Tag Archives: русская грамматика
Was Yoda Russian? (Sentence Structure in Russian. Part I) Posted by bota on Oct 5, 2020
“Do or do not. There is no try.” While Yoda’s OSV (object-subject-verb) word order may seem a bit unusual, the Russian translation of the quote doesn’t sound all that strange or other-worldly, all because the Russian sentence structure is flexible. So, please do try, because learning about the nuances of word order variations in Russian…
Timeless Russian Adverbs Posted by bota on Aug 5, 2020
I’ll never pass up the chance to start a blog post with a poem by the great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin. This stanza is the beginning to a childhood favorite of mine, Руслан и Людмила (Ruslan and Ludmila) published in 1820, and it’s a great example of how to use adverbs of time in Russian…
Derivative prepositions (производные предлоги) and how to get them right Posted by bota on Jul 23, 2020
Prepositions (предлоги) are functional words that work together with nouns, noun phrases, and pronouns to show direction, time, and relation to other objects. Other wonderful blogs on this platform have covered prepositions (Russian prepositions of direction, prepositions of time, “в” or “на”) and provided great guidance on when to use them and even how to…
Твёрдый знак (hard sign): a case study in Russian language reforms Posted by bota on Jul 2, 2020
Last month we looked at мягкий знак (soft sign) and the rules that govern its proper use. In this blog, let’s explore the other unusual letter of the Russian alphabet: твёрдый знак (hard sign). Твёрдый знак “ъ” is the 28th letter of the Russian alphabet and similar to the soft sign, it doesn’t carry its…
Мягкий знак “Ь” (soft sign) or the Charlie Chaplin of the Russian alphabet Posted by bota on Jun 22, 2020
What can the 30th letter of the Russian alphabet have in common with the icon of the silent film industry? Let’s find out together. Many beginner Russian learners find the soft sign (мя́гкий знак) to be one of the most intriguing letters of the Russian alphabet because it doesn’t have its own phonetic meaning but…
Meet Your New Friends: Russian Adverbs Posted by Jenya on Sep 23, 2014
The last few mornings have been relatively chilly, at least in the state of Michigan. As I was getting my fall coat out of the closet, it occurred to me that now is the perfect time to do a post on adverbs. “I don’t see the connection,” – you might say. Well, let me explain…
Verb of the Week: посвящать/посвятить Posted by Natalie on Aug 17, 2012
Всем привет! [Hello all!] It’s been a while since we have done a verb of the week, so I thought it would be a good idea to write a post about yet another wonderful Russian verb (because there’s nothing like a little Russian grammar to spice up your Friday, right?). I opened my verb book…