Archive by Author
The Polish Air Crash of 2010 Posted by Natalie on Apr 25, 2011
Well, «дорогие читатели» [dear readers], this is going to be a depressing post. It is about «авиакатастрофа в Смоленске 10 (десятого) апреля 2010 (две тысячи десятого) года» [the plane crash in Smolensk on April 10, 2010]. It made headlines at the time and a year later, people are still talking about it. Why? Read on…
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…
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…
Using the Instrumental Case, Part 1 Posted by Natalie on Mar 21, 2011
«Дорогие друзья» [Dear friends], I have a special relationship (for some reason, my phrasing there is reminding me of the “special relationship” between the United States and Great Britain) with «творительный падеж» [the instrumental case]. You see, back in the good old days when I was first starting to learn Russian, «учебник» [the textbook]…
A Little Bit of Grammar: Irregular Plural Nouns Posted by Natalie on Mar 16, 2011
«Дорогие читатели» [Dear readers], «нам пора» [it is time] for us to do a little grammar. Some people love grammar, some hate it, but it is a necessity of learning a language. Today we are going to talk about irregular plural nouns. Judging from the comments, we have readers of all levels, so I…
A History of Kiev, Part 4 Posted by Natalie on Mar 7, 2011
«Я знаю» [I know] that it has been quite a long time since I posted about «история Киева» [the history of Kiev]. You have been in so much suspense about what happens next, right? 😉 Anyway, today we are going to talk about «гражданская война» [the civil war], which is a very serious subject…
In Which I See Sergey Lavrov Posted by Natalie on Feb 21, 2011
«Дорогие друзья» [Dear friends], there has been a reason for my long absence. «На прошлой неделе» [Last week], a series of events converged to make me extremely busy. «Мне было надо написать письменную работу» [I had to write an essay] and I managed to acquire «приглашение на выступление Сергея Лаврова» [an invitation to a…