Tag Archives: russian vocabulary
Expressing Your Desires In Russian Posted by Maria on May 10, 2018
Expressing your wishes and desires is one of the most basic things in any language. Here are some ways you can do that in Russian. Я хочу The most common way of saying you want something is simply Я хочу (I want). This can either be followed by a noun, in the accusative case for…
Knowledge Is Power: Verbs With ‑знать in Russian Posted by Maria on Jan 8, 2018
Знать (to know) is one of the most common verbs in Russian. There are also several important verbs derived from it. Узнать — To Discover/Learn Узнать (perfective)/узнавать (imperfective) is used to talk about learning some information for the first time. О́коло полугода жильцы́ пыта́лись узна́ть, что, со́бственно, происхо́дит. The residents tried for about half a…
Не дай мне Бог сойти с ума: Mental Illness in Russian Posted by Maria on Oct 4, 2017
Mental health is a sensitive subject around the world, and Russian certainly attaches a certain stigma to mental health issues. Read about the different ways to refer to mental health in Russian and learn which expressions to use and which to avoid if you want to talk about this delicate issue with compassion. At Wits’…
A Sign of the Times: Words with ‑знак‑ in Russian Posted by Maria on Sep 26, 2017
We are continuing our popular series on Russian word “families” with this post about words with the -знак- root. Знак means “a sign,” and you may know it from the following expressions: мя́гкий знак (soft sign, ь) or твёрдый знак (hard sign, ъ) вопроси́тельный знак (?) восклица́тельный знак (!) знак ра́венства (=) знак зодиа́ка (star…
6 Russian Words For Talking About The Solar Eclipse Posted by Maria on Aug 28, 2017
On August 21, people in North America could view a solar eclipse for the first time in 38 years. If you would like to discuss this rare event with your friends, here are six Russian words you may need. Затмение The basic word to know is затмение, eclipse. This word is related to тёмный (dark)…
Into The Woods: Tree Names in Russian — Part I Posted by Maria on Jun 12, 2017
In my own language-learning endeavo(u)rs, I often find that I have the vocabulary to talk about more abstract subject like governance or culture but don’t know the words for objects in the physical world. If you have that problem, too, you may want to look at our posts about fruit and vegetables, planets, and birds…
Penny For Your Thoughts: Words With ‑мысл‑ In Russian Posted by Maria on May 18, 2017
Have you read our previous articles about word families yet? Learners may find it useful to see how words with the same root express different meanings depending on prefixes and suffixes. This time, we will look at words with the мысл/мышл root, all having to do with thinking and intention. Мысль Мысль is the word for…