Archive for 'Russian for beginners'
Fear of Speaking a Second Language Posted by Jenya on Nov 4, 2015
I can remember back to when I began learning English in school about 10 years before actually coming to America. It was fun, exciting, and quite difficult. My parents had always told me that I needed to learn English in order to have a brighter future. Before I’d graduated our version of high school, I’d…
Verbs with Prefixes: Вернуть Posted by Maria on Oct 22, 2015
It appears that our “verbs with prefixes” series has turned out to be a surprise hit, so let us do another installment! This time, we are looking at the verb верну́ть (to return). As always, these are just some of the meanings. The imperfective counterpart to вернуть is возвраща́ть. Нали́чных в кошельке́ бы́ло мно́го, но их…
Verbs with Prefixes: Писать Posted by Maria on Oct 8, 2015
It appears that our verbs with prefixes series has been successful. In this series, we take a common Russian verb and discuss its derivatives formed by adding a prefix to the original verb. Be sure to check out previous posts in this series: брать and играть. This time, we will look at a verb…
Translating Russian Что: What, When and Why Posted by Jenya on Sep 9, 2015
The feeling of confusion about a particular word is undoubtedly familiar to any foreign language learner. Thanks to one of our readers, one of this pesky Russian words have been brought to my attention. What might that word be? Ironically, it is none other than the word “what” itself :-). Translation of the word что…
Basic Russian: Uses of Что Posted by Maria on Aug 31, 2015
We have been asked by one of our readers to explain the uses of что. This seemingly simple word has several applications. We will go over the most common uses of this word. Forms The primary meaning of что is “what.” Dictionaries will tell you that it is technically a местоименное существительное, a “pronominal noun.”…
Expand Your Vocabulary: Verbs With Prefixes – Брать Posted by Maria on Aug 13, 2015
One way to learn more verbs in Russian is to take a common verb you already know and look up its derivatives with the most common Russian prefixes. Here are some of the most widespread Russian verbal prefixes. These are only some of the meanings, and they do not cover everything. However, you can…
Describe Your Trip in Russian: The Outdoors Posted by Maria on Aug 3, 2015
We are wrapping up a 3-post series on talking about your trip in Russian. This time, we will cover the great outdoors! Perhaps some of you are planning to go camping in Russia or would simply like to share the stories of your adventures. Location First of all, a word you will hear a…