I’m sure a few of our readers became interested in Russian thanks to their love of Russian literature. Whenever Russian literature comes up, people immediately respond with the name of their favo(u)rite Tolsotyesky 😉 book.

At the same time, very few of these Russian lit buffs have read these books in Russian. This is understandable — fiction tends to use rarer vocabulary and more complex sentence structure, and some of the language may be antiquated. These are not things a conversational Russian class prepares you for.

With that in mind, I thought it may be nice to look at the beginnings of famous Russian books and break down some of the language used in them. I will also link to an English translation for each of them.

А́нна Каре́нина (Anna Karenina)

Anna Karenina is a well-known novel by Leo Tolstoy (Лев Толсто́й) about a married woman who has an affair with a younger man. Please click on the audio player to listen to the pronunciation of this first part. The novel has inspired film and ballet adaptations. Several English translations are available.

(link to audio)

Похо́ж (-а/-е/-и for feminine, neuter, and plural) is the short form of похо́жий (-ая/-ое/-ие), “similar.” Похо́ж is used to say something is similar to or looks like something else — in this example, all happy families are like each other. Note how the preposition на goes between the two parts of друг на дру́га.

Узна́ла is a good illustration of the perfective voice — знать is, of course, to know; узна́ть is “start knowing,” or find out, learn something. Связь is a connection, liaison; here, an affair.

The second sentence is often quoted to describe a complete confusion or chaos. Смеша́лось is “got mixed up.” One of the meanings of меша́ть is to mix, to blend. This is a perfective, reflexive form.

Чу́вствовать is to feel; чу́вствоваться is to be felt — the reflexive suffix makes the verb passive here. Постоя́лый двор is an inn; strangers at an inn would have felt closer to each other than people in the Oblonsky house.

Ме́сто here is a situation, as in employment. The “Englishwoman” (англича́нка), presumably the governess (гуверна́нтка), has asked a friend to find her new employment (прииска́ть ей но́вое ме́сто). Чёрная куха́рка refers to the cook who made food for the servants and not for the masters of the house. Finally, расчёт refers to settling an account; here, it means that the coachman and the cook quit and asked to be paid for their work up to that moment.

Ма́стер и Маргари́та (The Master and Margarita)

The Master and Margarita is a novel by Mikhail Bulgakov (Михаи́л Булга́ков) that was not published until after the author’s death. This book touches upon the themes of love, art, Soviet society of the 1930s, and religion, among others. An English, or other, translation is likely available at your local library.

(link to audio)

Весно́ю is “in spring.” We can use the instrumental case to talk about other seasons, too — зимо́й (in winter), ле́том (in summer), and о́сенью (in autumn). The ending -ою is the more antiquated, poetic variant of -ой.

Патриаршие пруды are literally Patriarch’s Ponds; there is a physical pond in that location, but the name also refers to the entire neighborhood. The author is describing what the two men are wearing. Оде́тый (оде́тая/оде́тые) means “dressed in something,” or “wearing something.” You may also encounter the short form — оде́т, оде́та, оде́ты. This adjective (technically, participle) is followed by в + the name of the item in the accusative case. Па́ра refers to his suit. We also learn that the first man is упи́тан(ный) — portly, лы́с(ый) — bald, and ма́ленького ро́ста (short; literally “of little height”).

The second man is плечи́стый (broad-shouldered), рыжева́тый (has off-red hair), and вихра́стый (shock-headed). His description is an adjective suffix paradise. -ист- is used to say “looks like something” (серебри́стый, silver-colo(u)red), “having a lot of something” — this is the case here, пле́чи being shoulders; or “quick to start something” like “поры́вистый” (impetuous). -еват/оват- means “slightly,” so ры́жий is red-haired, and рыжева́тый is “with a red tint.” Finally, -аст- is used to describe a person in terms of their appearance (скула́стый – having pronounced ску́лы, cheekbones; очка́стый – bespectacled; вихрастый — having many tufts of hair, вихры́). The second man is wearing a checkered shirt (ковбо́йка, also кле́тчатая руба́шка), wrinkled white pants (жёваные бе́лые брю́ки; жёваный is literally “chewed up”), and black slippers (чёрные та́почки).

Let us continue this discussion next time. What other books have you been meaning to read? Please let me know if you have a hard time listening to the audio.