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Russian Alphabet

Basic Russian To Love Let's start with the Russian verb "to love": (, ) Remember that a noun after I love should be in the accusative case as it is the object of the sentence. Here are some uses of the word: - I love sport - I love music. - I don't like music. ? - Do you love music? - I love Moscow. - He loves Moscow. - Ivan loves tea. - Nadya loves wine. - Nadya doesn't like wine. - I love you. - I love him. - I love her. - She loves me - to watch. - to read. - to listen - to study - to think - to work - to want

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- I am watching television. - I am listening to the radio. - I am listening to music. - I am reading a magazine. - I am reading the newspaper - I am reading a book. - I study Russian. (lit: I study the Russian language). - I think so! ? - What do you think? (lit: How do you think?) - I want tea. ? - What do you want? Sometime you will want to talk about an action. For example "I like to read" or "I want to read". In such cases you are using 2 verbs in a row. In Russian you should leave the 2nd verb in the infinitive form. For example: - I love to read. - I love to travel. - I want to buy a magazine. Very - very. (or really) - I really love sport. - I really love Moscow. Question Words ? - Where? ? - Who? ? - What? ? - How? ? - Why? Please and Thank-You ("spa-see-ba") - Thank-You ("pa-zhal-sta") - Please (and You're Welcome) The word is also used to mean "You're Welcome", after somebody says thank-you. You should always say this after someone thanks you. is pronounced a little different than it is written, you can basically forget the "". Yes and No ("da") - Yes ("nyet") - No Saying Hello When you are in Russia and you meet somebody, the first thing you will want to do is to say "hello". There are two forms of this word. ("zdra-stvooy-tye") - Hello (Formal) ("pree-vyet") - Hi (Informal)

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may be a little difficult for you to pronounce at first, but it is the most common Russian greeting so you should try to practice it. is also commonly used with friends. However, keep in mind that is informal (much like "hi" in English), and should only be used with friends. If somebody says to you, then it is normally safe to proceed in the friendly tone. Introducing Yourself. ... ("min-ya za-voot") - My name is ... ? ("kak vas za-voot") - What is your name? ("och-en pree-yat-na") - Pleased to meet you. Note: The above 3 phrases are gramatically unusual. You should just learn the whole phrase, not the individual words. How are you? ? - How are things? - Good/Well thank-you - Bad Saying Good-Bye. ("da-svee-da-nee-ye") - Good-bye. (The is pronounced as if it is part of the next word) ("pa-ka") - Bye (Informal, slang) You should generally use , which is appropriate in formal or informal situations. You may also hear people say , but we suggest you only use it as a response when it is said to you. Asking about languages When you are asking a yes/no question in Russian, there is no di fference between the question and the statement, except for the question mark. When you are speaking Russian you should ask questions in a different tone. The tone of your voice should rise if you are asking a question. If you are making a statement your tone will naturally fall. You may find that you actually do this in English without meaning to. If all else fails, put a real questioning expression on your face. -? - Do you (formal) speak English? -? - Do you (formal) speak Russian? - - I speak English - - I speak Russian - I understand - I don't understand ? - Where is she? - at the station - at the post office - in the garden - in the forest - on the street ? - What is on the table? - On the table is a book and a pencil.

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Other Places - cinema - theatre - pharmacy - park - stadium - school - library - cafe - square - restaurant - bank - hotel - museum hospital

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Location and Direction Sometimes, prepositions have more than one meaning, you can tell this by the case. When answering questions asked with the word "" (Where is (location)), your answer will involve the prepositional case. However, when you answer questions asked with "" (Where to), you would use the accusative case. Here are some examples for you to compare. - Where are you going (to)? (Indicates direction) - I am going to school. ? - Where do you work? (Indicates a location) - I work at (in) a school. Here are some useful words and phrases for finding your way around Russia. - Straight ahead. - To the left. - To the right. - Straight ahead then to the right. Going Places in Russian - To go on foot, in one direction. ( , , , , , ) - I am going to school. - I am going to the cinema. ? - Are you going to the cinema? - He is going to the hotel. - We are going to the cafe. - I am going to the university - To go on foot, in more than one direction, or repetitively. ( , , , , , ) - I go to school. - I often go to the cinema - We go to the cafe every day. - To go by transport, in one direction. ( , , , , , ) - I am going to school. (by transport) - I am going to the cinema on the metro. - He is going to the hotel by taxi. - We are going to the cafe. (by transport) - He is going to London - To go by transport, in more than one direction, or repetitively ( , , , , , )

