Summer Grammar – It Can Be Fun Posted by yelena on Jun 14, 2011 in language, Russian for beginners
«Пирожки – это вкусно, дёшево и даже не вредно» [Pierogies are tasty, cheap, and aren’t bad for you].
Isn’t summer fun?! Or for our Southern Hemisphere readers – isn’t winter pleasant? So let me ask you this – «Как проходит лето (или зима)?» [How’s your summer/winter going so far?] I hope you get to spend a lot of time «в бассейне» [at the pool] or «на пляже» [at the beach], hopefully reading some great Russian literary works of art. But aren’t you forgetting something, namely «грамматика русского языка» [Russian grammar].
Groan… Ok, so «отдых» [rest] and «правила грамматики» [grammar rules] don’t exactly go together. Especially when the grammar is Russian, full of elaborate rules and endless exceptions. «Да уж, не весело, но надо» [Well, grammar is not fun, but it’s a must-do]
Fortunately, there’s «простой компромисс» [a simple compromise]. How about reviewing (instead of learning) something, say «наречия» [adverbs]. Why adverbs? Because they are so darn useful, especially when «на улице жарко» [it’s hot outside].
The great news here is that adverbs in Russian language do not decline. Hooray! «Великолепно! Отлично! Прекрасно!» [It’s great! It’s perfect! It’s nice!]
Russian language is rich in adverbs. They are such handy answers to questions such as
«где» [where]
«Маша, я тебя не вижу. Ты где?» – «Да здесь я, рядом» [“Masha, I don’t see you. Where are you?” – “I’m here, nearby.”]
«как» [how]
«Как у тебя дела?» – «Хорошо» [“How’s it going?” – “It’s going well”]
«куда» [where to]
«Куда ты собрался на ночь глядя?» – «К ларьку за сигаретами, это недалеко. Я сейчас прийду» [“Where are you heading to so late at night?” – “I’m going to the nearby kiosk to grab the smokes. I’ll be right back.”] (Joerg, excellent catch of my grammar mistake with the word “приду”)
«когда» [when]
«Когда ты выходишь в отпуск?» – «Завтра» [“When do you start your vacation?” – “Tomorrow”]
«зачем» [why]
«Ты зачем газету порвал?» – «Я нечаянно» [“Why did you tear up the newspaper?” – “I did it accidentally.”]
While not all adverbs are formed the same way, many are created when adjectival endings «-ый», «-ой», «-ий» are removed and replaced with «-о»:
- «готовый» – «готово» [ready – ready]
- «красивый» – «красиво» [beautiful – beautifully]
- «лёгкий» – «легко» [light – lightly]
- «близкий» – «близко» [close – closely]
- «дорогой» – «дорого» [expensive – expensively]
- «чудной» – «чудно» [odd – oddly]
«Просто, неправда ли?» [It’s simple, isn’t it?]
Which brings us to the next point, namely when to use adverbs. Here’s a simple rule:
Use adverbs in place of the English-language “It is + adjective”:
- «В доме жарко» [It’s hot in the house]
- «Читать русские книги приятно» [It’s a pleasure to read Russian books]
- «При детях серъезно поговорить не получается» [It’s impossible to have a serious conversation around children]
- «Всё будет хорошо» [It will all be alright]
- «Мама, кушать готово?» [Mom, is the food ready?]
Also use them to talk about yourself or anyone else, especially about how you’re feeling:
- «Мне странно, что ты этого не помнишь» [I feel strange that you don’t remember this]
- «Тебе это интересно?» [Is this of interest to you?]
- «Ей хорошо, она замужем за миллионером» [She’s well off, married to a millionaire]
- «Ему всё – фиолетово» [He doesn’t care about anything]
I hope you are «более уверены» [more confident] in how to use Russian adverbs now than you were just a few minutes ago.
And since this was a grammar post, here’s homework for you:
If you are reading a book in Russian, find a sentence that has an adverb in it. If you are not reading a Russian book (and why not?), then just come up with your own example of a sentence with an adverb. Of course, feel free to do both.
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Comments:
Joerg:
If I’m not mistaken the verb прийти loses its “й” when conjugated, so I feel it should be:
“Я сейчас приду.”
Homework:
Мне было бы очень приятно познакомиться с Стефаном Эдбергом.
yelena:
@Joerg Joerg, you’re right and it’s an oops on my part. I’m not even going to try to use late night writing as an excuse. When I talk, I pronounce the word “приду” with the “й” sound and so when I write I just automatically write it this way too and usually forget to proofread 🙂 Another one that I know I have problems with is “надеть” and “одеть” – I frequently use “одеть” for everything and tend to use it in writing too.
Joerg:
Thanks for your answer, Yelena. Given the length of your posts one tiny little mistake is the least one should expect. So you’re doing really well!
In fact, this particular mistake was once brought to my attention by my former Russian prof, who had some troubles with the spelling of this verb herself. But that’s actually what helped me to memorize that прийти drops the й when being conjugated.
It might be a bit off the topic but since you brought it up in your comment, could you please explain the difference between надеть and одеть? For me they used to be synonyms until I read your comment.
Of course I did some research and now figure (but I’m not sure if I got that right) that одевать is used to dress up somebody else while надевать is used to put on clothes on one’s own, which is somewhat confusing, given that “to get dressed” translates as одеваться.
Однако, в слухе у меня вот такие примеры:
Зачем ты одел эту рубашку?
Надень куртку! На улице холодно.
Одевайся тепло! На улице холодно.
Елена, не могли бы Вы помочь разобраться?
yelena:
@Joerg Joerg, you summed it up just right – “надеть/надевать” means to put something on (an item of clothing). “одеть/одевать” means to dress or to get dressed. So the proper way of saying would be “надень пальто” [put on a coat], but “одень ребенка нормально, чтобы не застудить” [get the child dressed properly so he doesn’t catch a cold]. So based on the examples you used:
“Зачем ты надел эту рубашку?” [Why did you put on this shirt?]
“Надень куртку! На улице холодно.” [Put on a jacket. It’s cold outside]
“Одевайся тепло! На улице холодно.” [Dress warmly. It’s cold outside]
There is some confusion with “надеть/одеть” pair, but there’s also an interesting way of checking oneself. I think it merits a blog post 🙂