Tag Archives: русский язык
Particles. Sentence Structure Part II Posted by bota on Oct 15, 2020
We continue our quest of making sense of sentence structure in Russian. While Part I covered the basics of the subject and verb placement, this blog focuses on the smaller but equally important parts of the sentence. It may seem a bit more obvious where to place a word if it’s a verb or a…
Let’s dig deeper into the Russian verbs for gardening Posted by bota on Sep 17, 2020
September is a busy month if you are a gardener in Russia. Many are spending their weekends busy на да́че, reaping the fruits (and vegetables) of their spring sowing and getting their gardens ready for the winter. We’re going to get our hands dirty by digging into verbs related to gardening (садово́дство и огоро́дничество) and…
Examining a Russian spice rack. Part II Posted by bota on Aug 28, 2020
In the second part of examining a Russian spice rack, we will explore the most common спе́ции (spices) used in baking recipes across Russian households. At the end of the post is a playlist of Russian words to help you practice pronouncing them. For starters, let’s cover the most basic baking ingredients: Са́хар (Sugar) is…
Examining a Russian spice rack. Part I Posted by bota on Aug 18, 2020
There are a number of припра́в, пря́ностей, и спе́ций (spices) that are considered standard in any Russian household, whether you are многоде́тная семья́ (a family with lots of kids) or зако́нченный холостя́к (a long-time bachelor). This blog will focus on spices commonly used for savory dishes, while Part II will cover spices used for baking…
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…
Easy-breezy Russian idioms with “wind” Posted by bota on Jun 10, 2020
The Russian language is bountiful with idioms (фразеологи́змы) and there are a few particularly fun ones that use the word “ве́тер” (wind). Wind often symbolizes uncertainty, transition, and change. It also carries notions of emptiness and void since we cannot really catch it or hold onto it, but we can definitely feel its power…
How to sound Russian in less than 4 letters Posted by bota on Jun 1, 2020
An interjection is, ironically, a big name for the little words we use to express emotions. Here are five such utterances that have less than four letters. These interjections will help you feel and sound more Russian than saying babooshka over and over again (with the exception of Kate Bush, of course.) Эx [ˈɛx]…