Dialogues: A: Leave me alone; : Get lost!

Spelling/Sounds: The Russian Alphabet - Part II

- Group IV: The rest of the letters
Grammar:
Dictionary forms of words
No articles in Russian
Informal vs. Formal forms of address (contd)
Stating/asking names
Gender (Introduction)
Russian first names

Dialogues

Leave me alone
In a bar

e. e . ?

Hello. My name is Lena. Whats your name?

[Zdrstvuyte. Meny zovut Lna. A kak vas zovt?]

e:

e e. ( leaves)

Leave me alone. ( leaves)

[Otstnte ot meny]
:

(walks up to e)

(Walks up to Seryzha) [Kto to? On dovlno

5

. e ?

(Walks up to )
Whos that? Shes a pretty good looking
young woman. Whats her name?

krasvaya dvushka. Kak yey zovt?]

e:

? !?

Good looking? Are you joking!?

[Krasvaya? Ti shtish!?]

Get lost!

In a bar
e. e . ? Hello. My name is Borya. Whats your
[Zdrstvuyte. Meny zovt Brya. kak vas zovt?] name?

! ( leaves)
[Otvyazhs.] (Brya leaves)

Get lost! ( leaves)

(walks up to ) ?
(walks up to Lra) [Kto to? On dovlno
. e ?
krasviy pren
Kak yev zovt?]

(Walks up to )
Whos that? Hes a pretty good looking guy.
Whats his name?

? !?
[Krasviy? Ti shtish?]

Good looking? Are you joking!?

10

11

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3-

Spelling / Sounds

Vocabulary

[v bre]

in a/the bar

[zdrstvuyte] (1st is silent)

Hello (Formal)

e + (first name)

[meny zovt]

My name is (lit.: they call me )

? (Formal)

[kak vas zovt? ]

e ? (Informal)

[kak teby zovt? ]

e e!

[otstnte ot meny]

Leave me alone! (lit.: stand away from me)

[kto to?]

Whos that/this?

[on]

she

[dovlno]

quite, rather, pretty (adv.)

[krasvaya]

attractive; good-looking (Feminine)

[dvushka]

girl; young woman

e ?

[kak yey zovt? ]

Whats her name? (lit.: how do they call her?)

[ti shtish? ]

are you joking? (Informal)

[otvyazhs]

get lost! (This is very rude.)

[on]

he

10

[krasviy]

attractive; good-looking (Masculine)

10

[pren]

guy

10

e ?

[kak yev zovt] (in this word

is pronounced [v])

Whats his name? (lit.: how do they call him?)

Whats your name? (lit.: how do they call you?)

3-2

Spelling / Sounds

3.

Lesson 3

The Russian Alphabet - Part II

3..1 Group 4: The rest of the letters (all look different than English)

Listen and repeat:

RUSSIAN LETTER APPROXIMATE SOUND

f as in fan

ts as in its (also: zz as in pizza)

ch as in cheap (but with the tongue higher and more forward. Try to
smile when pronouncing )

sh as in shoot (but farther back in the mouth. Imitate the sound of a

cappuccino maker) try to stick out your chin as if daring someone to
hit you

also sh as in fresh sherbet, (this consonant is longer and higher in the

mouth than ) Try to smile when pronouncing . ( vs. will be
contrasted in the next lesson.)

( )

( )

Hard sign (not a separate sound. More on this letter in Lesson 5)

the ugly vowel sound: The closest English sound is the i in bit. Try to
pronounce [u] as in lunatic, but keep your lips unrounded. Best advice:
Listen closely to the recording!
Soft sign (not a separate sound. More on this letter in Lesson 5)

e as in bet (this letter does not normally appear in native Russian

words)

1) u as in tune
2) yu as in Yuma (well explain later how to predict which to use)

1) a as in father
2) ya as in yacht (well explain later how to predict which to use)

Listen and repeat:

/
(telephone; telephone number), (factory), (torch), (physics),
(photographer), (pound [weight]), (the state either syllable can be
stressed), (Germany or Kentucky), (Flaubert), ($100)
3-3

