fate, usually evil fate) and is not related to рок (rock) as in the music genre. It is not an accident that someone who предрекать (foretell) our рок (fate) is called пророк (prophet).

We might talk about роковая дата (fatal date), but also роковой час (fatal hour) and роковой день (fatal day). Роковыми (pl: fatal, fateful) can be women – роковая женщина (femme fatale); men – роковой мужчина (think Don Juan or James Bond); mistakes – роковая ошибка (fatal mistake) and even eggs – Роковые яйца (The Fatal Eggs).

I recently came across an article that discussed the results of социологические опросы россиян (opinion polls among Russians) about the whole 12/21/12 deal. Turns out, most people do not do any special preparations for the possible апокалипсис (Apocalypse). Which simply re-affirms the relevance of the two old sayings on the subject of emergency preparedness

пока гром не грянет, мужик не перекрестится (lit: a peasant does not cross himself until after the thunder)
пока жареный петух в зад не клюнет (lit: until a roasted rooster pecks one in the rear end) – this one is used as part of a phrase, i.e. как обычно, власти не предпримут ничего, пока жареный петух в зад не клюнет (as usual, authorities are not doing anything about the problem until it becomes too late)

Both mean “nothing gets done until bad stuff happens”.

With so much media attention to tomorrow, it seems noone should be застать врасплох (caught unawares). The adverb врасплох is another curious word. It’s tempting to think of it as related to плохой (bad). However, it is more likely related to полох (alarm). You are not likely to ever hear the word полох since it fell out of use. But переполох (turmoil, fright) and переполошить (to alarm) are both alive and well as seen in these headlines

NASA вызвало переполох роликом о конце света – NASA caused turmoil with its end of the world video.
Обезьяна в пальто устроила переполох в IKEA – Monkey in a coat caused alarm at an IKEA store. Although from the article it seems that it was the monkey, not the IKEA shoppers, who переполошилась (was frightened).

Most знающие люди (people in the know) in Russia believe that слухи о скором конце света сильно преувеличены (rumors of the upcoming Apocalypse are exaggerated). Numerous астрологи (astrologers), эзотерики (those studying the occult), священнослужители (clergymen), политики (politicians), метеорологи (meteorologists) and others with the powers of influencing our decisions, advise Russians to stay calm, stock up on candles, and spend Friday at home with families (astrologers’ advice) or at work (politicians’ advice).

But the most important advice to keep in mind on Friday comes from the Russian classical literature (no surprise here). Back in 1824, Russian one-hit wonder Александр Грибоедов (Alexander Griboedov) wrote in his famous Горе от ума (Woe from Wit), “всё врут календари” (calendars are full of lies).

With this in mind, весёлого Рождества (Merry Christmas) and до следующей недели (until next week)!

This is the time of the year when Russian kids start asking their parents когда мы за ёлкой поедем? (when will we go get the New Year tree?) For busy parents the best day might just be завтра (tomorrow), not because it has particular significance, but because it is the weekend.

Of course, if завтра is not good for you, you can always say you’ll get the tree послезавтра (the day after tomorrow). Literally, послезавтра simply means “after tomorrow”. So it has that air of deadline-busting uncertainty that the English “day after tomorrow” totally lacks.

Trying to sound more committed? Try через день (in a day) instead:

Позвони мне через день – Call me in a day

although a more common turn of phrase is через день-два (after a day or two). An even more nebulous future date is на следующей неделе (sometime next week) or в следующем месяце (sometime next month).

You might know the quote никогда не откладывай на завтра то, что можно сделать сегодня (don’t leave for tomorrow what can be done today). If you try to search online for the phrase “don’t leave for tomorrow what can be done the day after tomorrow”, you will get lots of references to the 2004 movie The Day After Tomorrow which screened in Russia as Послезавтра .

However, searching for the same phrase in Russian – не откладывай на завтра то, что можно сделать послезавтра – gets you, among other things, a page that says this quote принадлежит перу Марка Твена (was penned by Mark Twain). I’ll leave fact-checking of this tidbit на завтра (‘til tomorrow).

And by the way, should you say на завтра or до завтра?

Я решил отложить это до завтра is as good (or bad) as Я решил отложить это на завтра – I decided to put it off until tomorrow.

But we say подожди до завтра и будет тебе ёлка – wait until tomorrow and you’ll get your New Year tree

and Мне необходимо выслать эту посылку до завтра – I must send this package by tomorrow

We need to перенести на завтра (reschedule for tomorrow), but are trying to дожить до завтра (survive until tomorrow, live to see tomorrow). If a store закрыт до завтра, it will remain closed until tomorrow. A store that is закрыт на завтра will stay closed the entire day tomorrow. You might decide to go to bed early and спать до завтра (sleep until tomorrow) so that you will набраться сил на завтра (gather strength for tomorrow).

But if you promise to do something завтра, you better do it. Or else you’ll be known as someone who завтраками кормит (lit: feeds breakfasts; metaphorically – someone who doesn’t deliver on promises).

Сколько можно кормить ребёнка завтраками! Сегодня же покупаем ёлку! – How much longer can we keep promising things to a child! We’re going to get the New Year tree today!