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Russian Numbers 0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 21 - For example: 131 - Gender of Russian Nouns In Russian, as with many other languages, each noun is assigned a gender. Russian has three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter (neutral). In the cases of words like father these relate to physical gender. In the case of other objects like pen, cup, house, there is no physical meaning attached to the gender. However you will still need to know the gender because it affects how words are formed. Luckily, unlike many languages, in Russian it is almost always possible to tell what the gender of a noun by its spelling. This is not true in some other languages where you just have to memorise them. 1. Look at the last letter of the word: 2. If it is a consonant, or , the word is masculine. 3. If it is or it is feminine. 4. If it is or it is neuter. 5. If it is a soft sign then it could be either masculine or feminine. There are very few exceptions to these rules. But there are five notable exceptions, this occurs mainly because of physical gender. - (Daddy, Papa) - Is Masculine - (Uncle) - Is Masculine - (Grandfather) - Is Masculine - (Man) - Is Masculine Some examples: Masculine : (passport), (document), (brother), (bread). Feminine : (newspaper), (Russia), (daughter) Neuter : (building), (radio), (letter) 22 - 23 - 24 - 30 - 40 - 50 - 60 - 70 - 80 - 90 - 100 - 200 - 300 - 400 - 500 - 600 - 700 - 800 - 900 - 1,000 - 1,000,000 - 1,000,000,000 -

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The Nominative Case (The subject of a sentence) The Russian nominative case is used for the subject of a sentence. In the sentence I love her, the word I is the subject. The nominative case is the dictionary form for nouns, so there is nothing special to learn here. The Nominative Plural The only time you need to change the ending is to form the plural. In English we make a plural by adding s. In Russian, in the nominative case, you make a plural by using the letters , , or . For masculine nouns: If the word ends in a consonant, add . Replace with Replace with For feminine nouns: Replace with Replace with Replace with (unless previous consonant is , , , , , , then replace with "" as per the spelling rules.) For neuter nouns: Replace with Replace with (don't forget the spelling rules) Some examples: (student) becomes: (students) (newspaper) becomes: (newspapers) (building) becomes: (buildings) I You (informal) He, It (m) She, It (f) It (n) We You (formal, or plural) They

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The Accusative Case (The object of a sentence) To form simple sentences like I want a dog, you need to use the accusative case. The Russian accusative case is used for the object of a sentence, in this case the word dog. The only time we use the accusative case in English is with pronouns. We use me instead of I and him instead of he. The Russian language uses the case for all nouns. The accusitive case is also used after the prepositions (to, into) and (on, to) when they indicate motion towards somthing. Definition: An animate noun is something that is alive (person or animal). An inanimate noun is a non -living object. Here are the rules for forming the accusative case from the dictionary (nominative) form. Masculine Nouns: 1. If the noun in inanimate, there is no change. 2. If noun is animate and ends in a consonant, add . 3. If noun is animate, replace , with . 4. If noun is animate, replace , add . Feminine Nouns: 1. Replace with . 2. Replace with . 3. Does not change if a soft sign. Neuter Nouns: 1. Inanimate nouns do not change (almost all neuter nouns are inanimate). Forming Plurals. For plural nouns the accusative case just 'borrows' from the other cases, depending on weather the object is animate or not. - Me - You (informal) - ("yevo") - Him - Her - Us - You (formal, or plural) - Them