3-

Spelling / Sounds

/
(price), (center), (cynic), (quote), (icepick in head),
(zinc), (color), (cement), (circus), (process; trial)
/
(the city), (devil; damn it!), (summer house), (hour), (tea),
(canoe), (receipt), (turtle), (the country), (miracle)
/
(driver), (Chinese city), (Bill to his friends), (shock), ,
(boss), (closet), (school), (chance), (scarf), (hockey puck; also
used to encourage sports team: Lets go!!)
/
(cabbage soup), (cheek), (pike [fish]), (brush), (snapping sound),
(shield), (ticklish), (still; yet), (I forgive)
/ (Listen carefully to this ugly vowel sound)
(you), (we), (you), (white), (smoke), (hole), (bald),
(ski), (torture), (soap), (fish), ([he] opened), (cheese),
/ (As mentioned above, this letter does not normally appear in native Russian words)
(element), (echo), (emigrant), (test), (expert),
(electricity), (economics), ([movie] screen), (Tom to
his friends), (the city in Canada) (happy ending)

/
(subject; plot), (turban), (sense of smell), (nuance),
([Broadway] musical), (backpack), (shot glass), (people), (bureau),
(I love)
Examples with a preceding [y] sound:
(Jupiter), (my), (hope you have a sense of ), (anniversary),
(lawyer), (Jurrasic)
/
(beside), (pulling), (nanny), (aunt), (uncle), (time),
(name), (village)
Examples with a preceding [y] sound:
(Yankee), (army), (apple), (clearly), (England),
(biology), (my), (Russia)
Do Oral Exercise 1 in the Homework (page 3-9) now!
3-4

Grammar

3.

Lesson 3

The Dictionary Form of Words

(1)

If you look in a Russian dictionary you wont find a word e. Instead youll find , which is the dictionary
form. The ending changes depending on the function the word performs in the sentence. In this case the ending
-e indicates location, after the preposition in. For now, just memorize e together. Were going to spend
practically the rest of the year studying the various forms nouns (adjectives, and pronouns) take depending on
their function.

3.

No Articles (A/n, The) in Russian

(1)

The two Russian words are translated by three English words in a bar. In a different context, it could very
well mean in the bar. Russian does not have grammatical articles (a/n, the), which is why you may hear a
Russian say Where is car? and other assorted phrases lacking articles. (Actually, learning to use articles is very
difficult, so dont make fun of foreigners.)

3.

Informal vs. Formal Forms of Address (Contd))

vs. (2)

In Lesson 1 the friends greet each other with hi, and in Lesson 2 with , which also is
translated as hi. In this lessons dialogues, and say e hello to (not very sympathetic)
strangers. Russian, like many other European languages (French, Spanish, Italian, German, Czech, Polish, etc.)
distinguishes between Informal and Formal forms of address.
Use informal forms of address (, ) when speaking to friends, classmates, relatives, animals,
God, and children (roughly) under the age of 13-14 (puberty). For everyone else (professors, unfamiliar persons
over age 13-14) use formal forms of address (e). Using the wrong form (especially the informal
with a professor or other adult) can be a real faux pas. Well discuss this distinction further in Lesson 5.
In fact, there is quite a large variation among Russians in their choice of informal vs. formal forms. Some adults
address (even long time) friends with the formal (especially if the relationship is professional), while other people
use the informal with complete strangers (drunks especially like to do this). (When tells to get lost,
she uses the informal form in order to really diss him.

3-5

3-

3.

Stating / Asking Names

; ? (2, 7)

Here we see another example of a fixed expression, and another example of how important it is not to translate
phrases word for word. Literally, these two phrases break down as follows:

/ /
Me / Her / Him

/ / /

you (Frml/Infrml) / her / him

How

(they) call

Sasha.

(they) call?

My / Her / His name is Sasha.

Whats your / her / his name?

If youve studied Spanish or French or German or Italian (or just about any other language) youre probably
already aware that this very common statement/question often cannot be translated literally into English.
When asking your classmates their names (which youll be doing a lot in the next few days), use the informal
form: K e ?
Remember, the normal word for what is , which we saw previously. It is only in this fixed expression (and a
few others) that what is translated as .

