Remember the post “«Авось!» or a really Russian Expression” in which I decided to try if «авось» [perhaps; possibly; maybe] works also outside of Russia? In the post I posed the following question: Can one say «авось повезёт» [maybe (I’ll) get lucky; perhaps (I’ll) have some luck] a day or two before taking the TOEFL test outside of Russia – in my case: «в Стокгольме, столице Швеции» [in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden] – instead of preparing during several months in advance for the test «от которого зависит всё твоё будудщее» [on which your entire future depends]? And «сдать» [pass] it? I didn’t just pose this question – I actually tried it «в действительности» [in reality]. On myself and my own future. And guess what, «дамы и господа» [ladies and gentlemen]? It works, it really works! Now all of you – from the most frail beginners to almost fluent speakers of Russian language – all of the world’s lovers of «русская речь» [Russian speech] that are still just friends with «русская грамматика» [Russian grammar] can use this «исконная русская фраза» [original Russian phase], this «традиционное русское выражение» [traditional Russian expression] in their every day life «вне Российской федерации» [outside of the Russian Federation]. I scored 107 out of 120 on the TOEFL test (my university of preference in the USA asks only more than 68 – but let’s not spoil things with talking about what’ll happen only «через ещё годик в России» [after yet another (little) year in Russia]…). Some of the readers of this blog might argue – and most correctly, too – that it wasn’t really the Russian «авось» which helped me in only making 13 points worth of mistakes, but the fact that I’m almost fluent in English. «Может быть, вполне может быть» [maybe, quite (possibly) maybe] is what I say to them as I add this: But who can exclude a little help of «авось» in a one-time case as this one? What we need to make a firm conclusion is a «широкий статистичексий фундамент» [broad statistical foundation] – anyone out there willing to try «авось» in their own lives?

«Авось и на самом деле всем вам повезёт!» – [Perhaps all of you’ll really get lucky!]

Today I thought we’d continue to talk about luck; or more specifically: «русское везение» [Russian luck]. You might be seeing this Russian word for ‘luck’ for the very first time – «везение» [luck; good fortune], whereas you’ve both read, heard and pronounced the word «удача» [luck; success; fortune; stroke of good luck; good innings] many times before. This is the word most commonly used when wishing each other ‘good luck’ in Russian: «Удачи!» [note that when wishing someone something in Russian you always put what you’re wishing them in GENITIVE – thus turning «удача» into «удачи» – don’t forget!]. But is it worth knowing also «везение» as it comes from the verb «везти» which is used in the expression «везёт кому-нибудь» [someone is lucky; someone has luck]. And since people – even Russians – tend to get lucky from time to time, it is an expression that can come in handy ever so often. The verb «везти» is one of those extremely interesting «глаголы движения» [verbs of motion], and being as such it is imperfect and only in ONE DIRECTION (for movements in many directions this verb has a close friend: «возить»). «Везти» can be translated into English – apart from into ‘to have luck’ – as ‘to wheel; carry; tote; trundle’. When used to tell of someone having luck the following is important to know: 1) always put this verb in THIRD PERSON SINGULAR, i.e. «оно»: thus present tense «везёт» turns into past tense as «повезло»; 2) the sentence’s SUBJECT should always be in DATIVE, for example: «тебе везёт» [you have luck], «мне не везёт» [I don’t have any luck] and «им повезло» [they were lucky; had luck]. Using dative is a very smart and subconscious Russian way of taking away all personal responsibility from the subject of the sentence, which means that to have luck in Russian (or why not say ‘to have Russian luck’?) doesn’t really have anything to do with actions you may or may not have taken. And isn’t that really what luck is all about?

Let’s take a look at two pictures as we try to understand this expression even better:

«Утром в Новосибирске нам повезло с погодой – “мороз и солнце, день чудесный” – прямо как из стихотворения Александра Сергеевича Пушкина!» [In Novosibirsk we were lucky with the weather – ‘frost and sun, what a fantastic day’ – just like in the poem by Alexandr Sergeyevich Pushkin!]

«А после обеда в том же Новосибирске нашему везению с погодой пришёл конец, и начался сильный снегопад…» [But after lunch in the very same Novosibirsk our luck with the weather came to an end and a forceful snowfall began…]