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Russian Dative Case (The indirect object) The dative case is used in Russian for the indirect object of a sentence. In the sentence "Adam gave flowers to Anna", the word "Anna" should be in the dative case. The indirect object is normally the person who receives the direct object. Masculine Nouns: 1. If the noun ends in a consonant, add . 2. Replace , with . 3. Replace , add . Feminine Nouns: 1. Replace with . 2. Replace with . 3. Replace with . 4. Replace with . Neuter Nouns: 1. Replace with 2. Replace with Plurals - Russian Dative Case Look at the last letter nomitive singular form (dictionary form) and... 1. Replace "", "" or a consonant with "". 2. Replace the last letter with "" Other Uses of the Dative Case. In addition to simply using the dative case as the indirect object. There are some additional times when you will need to use the dative case. 1. It is used after the Russian verbs "" ("to help") and "" ("to advise"). (ie. instead of using the accusative case, as you may have expected). 2. With "" ("to like"). Example : " " ("Adam likes Moscow"). 3. It is also used in conjuction with some other reflexive verbs (-). 4. When using the word "" (to need). (the word you would expect as the subject, is used in the dative). 5. To represent the concept of sending or communicating something. Like the English word "to". (example: write to, bring to, call (by telephone) to). Pronouns of the dative case. - me. - you (informal). (m), (n), (f) - him, it, her. - us. - you (formal, or plural). - them.

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The Genitive Case (Possession) The primary use of the Russian genitive case is to show possession. In English we often indicate this with an apostrophe (s), or the word of. Grammatically, the definition of possession may be larger than we are used to thinking of in English. In Russian the possessor always follows the object it possess. (This is the reverse of the normal English s). For example in the sentence this is Adams dog, the word Adam is in the genitive case. But to convert it to Russian you should think of it like the dog of Adams, placing the possessor after the object. Forming the Genitive Case Masculine Nouns: 1. If the noun ends in a consonant, add . 2. Replace , with . 3. Replace , add . Feminine Nouns: 1. Replace with . 2. Replace with . 3. Replace with . Neuter Nouns: 1. Replace with 2. Replace with Forming Plurals Masculine Nouns: If ends in ",,,," then add "" If ends in ", " (stressed) add "" All other masuline nouns end in "" Feminine Nouns: If ends in "" then drop "" (no ending) If ends in [consonant] "" then "" If ends in [vowel] "" then "" If ends in "" then add "" Note: If a feminine word ends in a double consonant it is quite common for a vo wel (, ) to be inserted for easy pronunciation. ( - , - , ) Neuter Nouns: If ends in "" then drop "" (no ending) If ends in "" becomes "" If ends in "" becomes "" Personal Pronouns Of The Genitive Case - Me - You (informal) - ("yevo") - Him - Her - Us - You (formal, or plural) - Them

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Russian Prepositional Case (In, At and About) In Russian, the prepositional case is used after the prepositions (about), (in), (at). Note: Sometimes these prepositions are used with other cases, this gives them a different meaning. Forming the Prepositional Case Masculine Nouns: 1. Add : . 2: Some nouns (mostly single syllable) take (but not after preposition ) Feminine Nouns: 1. Replace with . 2. Replace with . 3. Replace with . Neuter Nouns: 1. Replace with 2. remains unchanged. Plurals - Russian Prepositional Case Look at the last letter nomitive singular form (dictionary form) and... 1. Replace "", "" or a consonant with "". 2. Replace the last letter with "" Pronouns - Russian Prepositional Case - Me - You - Him - Her - It - Us - You (Plural) Them

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Russian Verbs - Present Tense First conjunction To form the verb for each person you need to drop the last two letters of the infinative (normally ""), and add the appropriate ending ("", "", "", "", "" or ""). For example the verb: (to work). - To work. (infinative, dictionary form) - I work - You work , , - He, She, It works. - We work - You work. - They work. Second conjunction Verbs where the infinative ends in "" use the second conjunction. There are also other verbs that use this conjunction. The second conjunction uses the endings "" (or "") "" "" "" "" "" (or ""), which replace "". Reminder: Spelling Rule 1: "Never write , , or after the letters ', , , , , , ' instead use , , ". When using the second conjunction, sometimes the last letter of the stem (infinitive without "") for the first person singular () chages. Change this letter acording to the following table: becomes becomes c becomes ct becomes becomes , , , , add the letter Remember, this only applies to the first -person singular (). - To speak. (infinative, dictionary form) - I speak. - You speak. , , - He, She, It Speaks. - We speak. - You speak. - They speak. Irregular Verbs There are a number of irregular verbs in Russian. (Verbs that don't exactly follow the above rules). However, often once you know the stem of the verb, you can often predict the endings. Even irregular verbs normally follow a similar pattern to those above. Some examples: - To go (by transport). - I go (by transport). - You go (by transport). , , - He, She, It goes (by transport).

