Vocabulary

Hope you are all enjoying learning Russian as much as I do! Here are 5 more words for you.

• счастье (often pronounced "шастье") - happiness
  дешёвый - cheap
• дорогой - expensive
• интересный - interesting
• скучный - boring

You should be able to pronounce these words as accurately as I can so I am no longer including my "pronunciations". I encourage you to search the Internet for examples of real Russian speakers and to get set up with some Russian streaming radio! It's impossible to learn pronunciation without really hearing it.

Vocabulary

Wednesday already, and here are you vocabulary words.

• девушка (dev-oo-shka) - girl, young woman (also girlfriend)
• материалест (mat-er-ial-ist) - materialist
• правда (prav-da) - truth
• большой (bol-shoi) - big
• малеький (mal-en-key) - small

Study hard!

Vocabulary

Today's words are

• кошка (kosh-ka) - cat
• собака (so-bak-a) - dog
• лошадь (low-shad) - horse
• война (voi-na) - war
• мир (mer) - peace

Have fun!

Vocabulary

It's Monday and that means 5 more vocabulary words for you to learn.

• радио (rad-eo) - radio
• стереосустема (stero-system-a) - stereosystem
• телевизор (tele-viz-or) - television
• телефон (tele-phone)- telephone
• фотоаппарат (foto-ap-ar-at) - camera

Enjoy!

Vocabulary

It's Friday again so here are your last vocabulary words for the week.

• видеокамера (video cam-er-a) - camcorder
• видеомагнитофон (video-mag-nit-o-phone) - VCR
• компьютер (com-pya-ter) - computer
• магнитофон (mag-nit-o-phone) - tape recorder
• принтер (printer) - printer

Have a great weekend and make sure you study your Russian!

Vocabulary

Here are another 5 words for you:

• письмо (peace-mo) - letter
• велосипед (vill-os-i-ped) - bicycle
• машина (machine-a) - car
• мотоцикл (moto-ts-icle)- motorcycle
• молодой (mole-o-doi) - young

Enjoy!

Vocabulary

Some new words for you!

• газета (gaz-etta) - newspaper
• журнал (zher-nal) - magazine
• книга (kn-oo-ga) - book
• роман - (ro-man) novel
• словарь (slow-var) - dictionary (masc.)

Keep up the great work!

Vocabulary

Today I picked out some words that are a little more... "colorful".

• Алконавт (alco-navt) - alcoholic
• Амазонка (ama-zon-ka) - prostitute
• Пиздато (piz-da-to) - wonderful (used to answer the question "как дела?" or "How's life?"
• Потаскуха (po-tas-coo-kha) - slut
• потография (photo-graph-ia) - photograph

I found this great Russian Slang Dictionary filled with all sorts of great vocabulary words! It's alphabetical so you can pick any letter along the side and start swearing in style.

Vocabulary

Monday again, are we ready to learn some more words?

• дома (dom-ah) - at home
• ешё (esh-yawh)- still
• только (toll-ko) - only
• конечно (co-nech-no) - of course!
• Ну что ты! (new chto tea) - oh, come on!

Vocabulary

Another 5 words for you...

• преподаватель (prep-a-dov-a-teel) - teacher (college level)
• папа (papa)- Father (Dad)
• красивый (krass-ee-vee) - beautiful
• чуть-чуть (сhoot-choot - said very quickly) - just a tiny bit. Less than "a little" (in response to how well you speak/understand something)
• свободно (svo-boad-no)- fluently

Vocabulary

5 more words, you are doing so great!

• дядя (diah-diah) - uncle
• тётя (tee-ah-tia) - aunt
• хена (zheena) - wife
• муж (moozh) - husband
• мама (mama) - mother/mom

Vobabulary

Another day and 5 more vocabulary words for you to learn:

• брат (brat) - brother
• внук (vnook) - grandson
• сестра (ses-tra) - sister
• внучка (vnoochka) - grand daugher
• семья (semia) - family

Keep studying, you are doing great! Did you know that at this point you are familiar with over 100 vocabulary words? Keep up the great work.

More languages to practice with.

Here are some more languages to use while learning the verbs "to speak" and "to understand":

• по-французки (po-franz-ayz-ski) - in French
• по-английски (po-ang-leese-ski) - in English
• по-русски (po-roos-ski) - in Russian
• по-немецки (po-new-mets-ski) - in German
• по-яапонски (po-ya-pon-ski) - in Japanese
• по-испански (po-iz-pan-ski) - in Spanish
• по-китайски (po-kit-ie-ski) - in Chinese

Remember to use your pronouns!

Vocabulary

Here are your 5 vocabulary words for the day.

• бабушка (ba-boosh-ka) - grandmother
• дедушка (dev-oosh-ka) - grandfather
• мать (mat) - mother
• отец (o-tets) - father
• дети (dey-tee) - children
  

Enjoy!