Russian word for yesterday is вчера. Yep, sounds much like вечера (evenings):
Вчера вечером мы наряжали ёлку – We decorated the New Year tree yesterday evening

A day before yesterday is, therefore, два дня назад or позавчера or, confusingly, третьего дня (thankfully this last one is seldom used nowadays):

Два дня назад мы достали с антресолей ёлочные игрушки – Two days ago we got New Year tree ornaments from the ceiling cabinet.
Мы купили ёлку позавчера – We bought the New Year tree the day before yesterday.
Соседи нарядили свою ёлку третьего дня – Neighbors decorated their tree the day before yesterday.

Children who master the meaning of послезавтра and позавчера are often overheard talking about events that happened поза-поза-позавчера or will happen после-после-послезавтра. Which sounds confusing (and fun) even to themselves. Adults avoid sounding childish and instead say things like

три дня назад – three days ago
на прошлой неделе – last week
на позапрошлой неделе – the week before last
в прошлом месяце – last month

and

через три дня – in three days
на следующей неделе – next week
на послеследующей неделе – the week after next
в следующем месяце – next month

Я иду в отпуск через неделю – I am going on vacation in a week
В следующую пятницу у меня важное совещание – I have an important meeting next Friday
Новая версия популярной игры поступит в продажу в следующем месяце – The new version of the popular game will appear in stores next month

Последний раз я была в отпуске два года назад – Last time I went on vacation was two years ago
На позапрошлой неделе к нам приезжали гости – We had guests visiting us the week before last
Я пробовала тебе позвонить пару дней назад – I tried calling you a couple of days ago

Practice makes perfect, so try answering these questions

когда ваш следующий отпуск? – when is your next vacation?
когда вы в последний раз были в кино? – when was the last time you went to the movies?
что вы делали позавчера? – what did you do the day before yesterday?
какие у вас планы на завтра и послезавтра? – what are your plans for tomorrow and the day after tomorrow?
and of course, когда вы наконец-то купите новогоднюю ёлку? – when will you finally buy the New Year tree?

It’s that time of the year for many of us to give and receive gifts. Whichever you like most, let’s learn the Russian gift-giving vocabulary just in time for the holidays.

Since it’s so much fun to get gifts, let’s start with the verbs получать (imperfective: to get, to receive) and получить (perfective: to get, to receive).

Present tense   Singular          Plural

1st Person      получаю        получаем
2nd Person    получаешь   получаете
3rd Person    получает       получают

Let’s try it out now:

Каждый год я получаю подарок от шефа. – Every year I receive a gift from my boss.
Ты всё ещё получаешь подарки от Деда Мороза? – Do you still get gifts from Grandfather Frost?
Она обычно получает в подарок книги – She usually gets books as gifts.

However, when you want to ask a friend what kind of gift she wants this year, you will use the perfective получить:

Что ты хочешь получить на Новый Год? – What do you want to get this New Year?

Whatever her answer is, it will likely start with Я хочу получить (I want to get) or Я мечтаю получить (lit: I am dreaming to get).

If you don’t feel like using the verb получить, you can totally skip it:

Что ты хочешь на Новый Год? – What do you want this New Year?
Я хочу машину – I want a car

Я мечтаю о машине – I am dreaming about a car

And now let’s move on to the verb дарить (to gift).

Present tense Singular Plural
1st Person       дарю         дарим
2nd Person     даришь   дарите
3rd Person     дарит        дарят

Я каждый год дарю шефу подарок – Every year I give my boss a gift
Дед Мороз всё ещё дарит ей подарки – Grandfather Frost still gives her gifts
Ты обычно даришь книги – You usually give books as gifts

If you are trying to find out what your friend is going to get you this year, you will need to use the perfective подарить:
Скажи, что ты мне подаришь в этом году и я скажу, что я подарю тебе – Tell me what you will give me this year and I’ll tell you what I will give you.

Another word that can be used instead of подарить is принести (to bring).

Что тебе Дед Мороз принёс в подарок? – What did Grandfather Frost bring you [as a gift]?
Я принёс тебе в подарок не тюльпаны, не жасмин… – I brought you as a gift neither tulips nor jasmine.. [In case you’re wondering, this is the opening line of this song]

Finally, you might find the word подарок (gift) itself interesting. Its root is the noun дар (gift). But when we speak of дары (gifts), we usually imply something on a grander scale or something more solemn or something free:

Картина была передана в дар музею – A painting was given to the museum as a gift.
Дары природы – Nature’s bounty
Отдам котёнка в дар – I will give the kitten away for free

Which brings us to the word даром (for free) and задаром (for free)

Отдам даром детские вещи – I am giving away for free children’s clothes.
Мне этот старый диван и даром не нужен – I wouldn’t get this old couch even if it was free.
До сих пор не верю, что мне этот телевизор достался задаром – I still can’t believe I got this TV for free.

And now you can practice your Russian and get your gift list together (if you haven’t done so yet) by answering these questions:

Что вы хотите получить в подарок на праздники? Какие подарки вы сами собираетесь дарить?

Image Source: asenat29 via Flickr!