{"id":3481,"date":"2012-08-03T08:00:33","date_gmt":"2012-08-03T08:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/?p=3481"},"modified":"2014-07-17T18:39:29","modified_gmt":"2014-07-17T18:39:29","slug":"talking-on-the-phone-in-russian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/talking-on-the-phone-in-russian\/","title":{"rendered":"Talking on the Phone \u2013\u00a0In Russian!"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

If you are learning Russian, it is a great idea to cultivate friendships with \u0440\u0443\u0441\u0441\u043a\u043e\u0433\u043e\u0432\u043e\u0440\u044f<\/span>\u0449\u0438\u0435<\/strong> [Russian speakers]. Your Russian friends will be thrilled that you are learning Russian and can help you learn new words and phrases. When I was \u0437\u0430 \u0433\u0440\u0430\u043d\u0438<\/span>\u0446\u0435\u0439<\/strong> [abroad], I made friends with a few Russians who were also studying at the university I was at, and they helped me so much. Once you have Russian friends, you will probably talk on the phone with them (assuming you are in the habit of talking to friends on the phone!), and that is what I aim to do in this post: help you learn some phone-related vocab. In the photo: \u0441\u043e<\/span>\u0442\u043e\u0432\u044b\u0439 \u0442\u0435\u043b\u0435\u0444\u043e<\/span>\u043d \u0438\u043b\u0438 \u043c\u043e\u0431\u0438\u043b\u044c\u043d\u044b\u0439 \u0442\u0435\u043b\u0435\u0444\u043e<\/span>\u043d<\/strong> [cell phone or mobile phone \u2013\u00a0I believe those two words are used interchangeably in Russian, but correct me here if I’m wrong].<\/em><\/p>\n

Of course, if you are living in a Russian-speaking country, you will probably be calling people who are not your friends \u2013 for example, if you have problems with your internet connection or computer. In that case, you may hear this: \u041f\u043e\u0436\u0430<\/span>\u043b\u0443\u0439\u0441\u0442\u0430, \u043d\u0435 \u0432\u0435\u0448\u0430<\/span>\u0435\u0442\u0435 \u0442\u0440\u0443<\/span>\u0431\u043a\u0443. \u0412\u0430\u0448 \u0437\u0432\u043e\u043d\u043e<\/span>\u043a \u043e<\/span>\u0447\u0435\u043d\u044c \u0432\u0430<\/span>\u0436\u0435\u043d \u0434\u043b\u044f \u043d\u0430\u0441.<\/strong> [Please don’t hang up. Your call is very important to us.]<\/p>\n

If you know the name of the person you want to speak to, you can say: \u041c\u043e<\/span>\u0436\u043d\u043e \u0412\u043b\u0430\u0434\u0438<\/span>\u043c\u0438\u0440\u0430 \u0412\u043b\u0430\u0434\u0438<\/span>\u043c\u0438\u0440\u043e\u0432\u0438\u0447\u0430?<\/strong> [May I speak to Vladimir Vladimirovich?] or \u041c\u043e<\/span>\u0436\u043d\u043e \u0412\u0438<\/span>\u043a\u0443?<\/strong> [May I speak to Vika?] \u2013\u00a0use the accusative case of the person’s name after \u043c\u043e<\/span>\u0436\u043d\u043e<\/strong>. If you are unlucky, the person who answered might say \u041f\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0437\u0432\u043e\u043d\u0438<\/span>\u0442\u0435 \u043f\u043e\u043f\u043e<\/span>\u0436\u0435, \u043f\u043e\u0436\u0430<\/span>\u043b\u0443\u0439\u0441\u0442\u0430<\/strong> [Please call back later] or \u0418\u0437\u0432\u0438\u043d\u0438<\/span>\u0442\u0435, \u043e\u043d \u0441\u0435\u0439\u0447\u0430<\/span>\u0441 \u0437\u0430<\/span>\u043d\u044f\u0442<\/strong> [Sorry, he’s busy now]. If you are the person answering the phone, you will probably say \u0410\u043b\u043b\u043e<\/span><\/strong> [Hello] or \u0421\u043b\u0443<\/span>\u0448\u0430\u044e \u0432\u0430\u0441<\/strong> [I am listening to you].<\/p>\n

