LESSON NOTES

Introduction #1
A Great Russian Conversation
Starter: How Are You?

CONTENTS
2
2
2
2
2
3
5

Russian
English
Vocabulary
Sample Sentences
Vocabulary Phrase Usage
Grammar
Cultural Insight

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RUSSIAN
1.

ANNA:

2.

ERIK:

, c

ENGLISH
1.

ANNA:

How are you?

2.

ERIK:

Good, thanks.

VOCABULARY
R ussian

R omanization

English

C lass

horosho

okay, good, well, fine

particle; adverb

spasibo

thank you, thanks

noun/interjection

how are you?

phrase

SAMPLE SENTENCES
?

-.

Vy horosho syebya chuvstvuyetye?

On horosho govorit po-russki.

"Do you feel okay?"

"He speaks Russian well."

o, c.

, ?

Horosho, spasibo.

Privet, kak dela?

"Good, thanks."

"Hi, how are you?"

VOCABULARY PHRASE USAGE

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I NT RODUCT I ON #1 - A GREAT RUS S I AN CONVERS AT I ON S T ART ER: HOW ARE YOU?

The phrase " ?" (kak dela) means "How are you?" and literally translates from
Russian as "How are the things?" The answer to this question as provided in the dialog is
"" (horosho) or "Good" in English. You can also use different answers describing your
mood, such as "" (otlichno) or "Wonderful", "" (super) or "Super",
"" (normal'no) or "Ordinarily", "Normal", " " (ne ochen') "Not really good".
"" (spasibo) means "Thanks" and is one of the most important words to remember.

GRAMMAR
The focus of this lesson is Neuter noun in plural form

Ka ?

"How are you?"

The phrase " ?" literally translates as "How are the things?". Please notice that the
noun "" is used in plural form here.
It's sigular form is "", which in Russian has a neuter case. You can recognize the neuter
case by the ending "-". So, when the singular noun in neuter case changes to plural form, we
change the ending from "-" "-" (and sometimes to "-"). For example, "" changes to
"".
(Plural form of masculine nouns)

Masculine nouns in Russian usually do not have endings. However, when in plural, endings "", "-" or "-" should be added to the nouns.
Examples of your explanation go here: (if there are more than two examples we use a
table: see below)

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I NT RODUCT I ON #1 - A GREAT RUS S I AN CONVERS AT I ON S T ART ER: HOW ARE YOU?

Construction (if

Native Language

necessary) such

(only italicized for

as gender, tense,

romanized

person, etc.

languages)

necessary)

mal'chiki

boys

stoly

tables

stulya

chairs

Romanization (of
your example if

"English
Translation"

Masculine noun in
plural form

Note: The table headings can vary but usually contain at least two of the headings above
(Native language and English translation). This works very well when you have a lot of
sample sentences, sample conjugations, etc.
(Plural form of feminine nouns)

Feminine nouns usually have the ending "-" or "-". So, in plural form the endings change to
"-" or "".
Examples of your explanation go here: (if there are more than two examples we use a
table: see below)
Construction (if

Native Language

necessary) such

(only italicized for

as gender, tense,

romanized

person, etc.

languages)

necessary)

devochki

girls

jenshiny

women

Romanization (of
your example if

"English
Translation"

Feminine nouns in
Plural form

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I NT RODUCT I ON #1 - A GREAT RUS S I AN CONVERS AT I ON S T ART ER: HOW ARE YOU?

Note: The table headings can vary but usually contain at least two of the headings above
(Native language and English translation). This works very well when you have a lot of
sample sentences, sample conjugations, etc.

CULTURAL INSIGHT
Asking your friends or relatives " ?" is a common part of greetings in Russia.
In case you haven't seen your friends for ages, by asking how they are doing, you can get the
idea what they were up to from the last time you saw each other.
Also, Russians usually use this phrase when they meet their family members, for example at
the end of the day, to learn how the day was for them.
However, Russians do not usually expect being told a long story when they ask you "
?". If the things were not so good, you can answer: " " ("Ne ochen"), which
means "not really good" and then if there is a follow up question like "?" ("Pochemu"),
or "why", you can provide detailed explanation.

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I NT RODUCT I ON #1 - A GREAT RUS S I AN CONVERS AT I ON S T ART ER: HOW ARE YOU?