Tag Archives: Russian grammar
The same-ish, yet kinda different… Posted by Rob on Feb 6, 2013
Hello, it’s good to be back! Я целую неделю лежал в постели, с всеми признаками гриппой. (“I spent the entire week in bed with all the symptoms of flu.”) У меня были кашли, насморк в голове, лихорадка, и хуже всего, меня постоянно тошнило. (“I had coughing, head congestion, a fever, and worst of all, constantly…
Days of Our Lives or Have You Bought the Tree Yet? Posted by yelena on Dec 14, 2012
This is the time of the year when Russian kids start asking their parents когда мы за ёлкой поедем? (when will we go get the New Year tree?) For busy parents the best day might just be завтра (tomorrow), not because it has particular significance, but because it is the weekend. Of course, if завтра…
Going Negative with Accusative and Genitive Posted by yelena on Sep 25, 2012
How about this phrase Не вижу смысла (It doesn’t make sense to me). The verb видеть is transitive, so according to the rule the noun смысл must be in accusative. Yet смысла is not accusative, but genitive case (check out the complete declension table). Besides, if I were to say Я вижу смысл в чём-то (Something…
Walking a Dog or More About Transitive and Intransitive Verbs Posted by yelena on Sep 20, 2012
Last week I did a post about whether to use nouns in accusative or genitive case after verbs. If you missed the post and don’t feel like reading it now, here’s the rule in the nutshell: If a verb is transitive, then use the accusative case. If a verb is intransitive, then use the genitive…
Transitive and Intransitive Verbs Posted by yelena on Sep 13, 2012
Back in August Rob did a post about Russian анекдоты (jokes). One of the jokes went like this: – «Ну, и чем вчера закончилась твоя ссора с женой?» – «О, она приползла ко мне на коленях…» – «И чего сказала?» – «Вылезай из-под кровати, подлый трус!» – “So, how did your argument yesterday with…
When You Must Contradict Posted by yelena on Sep 6, 2012
This is in case your child says не хочу (don’t want to) a bit too often. Sometimes even the most cheerful and positive of us встают не с той ноги (get up on the wrong side of a bed). Or maybe it is the right side of the bed, but then something happens during the…
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…