Tag Archives: Russian grammar
What date is it today? Posted by bota on Sep 20, 2021
Would you like to correctly answer that question in Russian? Вы на ве́рном ме́сте. If you need a quick refresher on поря́дковые числи́тельные see my blog here. Вы гото́вы? Пое́хали! Following this table in my old blog, you’ve learned how to name some of yours firsts in life, for example: Пе́рвый поцелу́й Пе́рвая побе́да Пе́рвое…
Pretty in Prefix Posted by bota on Aug 23, 2021
Should I write пре or при? Whether you are a beginner Russian learner or a native speaker, dealing with these two prefixes is a handful. Actually, dealing with all the prefixes in Russian can be overwhelming without some of them sounding almost exactly the same. Is it приле́чь or прелечь на дива́н (to lie down…
April fun with paronyms Posted by bota on Apr 23, 2021
What better month than April to cover a few words that confuse even native Russian speakers? Ведь не даром говорят, «Непостоя́нен обма́нщик-апре́ль: на дню семь пого́д». (There is a good reason people say that “April-liar is fickle because it changes the weather seven times per day”.) Here are a few trickster paronyms, one pair for…
Are conjunctions necessary? Part II Posted by bota on Apr 5, 2021
We’ve talked about Russian sentences without conjunctions before, but we’ve yet to discuss my favorite Russian punctuation sign “тире́” (dash) and its role in these бессою́зных предложе́ниях (sentences without conjunctions). There are six instances where you can use “тире́” (dash; typed as an m-dash sign) in place of a conjunction. I’ll provide examples for each…
Are conjunctions necessary? Posted by bota on Mar 23, 2021
Если… а… но… Three perhaps most commonly used сою́зов в ру́сском языке́ (conjunctions in Russian), aside from “и”, and exactly how much I got to say as a kid when trying to convince my parents to get me дома́шнего пито́мца (a pet). It usually went like this: Since then, some things stayed the same – my parents…
Superlatives for March 8th Posted by bota on Mar 3, 2021
Does anyone else here have a drawing of their mom or grandma like this one? When I was in kindergarten I had to make one of these for Восьмо́е Ма́рта (March 8th). I actually never finished mine in time for the кла́ссный ча́с (homeroom) and when my mom came in, she saved my grace by…
Russian grammar is fun Posted by bota on Feb 16, 2021
There is a fun Russian grammar post circulating online that’s said to have been compiled by the Associate Dean of Foreign Languages Faculty at Moscow State University, Alla Leonidovna Nazarenko. Most Russian speakers find the post funny, whimsical even, or at least curious. Today, we go over my favorites from her list. Brace yourselves for…