Check Your Russian Knowledge – Pop Quiz Posted by yelena on Sep 2, 2011 in Culture, language
The summer is over, at least the summer break part of it. Or as a once-popular Russian song goes, «Вот и лето прошло, как его не бывало» [So the summer is over, as if it’s never happened]. It is time for many of us to get back to «учёба» [studying].
If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you already know a lot about 1st of September in Russia. In fact, last year we had an entire post about this day and the tradition of «первый звонок» [first ringing of a bell].
You also probably remember that «Как я провёл лето» [How I spent the summer] is the first essay of the year for many Russian students. While «школьники» [male students] and «школьницы» [female students] are busy writing their essays, their «учителя» [male teachers] and «учительницы» [female teachers] are busy figuring out just how much of what was taught last year stuck around. Summer vacations are sweet; learning loss – not so much.
So let me assume for a moment a role of «строгая» [strict] «училка» [informal: female teacher]. And you will be «мои ученики» [my students].
To celebrate «Первое сентября – День знаний» [1st of September – The Day of Knowledge], here is a pop quiz. But don’t be nervous. I provided links to the answers. They are in the posts published on the blog from September 2010 to May 2011.
Pop Quiz:
1. Graphomania refers to an obsessive impulse to «писать» or «писать»? (Read Same-Same But Different – Part III for the correct answer)
2. «_________ Россию не понять» [Russia cannot be understood _____ alone] (Read this post for the answer)
a. «Письмом» [by letter]
b. «Трудом» [by labor]
c. «Умом» [by mind]
d. «Мозгом» [by brain]
3. What fairy tale structure has a habit of «поворачиваться к лесу задом» [turning its backside to the forest]? (Brush up on Russian fairy tales)
4. Is this a grammatically correct Russian sentence: «Хорошо!» (Here’s a clue; also here)
a. «Да» [Yes]
b. «Нет» [No]
c. «Смеётесь?!» [Are you kidding me?!]
5. Translate into English (or your native language): «Я хочу есть. В холодильнике есть еда.» [If confused, review the post about «есть»]
6. What is NOT a remedy for a common cold? (Check out Russian folk remedies)
a. «Свёкла» [beetroot]
b. «Молоко с содой» [milk with baking soda]
c. «Горчичный порошок» [ground mustard]
d. What are you talking about? All of them work!
e. What are you talking about? None of these work!
7. Complete this well-known phrase: «После дождичка в ________» (The answer is here)
a. «Понедельник»
b. «Вторник»
c. «Среда»
d. «Четверг»
e. «Пятница»
f. «Суббота»
g. «Воскресенье»
8. Another multiple choice for you: «В огороде бузина, а в Киеве _________»
a. «Дядька»
b. «Тётка»
c. «Дедка»
d. «Репка»
9. «В этом году я буду говорить по-русски хорошо/лучше» [This year I will speak Russian well/better]. (Yes, there is no wrong answer here, but read this grammar post for extra credit)
10. The 129-tile «Эрудит» and the 104-tile «Скрабл» are both Russian versions of which of these board games
a. Monopoly
b. Scrabble
c. Trivial Pursuit
11. What word/phrase describes the process of making «пельмени» [pelmeni] the best:
a. «Нудный» [Tedious]
b. «Скучный» [Boring]
c. «Трудоёмкий» [Labor-intensive]
d. All of the above, but the results are so worth it!
12. Who is «Александр Сергеевич Пушкин» [Alexandr Sergeevich Pushkin] (and more about Pushkin):
a. Russia’s most celebrated poet
b. A guy who’s supposed to do your homework, shut off the bathroom light, straighten things up, etc.
13. Complete the pair «Красивый – красив», «красный – красен», «строгий – ________» (Need to brush up on the short form adjectives?)
14. «В мае жениться, век ________» (Here’s the post on marriage wisdom)
a. «маяться» [drudge]
b. «веселиться» [have fun]
c. «трудиться» [toil]
15. How many Moscows are in the United States?
a. 5
b. 12
c. 27
d. Not sure, but let me Google it.
How did you do? For super-overachievers or if you skipped the quiz (did I mention it was totally optional), share with the rest of the class how you spent the summer.
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Comments:
Delia:
Great quiz! Good job, Yelena! It might be a bit too much for the learners to review
🙂 My students have forgotten a lot!
yelena:
@Delia Thank you, Delia! I had to restrain myself with this quiz since the original unedited version had 33 questions in it. I thought it was just a bit too much 🙂
Minority:
Ах, я отлично знаю русский, вот это сюрприз 🙂
The only thing I don’t know for sure is number of Moscows in the USA.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_(disambiguation)
There’re 14 of places called Moscow at this page. But who knows if it’s the whole list 🙂
yelena:
@Minority Наташа, вам – 5 баллов! А меньшего я и не ожидала 🙂 As for the Google list, it’s definitely incomplete since they don’t list Moscow, Virginia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow,_Virginia. It’s a tiny community. As I was told, if you sneeze driving through it, you won’t even notice the place 🙂
Rob McGee:
Question: Would #1 be (more or less) correct if you said мозгами (pl. instr.) instead мозгом (sing. instr.)?
(I mean, it’s my impression that мозги in the plural is sometimes interchangeable with ум, but мозг in the singular would be used only when talking about “brain tissue” in the anatomical sense, or possibly as an ingredient in cooking!)
yelena:
@Rob McGee Rob, did you mean #2? Well, yeah, the meaning would be the same even though it’d pretty much destroy the poetry. There are actually some phrases that require the use of “мозгами” (pl.) and not “мозгом” (sing), including a common expression “пораскинуть мозгами” meaning “to think it over” or “с мозгами плохо” [not thinking straight]. Also, if someone is smart, he can be described as “с мозгами” as well as “мозговитый” (as opposed to someone who is “безмозглый”). As to your impression of how “мозги” (pl) might be used, “вы обмозговали это правильно” [you thought it over correctly].
Richard:
Are there any hard-and-fast rules regarding stress when forming short form adjectives?
yelena:
@Richard Richard, I’m not sure if there’s a single rule that covers all short form adjectives. However, if you have the masculine short form adjective, the stress will fall on the base morpheme.
Richard:
Thanks for your answer, Yelena. It is helpful!
Andrey:
Noted a mistake. In the song it was “Вот и лето прошло, словно и не бывало” instead of “Вот и лето прошло, как его не бывало” (in fact, the phrase “как его не бывало” sounds ambiguous). The lyrics for this song are from a poem written by Arseny Tarkovsky, the father of Andrey Tarkovsky (the helmer).
yelena:
@Andrey Thank you, Andrey! You’re absolutely correct. I’m going to deduct a point from my otherwise perfect score on the quiz 🙂