Vocabulary

Well it's Monday again so here are your vocabulary words:

• американец (amerikan-ets) - American (male)
• американка (amerikan-ka) - American (female)
• русский (ru-ski) - Russian (male)
• русская (ru-skia) - Russian (female)
• канадец (kanadian-ets) - Canadian (male)
• канадка (kanadian-ka) - Canadian (female)
• друг (droog) - male friend
• подруга (podrooga) - female friend
• симпатичный (sim-pa-teech-nee) - nice

Note the difference between saying something is of Russian (or Canadian, or American, etc.) origin and saying someone is a Russian (or Canadian, or American, etc.).

To say "He is a Canadian basketball player" you would say "Он канадскйй баскетболист". To say "He is Canadian" you would say "Он канадец".

When saying someone is a Russian however, the word does not change. You would still say "Он русский" or "Она русская".

Example:

Кто они по национальности? (What are their nationalities?)

Он американец/Она американка.

Vobabulary

Here are 5 more vocabulary words:

• хоккеист/ка (hokkee-ist-ka) - ice-hockey player
• шахматистка (sheck-ma-tist-ka) - chess player
• или (ill-ee) - or
• поэт (po-et) - male poet / поэтесса (poet-essa) - female poet
• немного (nem-nogo) - a little
  
  Have fun!

Vocabulary

Here are 5 more words! Already you know so many, check out the Master Vocabulary list if you don't believe me.

студент/ка (stoo-di-ant - ka) - student
танцор (tants-er) - male dancer
теннисист/ка (ten-u-sist-ka) - tennis player
турист/ка (tour-ist-ka) - tourist
футболист/ка (foot-bol-ist-ka) - soccer player

Again, keep in mind that for most professions you can use the masculine version of the word to describe both males and females. Using the feminine version is less respectful to females in the profession.

Keep studying your vocabulary!

Vocabulary

Here are 5 more words for you to memorize.

композитор (komp-o-zee-tor)- composer
космонавт (kos-mo-nav)- cosmonaut
пианист /пианистка (pee-an-eest/ka) - pianist
президент (preh-zu-dant) - president
спортсмен /спортсменка (sports-mien/ka) - athlete

Lesson: How are you?

You and Сара have been hanging out quite a bit lately. It seems you both have a flare for discussing famous people and whether or not they are good, very good, some what good(not bad) , or bad. (You have been practicing haven't you?)

However, today when you see her you can tell somethings wrong. Maybe it's because you never seem to ask about her feelings you big jerk! You quickly realize you have been insensitive and not only greet her informally(because she is no longer a stranger), but also ask how she is...

"Здравствуй Сара, как дела?" (zdravstvoo Sara, kak dela?) (Hello Sara, how are you/things?)

Хорошо, спасибо!

She smiles, and says "Хорошо, спасибо! А у тебя?". (khorosho, spasibo! a u teba?) (Well, thank you! And with you?)

You answer "Неплохо". (ne-plohoi) (not bad).

Over the next few weeks you are extra careful to ask Sara how she feels. Her mood seems to change violently from day to day. Give her reply for a week or so using

"очень хорошо (very well)",
"хорошо (well)",
"неплохо (not badly)",
or "плохо (plohoi) (badly)".

Adverbs are the part of speech that answer the question "how?". Notice that these adverbs look very similar to some adjectives that you already learned. The only difference is that there are no masculine or feminine endings on the words. Instead there is and -o ending. Some adverbs can be formed simply by removing the ending and adding "o".

Another way for you to respond in this dialogue is by saying "тоже" (toe-zh) which means "also" but it is implied that you are saying "I am also (whatever mood the other person is in).

I have been told by numerous people that Russians do not throw this question (how are you?)around the way North Americans do. You wouldn't typically ask someone how they were unless you wanted to know all about their current situation.

Lesson: Asking someone's name.

Your friend Иван has had it.

Already you are so drunk you can't remember any one's name, let alone what their hobbies are.

You look over at the group of girls and point to one. You ask "Как её зовут?" (kak yeyo zovoot?)
The translation for this is more "How she called?" not "What is her name?"

Иван rolls his eyes but answers "Её зовут Таня" (She called Tania). (yeyo zovoot Tania)

You then point to one of the boys and ask "Как его зовут?" (How he called?). (kak evo zobyt?)

Иван answers you hoping this will be the last of the questions "Его зувот Игор" (He called Игор).

You take another shot of vodka and are finding that you are having troubles remebering anything at all. You decide maybe you should start from the begining so you ask "Как их зовут?" (kak ich zovoot?) (What they called?)

Exercise 1: Answer your own question using the "Их зовут ..." and listing off the names of people at the party.
Exercise 2: Practice asking Иван what individual peoples are names are by using "Как его зовут?" and "Как её зовут?". Answer the question for Иван.