Let’s Talk About Summer Plans Posted by yelena on Jun 8, 2012 in language, Russian for beginners
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). In case of the summer bucket list, it’s the things you want to do before лето закончится (summer is over).
In short, a bucket list is список того, что нужно сделать перед тем, как умереть or before a major milestone on the calendar or in one’s life.
So let me ask in Russian:
Что вы будете делать этим летом? (What will you be doing this summer?)
Here I use future tense and whatever your plans are, you will start with Я буду… (I will…)
Another way to ask the same question is by using the wonderful Russian word собираться (to get ready) instead of the future tense:
Что вы собираетесь делать этим летом? (What are you getting ready to do this summer?)
Notice that now I use the present tense in both the question and the answer: Я собираюсь… (I am getting ready to…)
Of course, the least formal way of asking would be
Какие планы на лето? (What are [your] summer plans?)
You can answer with a variety of options, including the two above-mentioned, я буду and я собираюсь. Other possible answers are
я думаю (I reckon) as in я думаю поехать к тёте в Саратов (I reckon, I’ll visit my aunt in Saratov);
я надеюсь (I hope) as in я надеюсь выбраться на пару дней на природу (I hope to get out of town for a couple of days; lit: hope to get to nature)
я планирую (I plan) as in я планирую по пятницам работать из дому (I plan to work from home on Fridays)
Since summer is a season for travel, one of the most frequently asked questions is
Вы куда-нибудь едете этим летом? (Are you travelling somewhere this summer?)
Do not confuse the verb едете with едите. Едете is a form of ехать (to go) while едите is a form of есть (to eat):
Ты говорила, вы с мужем едете в Италию этим летом? (Did you say you and your husband are travelling to Italy this summer?)
Вы знаете, что вы едите?! В этом борще мухи плавают! (Do you know what you’re eating?! The flies are swimming in this borscht!)
So what are your plans for the summer? Whether they include отпуск (vacation), поездка на море (a trip to the seaside), отдых на даче (relaxing at a dacha), на курорте (at a resort) or у себя дома (at home), share your plans in the comments.
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Comments:
Rob McGee:
Я буду потеть словно конь. (“I will be sweating like a horse.”)
Ненавижу вашингтонское лето. Все знают, конечно, что мы американцы построили свою столицу на болоте. (“I hate the DC summer. Everyone knows, of course, that we Americans built our capital on a swamp.”)
К счастью, рядом с нашим домом находится бесплатный бассейн. Купание — самая лучшая защита против летней жары! (“Luckily, there’s a free swimming pool next to our [apartment] building. Swimming is the best defense against summer heat!”)
yelena:
@Rob McGee Бассейн – это отлично, но стоит и из города выбраться хоть пару раз. (A pool is wonderful, but it’s worth it to get out of town at least a couple of times)
Bob:
Rob, У меня есть сочувствие для вас (You have my sympathy). I’ve been to DC during the summer – ‘hot’ doesn’t begin to describe things down there. . .
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I wanted to note it’s interesting that the verb of the day собираться is the reflexive sibling to собирать, which usually means to collect.
– – – – – – –
В июле я буду поехать к свояки в Крым! (In July I will be visiting my in-laws in Crimea!)
Jeannie:
Yelena,
Your blogs are terrific and so helpful! Thank you sincerely. Might it be possible sometime for you to do a blog on the instrumental case? I know the obvious use (when something is the instrument of an action) … Я пишу тебе с новой ручкой. But I can’t for the life of me seem to get the hang of the broader use of the instrumental case. As in this blog, “этим летом”. Спасибо!
yelena:
@Jeannie Great idea, Jeannie. I’ll work on a post about the use of instrumental case.
Rob McGee:
Jeannie — your example sentence (“I’m writing to you with a new pen”) is basically correct, except that the preposition с isn’t needed here.
In general, when the English with expresses “accompaniment” (as in, “the leather-bound address book is sold with a pen“, for instance), then you’d translate it as с кем-нибудь or с чем-нибудь. But when with expresses “instrument” (as in “to write with a pen“), then you use the instrumental case without a preposition.
Regarding этим летом, it might be helpful to compare English constructions such as:
“By day, she’s a nerdy librarian in glasses; by night, she fights terrorism kung-fu style!”
Similarly, Russian uses the instrumental for certain time expressions involving seasons of the year (летом, зимой, весной, осенью) and for periods of the day (утром, вечером, днём, ночью).
Of course, as you know, there’s a lot more to be said about the instrumental, and I agree that it would make a good blog topic! I’ll have to talk about it with Yelena…
P.S. Here’s a post from a couple years ago that discusses another important function of the instrumental case (namely, after verbs of “becoming”).