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- We go (by transport). - You go (by transport). - They go (by transport). Notice that once you know the stem "" it almost follows the first conjuction, except that "" replaces "". - To live. - I live. - You live. , , - He, She, It lives. - We live. - You live. - They live. Notice that "" is used instead of "" when the stress falls on the ending.

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Russian Past Tense - Russian Verbs The past tense in Russian, like any language, is one of the most important things to learn. The past tense allows you tell stories, and discuss events that have already happened. Forming the past tense verbs in Russian is actually quite easy. In fact it is one of the simplest conjugations to remember in Russian. Forming the Russian Past Tense In Russian, the past tense is formed quite differently than the present tense. In the present tense we are concerned about the person who is talking (ie 1st, 2nd, or 3rd person). In the past tense however we are concerned about the gender of the subject. To do this we use the grammatical gender of the subject. (This is the word that is in the nominative case.) Often the subject is a pronoun, especially when you are talking about yourself. If the subject is a real person then you would use select the masculine or feminine gender as appropriate. If the subject is plural you select the plural form. Here are the verb endings you can use for each situation: Masculine: - Feminine: - Neuter: - Plural: - And here is a sample conjugation for the word (to know): Masculine: Feminine: Neuter: Plural: Examples of the Russian past tense. - I knew (man speaking) - I knew (woman speaking) - He knew - She knew - It knew - They knew - He didnt know - She didnt know . - Everyone dreamed to shake his hand Was - Be in the Past Tense From previous lessons you will remember that there is no word in Russian that corresponds to the English word is. It is simply omitted. In the Russian Past Tense however there is a word, and it corresponds to the English word was. It comes from (to be). (Note the irregular stress pattern in the feminine when using this verb.) - I was (man speaking) - I was (woman speaking) - He was - She was

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- It was - They were Note the unsual stress patterns when used in the negative. The stress moves to the word '' except in the feminine. - I was not (man speaking). - I was not (woman speaking). - It was not. - They were not. The Perfective Aspect If you have read the previous grammar lesson about aspects in Russian you will realise that they are important when using the past tense, and that you need to select the appropriate aspect. Remember that the perfective is used for actions that are completed only once, and are not ongoing. In almost all other cases the imperfective is used. Refer to the page on aspects for more detailed information. The perfective aspect conjugates in the same was as the imperfective aspect, so the endings are the same. Here are some examples. - I bought a coffee (man speaking) - I bought a coffee (woman speaking) - I went home. - We went home. Reflexive Verbs in the Past Tense Reflexive verbs are conjugated in almost exactly the same way as above, except that they still maintain the reflexive endings. Refer to the sections on reflexive verbs for more information. Masculine: - Feminine: - Neuter: - Plural: - Examples - (to dress): - I dressed myself (man speaking) - I dressed myself (woman speaking) - They dressed themselves. Notable Irregular Verbs The Russian verb (to go on foot) has a very irregular past tense. Masculine: Feminine: Neuter: Plural: (can, to be able) is also irregular. Masculine: Feminine: Neuter: Plural:

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Family Immediate Family - father - mother - dad - mum - brother - sister - son - daughter - wife - husband - parents - children child Extended Family - grandmother - grandfather - granddaughter - grandson - uncle - auntie - nephew - niece ( ) cousin Related Words - family - relatives - twins - childhood , - baby - young boy - young girl - young woman - young man - man woman - person - adult - bride - groom - honey moon - marriage , - married , - marry - single - widow widower

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Days, Weeks and Month Days - Monday - Tuesday - Wednesday - Thursday - Friday - Saturday - Sunday Months - January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December Related words - Today (pronounced "sivodnya") - Tomorrow - Yesterday - Day - Week - Month - Year Notes: 1. The preposition "" is used to mean "on". (" " - on Monday). If the last letter is "" it becomes "y". 2. The days always start with a lowercase letter unless at the start of a sentence.