Are conjunctions necessary? Part II Posted by bota on Apr 5, 2021
We’ve talked about Russian sentences without conjunctions before, but we’ve yet to discuss my favorite Russian punctuation sign “тире́” (dash) and its role in these бессою́зных предложе́ниях (sentences without conjunctions). There are six instances where you can use “тире́” (dash; typed as an m-dash sign) in place of a conjunction. I’ll provide examples for each…
Russian Proverbs About Spring Posted by Nadya on Mar 30, 2021
Probably, people in Russia do not await any other season as much as spring. Finally, the snow melted, the birds started singing, and nature began to acquire bright colors. For a long time in Russia, spring was treated with gratitude and honor. Writers have devoted an endless number of novels and poems describing spring nature…
Are conjunctions necessary? Posted by bota on Mar 23, 2021
Если… а… но… Three perhaps most commonly used сою́зов в ру́сском языке́ (conjunctions in Russian), aside from “и”, and exactly how much I got to say as a kid when trying to convince my parents to get me дома́шнего пито́мца (a pet). It usually went like this: Since then, some things stayed the same – my parents…
Protect Your Home With Domovoi Posted by Nadya on Mar 18, 2021
If you want to protect your home, you do not have to install security cameras and alarms. You can get a domovoi. What is “домовой“ Домово́й (domovoi, domovoy, or domovoj – singular, домовы́е–domovye – plural; literally, “[it] of the house”) is a house spirit in Slavic (славя́нский) folklore (фолькло́р). You can also read about other…
The A-Z of the Russian Banya Posted by bota on Mar 15, 2021
A trip to ру́сская ба́ня (Russian banya/ Russian sauna) is a healing cultural experience for your mind and body. Many Russians have a баня (banya) on their dachas and might be enjoying the “jumping in the snow after banya” in their backyards with the last of this winter’s snow. Tips for Russian sauna: Avoid drinking…
Phrases To Express Your Opinion Posted by Nadya on Mar 12, 2021
When writing an essay or in a conversation, you have probably often faced the need to express your opinion. For this, you can use some short introductory text constructions. You may have already heard the most common Russian phrases “я думаю” (“I think”) and “мне кажется” (“it seems to me”). We talked about them earlier…
Superlatives for March 8th Posted by bota on Mar 3, 2021
Does anyone else here have a drawing of their mom or grandma like this one? When I was in kindergarten I had to make one of these for Восьмо́е Ма́рта (March 8th). I actually never finished mine in time for the кла́ссный ча́с (homeroom) and when my mom came in, she saved my grace by…