Archive for the year 2011
There Is More To Marriage Than “Брак” Posted by yelena on Apr 21, 2011
Are you married? Please don’t be offended by what seems to be my idle curiosity. There’s a reason for my asking you this (or is it “me asking you this”?) How would you ask this simple question in Russian? The answer depends on the gender of the person you’re speaking with. So if you…
Using the Instrumental Case, Part 3 Posted by Natalie on Apr 14, 2011
«Дорогие друзья» [Dear friends], I don’t know about you, «но мне надоедает творительный падеж» [but I am tired of the instrumental case]. But luckily, this is the last post in the series on the instrumental case. Russian grammar is good, but only in small doses, right? But luckily we haven’t only had grammar this…
Wordbuilding Tetris Posted by yelena on Apr 13, 2011
Every Russian knows that Russian language is «великий и могучий» [great and powerful]. Nowhere is the “mighty” part as evident as in «словообразование» [word-building], the process of creating multiple derivatives of any given word. Take any Russian «слово» [a word] and play with it like a child would play with his building blocks: «нести»…
Using the Instrumental Case, Part 2 Posted by Natalie on Apr 12, 2011
«Дорогие читатели» [Dear readers], as we say in Russian: «Сколько лет, сколько зим!» [Long time, no see (literally it means “How many summers, how many winters”)]. «Простите меня» [Forgive me] for having such a long hiatus between posts–I’m sure you’re just dying to learn more about the instrumental case, right? This post is a continuation…
How to Be A Cosmonaut for a Day Posted by yelena on Apr 11, 2011
Are you ready for tomorrow? You might be asking «а что будет завтра?» [just what will be happening tomorrow?]. A quick look at the calendar will tell you that tomorrow is «двенадцатое апреля» [April 12th]. If you enter this date into Google search you will see that, in addition to it being a «сто второй…
April Fool’s Day (Is Over) Posted by yelena on Apr 5, 2011
Do you celebrate April Fool’s Day? Many Russians do since «чувство юмора» [sense of humor] is a valued quality. In fact, many personal ads include this «чувство юмора» as a must-have quality for «серьёзные отношения» [meaningful relationship]. «Но вернёмся к нашим баранам» [But let’s get back to business; lit. – let’s get back to…
Russian Verbs – Perfective and Imperfective Aspects – Part 2 Posted by yelena on Mar 30, 2011
What can be better than a grammar posts on such a complicated and confusing subject as Russian verbal aspects! Two posts on Russian verbal aspects, back-to-back! Today Maria is talking about exceptions to the rules. Russian grammar rules wouldn’t be rules if they were to have no exceptions. This is also true for perfective…