Form questions and give answers:

Example:

you (informal) /
her /

? .
? .

1. you (formal) /

2. him /

3. you (informal) /

4. her /

3.

Grammatical Gender (Introduction)

(4) vs. (9)

As in languages such as French, German, etc., nouns in Russian are marked with gender Masculine, Feminine,
or Neuter. You can almost always tell the gender of a noun just by looking at the ending:

ends in:

MASCULINE
consonant

FEMININE
-

NEUTER
-

examples:

, ,

, ,

(window), (beer)

Nouns that end in - (soft sign) are either Masculine or Feminine, and you cant always tell which. Later we will
give you some strategies for how to sometimes tell.
3-6

Grammar

Lesson 3

The endings on adjectives also change, depending on the gender of the noun (but note that, unlike the adjective,
the adverb remains the same in both phrases):
.

Shes a pretty attractive young woman.

e.

Hes a pretty attractive guy.

Question1:

If adjectives have more than one form, do all these forms appear in the
dictionary?

Answer:

No, the dictionary uses the Masculine as its dictionary form. So, the adjective
above appears in the dictionary as . (See above about dictionary
forms of words)

3.

Russian First Names

Pick out a Russian first name for yourself (as well as 2 - 3 back-ups in case someone steals your
name before you can claim it). Youll address each other using the diminutive.

MALE NAMES

FEMALE NAMES

Full Name

Common
Diminutive(s)

Approximate
Meaning

Full Name

Common
Diminutive(s)

Approximate
Meaning

defending men

defending men

defender

white

east

sublime (unattested)

brave

resurection

flower (unattested)

favor; grace

warrior

flower (unattested)

strong; healthy

(same as full name)

doctor

strong; heatlhy

(same as full name)

faith

ruler

bring victory

victor

strong; healthy

rule with greatness

foreign

rule with glory

victor

ruler of all

calm

great glory

possess good

noble

noble

farmer

far off (unattested)

keep vigil

light; torch

The Question boxes throughout the book are not questions for you to answer. They are questions that we have predicted
you, the student, might ask your professor, and our answers to them.

3-7

3-

continued

MALE NAMES

FEMALE NAMES

Full Name

Common
Diminutive(s)

Approximate
Meaning

Full Name

Common
Diminutive(s)

Approximate
Meaning

God is my judge

oath of God

plenty from the land

(same as full name)

Jehovah is gracious

noble

of Zeus

Jehova is gracious

(same as full name)

life

God is Jehova

(unattested)

constant

peace

lion

(same as full name)

ruler; queen

appearance of a lion

hospitable

who is like God?

sea gull (unattested)

(same as full name)

victor

Lydia (region in
Asia Minor)

victor

lily

small; humble

love

rock

favor of the people

rose

pearl

Roman

(same as full name)

marine

servant (unattested)

bitter (unattested)

crown

(same as full name)

mistress of the house

become glorious

hope

gift of God

native

same as

(same as full name)

(unattested)

hold the heel

(same as full name)

Ukrainian form of
hospitable

prosperous; happy

Apollo

easy; relaxed

light; bright

wise

date palm tree

(unattested)

downy-bearded
(unattested)

3-8

Grammar

3-9

Lesson 3

Lesson 3 Homework

Exercise 1

___________________________________

Circle the word you hear:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

Exercise 2

List the names in the order they are read just write the number next to the
name. Not all names will be read:

(first man in space)

3-10

3-

Exercise 3

Give the English equivalent.

1.

____________________________

2.

____________________________

3.

____________________________

4.

____________________________

5. e

____________________________

6. e

____________________________

7.

____________________________

8. - ____________________________

9.

____________________________

10.

____________________________

11.

____________________________

12.

____________________________

13. ee

____________________________

14.

____________________________

Exercise 4

Indicate how would address the following people:

your best friend

your Russian teacher

a clerk at the post office
your friends younger brother
a cop who stopped you for speeding
your classmates
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin

3-11