If you cannot reach the person you’re calling, you could say \u041a\u043e\u0433\u0434\u0430<\/span> \u043c\u043d\u0435 \u043f\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0437\u0432\u043e\u043d\u0438<\/span>\u0442\u044c?<\/strong> [When should I call back?]. And hopefully, after you hang up, the person you spoke to will eventually say about the person you wanted to speak to \u041f\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0434\u0430<\/span>\u0439\u0442\u0435 \u0435\u0439, \u0447\u0442\u043e \u0437\u0432\u043e\u043d\u0438<\/span>\u043b \u041a\u043e<\/span>\u043b\u044f<\/strong> [Tell her that Kolya called].<\/p>\n

Sometimes, when you really, really want to talk to someone, you try and try but cannot get through (this always seems to happen to me \u2013\u00a0whenever I really need to talk to someone, my phone chooses to misbehave right then and there). Once you do make contact with the person, you can say: \u042f \u043d\u0435 \u043c\u043e\u0433\u043b\u0430<\/span> \u0434\u043e \u0442\u0435\u0431\u044f<\/span> \u0434\u043e\u0437\u0432\u043e\u043d\u0438<\/span>\u0442\u044c\u0441\u044f<\/strong> [I called you but couldn’t get through]. The word \u0434\u043e\u0437\u0432\u043e\u043d\u0438<\/span>\u0442\u044c\u0441\u044f<\/strong> demonstrates the wonderful verbal prefixes of the Russian language. The word is formed from \u0434\u043e-<\/strong> [action carried through to intended outcome] + \u0437\u0432\u043e\u043d\u0438<\/span>\u0442\u044c<\/strong> [to call] + -\u0441\u044f<\/strong> [the reflexive gives the \u0434\u043e-<\/strong> this meaning of intended outcome]. (Just a note: the grammar book that I read to find this lovely explanation says that this meaning of \u0434\u043e-<\/strong> only occurs with a few verbs.)<\/em><\/p>\n

And I would be remiss if I did not tell you what someone would say in the awkward situation that you dialed the wrong number and said: \u041c\u043e<\/span>\u0436\u043d\u043e \u041d\u0430\u0442\u0430<\/span>\u0448\u0443?<\/strong> [May I speak to Natasha?] \u2013 except there is no Natasha where you called. In that case, you’d probably be told: \u0417\u0434\u0435\u0441\u044c \u0442\u0430\u043a\u0438<\/span>\u0445 \u043d\u0435\u0442<\/strong> [There’s no on here called that].<\/p>\n

Is there any important vocab I’ve forgotten about? Do you have a funny phone story? Let me know in the comments!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

If you are learning Russian, it is a great idea to cultivate friendships with \u0440\u0443\u0441\u0441\u043a\u043e\u0433\u043e\u0432\u043e\u0440\u044f\u0449\u0438\u0435 [Russian speakers]. Your Russian friends will be thrilled that you are learning Russian and can help you learn new words and phrases. When I was \u0437\u0430 \u0433\u0440\u0430\u043d\u0438\u0446\u0435\u0439 [abroad], I made friends with a few Russians who were also studying…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":3482,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,8,7828,7827,7826],"tags":[1131,13334,1213,1227,1248,165047,1298,165046,111747,1696],"class_list":["post-3481","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-language","category-russian-for-beginners","category-russian-life","category-when-in-russia","tag-learning-russian","tag-learning-russian-is-fun","tag-russian","tag-russian-culture","tag-russian-language","tag-russian-vocab","tag-russian-words","tag-talking-on-the-phone","tag-useful-russian-phrases","tag-1696"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3481"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6487,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3481\/revisions\/6487"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}