10 Essential Words For Celebrating the Russian New Year Posted by Maria on Dec 29, 2016
As we mentioned many times on this blog, New Year’s is probably the main holiday in Russia. Whether you are celebrating it in Russia or talking about it to your friends, here are the words that are certain to come up when discussing New Year’s celebrations in Russia. 1. Ёлка The most important hallmark of New…
Друзья-товарищи: Degrees of Friendship in Russian Posted by Maria on Dec 22, 2016
There are several words for talking about your social circle in Russian. Are all friends created equal? Not so in Russian. There may be some overlap between different words referring to friendship, but let’s concentrate on what’s specific to each of them. Друг The notion of a friend (друг) is more restrictive in Russian than…
Not Just Swimming: 3 Main Senses of Плавать in Russian Posted by Maria on Dec 15, 2016
Плавать is a verb that means either swim or sail in Russian. It is interesting in many ways. As a verb of motion, it has two distinct imperfective aspect forms. In addition, it has useful metaphorical applications. 1. Water Travel You may remember that verbs of motion have not one but two imperfective forms. Плыть/плавать…
Words for Eating in Russian Posted by Maria on Dec 8, 2016
Most learners will know the word есть, to eat. However, there are many other synonyms of this word, some of which are not very commonly used. Recognizing them can greatly enrich your Russian vocabulary. Есть This is the word most people will know. Note the irregular conjugation: я ем мы едим ты ешь вы едите…
Mutually Beneficial: Russian Words With Взаимо- You Need To Know Posted by Maria on Dec 6, 2016
Взаимо- is a useful root that lets you create compound words with the sense of “mutual” or “two-way.” This post will list some common words made with that root. First, взаимо- is related to the adjective “взаимный,” “mutual.” Сохрани́ть доброжела́тельность, чу́вство взаи́много уваже́ния, любви́ ― о́чень сло́жная шту́ка. (Keeping that friendliness, the feeling of mutual respect and…
Easy Does It: Sayings With Лёгкий Posted by Maria on Dec 1, 2016
Лёгкий means “easy” or “light” (weight-wise). Apart from being a useful word in its own right, лёгкий appears in a number of common sayings. Pronunciation note: don’t worry about trying to enunciate the г. This word is pronounced as if it were spelled “лёхкий.” A useful homonym is лёгкие (lungs, singular лёгкое). Лёгок на помине…
Conquer the Backwards R — Learn to Read Russian (Part II) Posted by Maria on Nov 28, 2016
Last time, we looked at some letters of the Russian alphabet that either look and sound or just sound like their Latin counterparts. This time, we will look at letters that have similar sounds to other languages and, finally, some unique letters. Letters That Sound But Don’t Look Like Latin Letters A lot of these…