Archive for May, 2019
Kolyma: Russian Documentary About Arctic Siberia and Stalin’s Repressions Posted by Maria on May 28, 2019
Something that’s been widely discussed on the Russian Internet (руне́т) is a recent documentary (документа́льный фильм) by Yuri Dud’ called Kolyma — Birthplace of Our Fear (“Колыма́ — ро́дина на́шего стра́ха“). This film features footage from Northeastern Siberia and interviews with people whose families were affected by Stalinist repressions. The film was created by Yuri…
Gotta Do What You Gotta Do, or Expressing Obligation in Russian Posted by Maria on May 23, 2019
Most learners of Russian will remember the word до́лжен (have to) for talking about your obligations. It may be trickier to remember other expressions. Let’s review some ways of expressing obligation in Russian. Должна́ The following short adjectives mean “owe” or “have to”: должна́ (feminine) должно́ (neuter) до́лжен (masculine) должны́ (plural) These words are related…
Russian News: Protests Against Church Construction in Yekateriburg Posted by Maria on May 20, 2019
You might have read in the news that residents of the city of Yekaterinburg are protesting the construction of a church in place of a park, and it’s even come to clashes with the police. Let’s look at some of the background and coverage of this situation. Where is this again? Yekaterinburg, Екатеринбу́рг in Russian…
White Walkers and Horcruxes, or How to Talk About Fantasy in Russian Posted by Maria on May 16, 2019
Even if you are not a huge fan of the fantasy genre, it seems like these days you can barely avoid Game of Thrones spoilers or Lord of the Rings references. These genres and the associated subcultures have a following in Russian-speaking countries, too. This post will include some famous fantasy names—in Russian! Властели́н коле́ц—Lord…
4 Russian Sayings With Animals Posted by Maria on May 6, 2019
Russian has quite a few sayings featuring animals—you can see our previous post on this subject here. This time, I wanted to add four more expressions you can occasionally hear in Russian speech. Кот напла́кал Кот is a male cat (the female form, ко‘шка is more common to talk about a random street cat whose sex…