Some things are easy. When it comes to the verb «любить» [to love] it is no surprise that the noun to go with is no other than «любовь» [love]. Other things – not so much. It is not always uncomplicated to figure out which noun goes with which verb, and sometimes guessing is not recommended. The difference between the words «жалоба» [complaint] and «жалованье» [salary] is only big when translated into English, or any other language, but when faced with the two of them and the one verb «жаловаться» [to complain (of)] in Russian things tend to get complicated. This verb, of course, goes with «жалоба», but that can slip anyone’s mind since the verb that created «жалованье» is now very seldom used in colloquial speech: «жаловать» [to reward; to respect; to visit]. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I’ve complained of poor service in many a respected Russian restaurant with the words: «У меня к Вам жалованье!» wanting to say ‘I have a complaint for you!’ but instead sounding very unfrightening with the words: ‘I have a salary for you!’

Then the question is – how to best keep these two words apart and stay away from such embarrassing situations as the one mentioned above? Since the word «жалованье» is spelled in an old-fashion way with the soft sign (a more modern spelling of the word would be «жалование»), I try to think of it as best paired with the ‘old’ verb «жаловать», sometimes not even featured in newer dictionaries (look for it and see if you can find it!). This word for salary is also not used as often as newer, more modern words for this, like «зарплата» [pay, salary, wages], though you’ll of course meet it often when reading Russian books.

«Слава Богу, через три месяца у нас будет повышение жалованья!» [Thank God, in three months we’ll get an increase in salary!]

Even though I guess it would be a lie to claim the suffix used in the word «жалоба» to be any newer, it is true that the word in itself is more frequent in everyday speech (depending on how much complaining you do on average a day, that is).

«Слава Богу, скоро им будет не на что жалобу подать!» [Thank God, soon they’ll have nothing to make a complaint of!]