Archive for 'Russian for beginners'
«Надеть одежду, одеть Надежду» Posted by Rob on Jun 11, 2012
“To put on clothes and to clothe Nadezhda” Maybe you recognize the title of today’s post — it’s a classic mnemonic device to help distinguish between the verbs надеть and одеть. Rest assured that it’s not only foreign students who have trouble with the two; do a Google search and you’ll find plenty of Russians…
Let’s Talk About Summer Plans Posted by yelena on Jun 8, 2012
Is your summer bucket list ready? In case you don’t know what a bucket list is, it’s a list of things you want to сделать (to do), выполнить (to accomplish), достичь (to achieve), увидеть (to see), попробовать (to try, to taste), and otherwise испытать (to experience) before you сыграть в ящик (kick the bucket; die)…
Particle -ка and How to Use It Posted by yelena on Apr 4, 2012
As you’ve realized by now, my previous post about the letter Ё being removed from the alphabet was just первоапрельская утка (April Fool’s spoof). What шутки (jokes) did you play on your friends this year? What kind of розыгрыши (pranks) did they try to pull on you? This year, one of the spoofs prepared by…
Let’s Practice Translating a Dialogue Posted by yelena on Mar 29, 2012
One of the blog readers, David, left a comment on the previous post that included a short translation. Now, this translation was done by David and other members of кружок «Журавли» (the Zhuravli group), first using Google Translation (Welsh into Russian). The members of the group then worked on improving the results produced by Google…
Woman’s Work – Part 2 Posted by yelena on Mar 19, 2012
I am pretty sure that most Russians over 30 are familiar with the opening lines of Gianni Rodari’s poem Чем пахнут ремёсла (What jobs smell like): У каждого дела Запах особый (Each trade Has its special smell) This short poem mentions quite a few jobs, all using masculine nouns – маляр (painter), стекольщик (windows installer)…
Cinderellas Among Us – Household Chores in Russian Posted by yelena on Mar 14, 2012
In the US there is a good saying “woman’s work is never done”. Or as Russian women might say делам по дому конца краю не видно (lit. can’t see the end to house work). So what is considered женская работа (woman’s work) in Russian households? Let’s find out and, since house chores have to be…
Not So Nuclear Russian Family Posted by yelena on Mar 1, 2012
If you have the time, you might like the Russian-language sitcom Сваты. Much of it is available on YouTube. It’s a good sitcom to practice conversational Russian as well as to try to figure out who’s who in this crazy extended family. Want to play a quick game of associations? I’m going to say (ok…