Tag Archives: vocabulary
Mutually Beneficial: Russian Words With Взаимо- You Need To Know Posted by Maria on Dec 6, 2016
Взаимо- is a useful root that lets you create compound words with the sense of “mutual” or “two-way.” This post will list some common words made with that root. First, взаимо- is related to the adjective “взаимный,” “mutual.” Сохрани́ть доброжела́тельность, чу́вство взаи́много уваже́ния, любви́ ― о́чень сло́жная шту́ка. (Keeping that friendliness, the feeling of mutual respect and…
Agree To Disagree: Expressing Opinions in Russian Posted by Maria on Oct 10, 2016
So you have looked at some basic phrases and know how to introduce yourself and ask how the other person is doing. Exchanging pleasantries may get old pretty quickly, so let’s learn to exchange opinions. Below are some phrases that will help you express your views on a variety of subjects. Я думаю This is…
Not In My Back Yard: Describing Russian Community Spaces Posted by Maria on Oct 3, 2016
Since Russian cities are often laid out differently from those in Western Europe, North America and elsewhere, the labels applied to various parts of the city may be specific to the Russian language and lack exact equivalents in other languages. The situation may be similar in other countries that use the Russian language. Подъезд The…
True Colors: Unexpected Hues in Russian Posted by Maria on Aug 2, 2016
We have covered basic color vocabulary on this blog before. However, it goes without saying that a direct translation from the learner’s first language into Russian will not work for all nouns. How do you say brown hair, blue eyes, or black horse? If you answered, “коричневые волосы,” “синие глаза,” or “чёрная лошадь,” keep reading…
Six Quintessentially Russian Concepts – Part II Posted by Maria on Jun 22, 2016
We are continuing from last week’s post on certain Russian expressions and underlying concepts that are specific to Russian reality. Нормально Нормальный as an adjective means “normal,” but it’s used in some unique ways. First, нормально is a common response to “Как дела?” (“How are you?”) Second, нормальный is used to express covert approval of…
Six Quintessentially Russian Concepts – Part I Posted by Maria on Jun 16, 2016
See Part II of this article here. Every so often, an article will pop up online talking about culture-specific or untranslatable words in other languages. In this post, I will not be claiming that the words I discuss are “untranslatable” — yet they are used in Russian in ways that may not be obvious from…
Russian Verbs With Prefixes: Держать Posted by Maria on Jun 13, 2016
Remember that time we covered verbs with prefixes on this blog? Let’s combine various prefixes with the popular verb держать, to hold, to form new words. I can only list several of the many verbs, so feel free to add in the comments! The base verb is держать, which normally means to hold something. Мама держит…