3 Emerging Russian Performers You Need To Know in 2018 Posted by Maria on Sep 13, 2018
Does your textbook still talk about Alla Pugachyova (А́лла Пугачёва)? I mean, she was big in the 80s, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a person under 30 who still finds mainstream Soviet artists relevant or lists them among their favo(u)rites. Here are three up and coming Russian artists to update your playlist with. 1…
School News in Russian from Countries Other Than Russia Posted by Maria on Sep 5, 2018
Oftentimes, the Russian language is primarily—or solely—associated with the country of Russia. At the same time, as I wrote before, Russian is also used, to varying degrees, in other countries. This time, let us take a look at news stories in Russian about schools in countries other than Russia. Story from Kyrgyzstan: Making Kyrgyz a…
Russian Verbs with Prefixes: Пускать for Letting Go Posted by Maria on Aug 30, 2018
Several readers have commented that they find posts on verbs with prefixes helpful, so here is another verb “family.” This time, we will look at verbs with the пуск-/пуст- roots that share the general sense of allowing something. The verbs are given in pairs of imperfective and perfective. Пуска́ть/Пусти́ть This verbs means “to let someone…
Made by Hand: Russian Verbs with ‑Руч‑ Posted by Maria on Aug 22, 2018
Back by popular demand, this post in our “verbs with prefixes” series will look at several verbs sharing the same root—руч/рук. You probably recognize this root from рука́, hand. All verbs will be given in pairs of imperfective and perfective. Руча́ться/поручи́ться The first verb, руча́ться, means “to vouch for someone” or “to be sure of…
Russian News: Cheburashka Creator Dies Posted by Maria on Aug 16, 2018
A sad piece of news came from Russia — Eduard Uspensky (Эдуа́рд Успе́нский), a children’s literature author and the creator of Cheburashka (Чебура́шка) died aged 80. Many of his stories were made into cartoons that many speakers of Russian (not only in Russia!) grew up on. In addition, he wrote the screenplays to many cartoons…
Russian Songs About Luck with Везёт Posted by Maria on Aug 8, 2018
One useful word for talking about luck is везти́. This post will explain how this word is used and illustrate it — with famous Russian songs! Везти́/повезти́ To express the idea of having good luck, we use the verb везти́ (yes, the same one you may already know as a verb of motion meaning “to…
Talking About Weight in Russian Posted by Maria on Jul 31, 2018
Do you know how to describe a person’s weight in Russian? Here are some ways, from neutral to complimentary to derogatory. Вес The most basic word is вес, weight. You may also hear масса тела (body mass) in medical or scientific contexts. To weight is весить. Weight in Russian is measured in kilograms (килограммы). —…