Complete Russian: The Basics by Living Language - Excerpt

C O M P L E T E

R U SS I A NT H E B A S I C S

Written byConstantine Muravnik

Edited bySuzanne McQuade

Mura_9781400024216_6p_fm_r1.s.qxp 5/29/08 10:04 AM Page i

Copyright © 2008 by Living Language, an imprint of Random House, Inc.

Living Language is a member of the Random House Information Group

Living Language and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Living Language, an imprint of Random House, Inc.

www.livinglanguage.com

Editor: Suzanne McQuade

Production Editor: Carolyn Roth

Production Manager: Tom Marshall

Interior Design: Sophie Chin

First Edition

ISBN: 978-1-4000-2421-6

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available upon request.

This book is available at special discounts for bulk purchases for sales promotions or

premiums. Special editions, including personalized covers, excerpts of existing books,

and corporate imprints, can be created in large quantities for special needs. For more

information, write to Special Markets/Premium Sales, 1745 Broadway, MD 6-2, New York,

New York 10019 or e-mail [email protected].

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Mura_9781400024216_6p_fm_r1.s.qxp 5/29/08 10:04 AM Page ii

www.LivingLanguage.com

http://www.randomhouse.com/livinglanguage/display.pperl?isbn=9781400024216&ref=externallink_livlang_excerpt_9781400024216_08-09

To purchase a copy of

The Basics Complete Russian:

visit one of these online retailers:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Borders

IndieBound

Powell’s Books

Random House


http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Russian-Basics-Basic-Courses/dp/1400024218?tag=randohouseinc22-20

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Russian/Living-Language/e/9781400024223/&afsrc=1&lkid=J28248944&pubid=K124596&byo=1

http://www.tkqlhce.com/click-2665379-10568661?url=http://www.borders.com/online/store/TitleDetail?sku=1400024218&cmpid=pub-rh-155

http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781400024216

http://powells.com/biblio/62-9781400024216-0

http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781400024216&ref=externallink_livlang_excerpt_9781400024216_08-09


iv Complete Russian: The Basics

C O U R S E O U T L I N E

How to use this course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii

Language learning tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvi

Russian spelling and pronunciation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxvi

UNIT 1 Talking about yourself and making introductions . . . . . . . 1

Lesson 1 (Words) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Singular pronouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Introduction to gender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Plural pronouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Lesson 2 (Phrases) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Omission of to be . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Formal and informal greetings and commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Asking questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Lesson 3 (Sentences) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Introduction to cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13More on gender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14The adverb тоже . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Numbers 1–10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Lesson 4 (Conversations) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Past tense of быть . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20The basic plural of nouns . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Mura_9781400024216_6p_fm_r1.s.qxp 5/29/08 10:04 AM Page iv



Course outline v

UNIT 2 Food . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Lesson 5 (Words) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Verbs: Conjugation I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28The prepositional case (singular) . . . . . . . 30

Lesson 6 (Phrases) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Conjugation of the verbs пить (to drink),есть (to eat), хотеть (to want) . . . . . . . . . 34There is/There are: есть . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36


The past tense of есть (to eat) and пить (to drink) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39The accusative case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Conjugation II verbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Lesson 8 (Conversations) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

The future tense of быть (to be) . . . . . . . 48The demonstrative pronoun этот . . . . . 49Conjunctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

UNIT 3 Family and the home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Lesson 9 (Words) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Singular possessive pronouns . . . . . . . . . 56Numbers 11–100 and the genitive case (singular) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Counting years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60Prepositional phrases with rooms of the house . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Mura_9781400024216_6p_fm_r1.s.qxp 5/29/08 10:04 AM Page v



vi Complete Russian: The Basics

Lesson 10 (Phrases) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

The instrumental case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65Conjugation I: работать (to work) and жить (to live) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66The dative case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70


Personal pronouns in the genitive and expressing possession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73Negation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Lesson 12 (Conversations) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Reflexive verbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80Instrumental case of personal pronouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Instrumental case of adjectives . . . . . . . . 82Genitive of origin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

UNIT 4 Everyday life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Lesson 13 (Words) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Imperfective and perfective verbs . . . . . . 90Seasons and months . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92The verbs покупать—купить (to buy) . . . 94

Lesson 14 (Phrases) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

More imperfective–perfective verb pairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97Days of the week . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98Verbs of motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Mura_9781400024216_6p_fm_r1.s.qxp 5/29/08 10:04 AM Page vi



Course outline vii

Lesson 15 (Sentences) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

The genitive case (plural) . . . . . . . . . . . . 105Telling time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106The accusative of duration . . . . . . . . . . 108Numbers 100–1,000 and ordinal numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Lesson 16 (Conversations) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Expressing likes and dislikes . . . . . . . . . . 116The verbs заниматься (to study) and играть (to play) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

UNIT 5 Health and the human body . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Lesson 17 (Words) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

The adverb нормально . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126Body parts and the plural of neuter nouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127The verb болеть (to be sick) . . . . . . . . . . 128The verb болеть (to hurt) . . . . . . . . . . . . 130Expressing ailments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Lesson 18 (Phrases) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

The imperfective verbs казаться (to seem) and чувствовать (to feel) . . . . . 134The modal verb мочь . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136Irregular genitive plurals . . . . . . . . . . . . 138


Something and anything . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141Negative pronouns and adjectives . . . . . 142The accusative of personal pronouns . . 145

Mura_9781400024216_6p_fm_r1.s.qxp 5/29/08 10:04 AM Page vii



viii Complete Russian: The Basics

Lesson 20 (Conversations) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Perfective aspect in negative sentences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151Imperatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153Imperfective and perfective aspect in imperatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

UNIT 6 Talking on the phone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Lesson 21 (Words) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

To speak and to listen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161Expressing friendship in Russian . . . . . . 165

Lesson 22 (Phrases) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Russian time expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . 168Irregular prepositional endings . . . . . . . 170The perfective motion verbs уйти andприйти . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172The verbs давать—дать (to give) . . . . . . 174

Lesson 23 (Sentences) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

Давай(те) (let’s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178Subjectless genitive of negation . . . . . . 181Telephone grammar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182


Short participles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187Comparatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188The modal word должен . . . . . . . . . . . 192Aspect and context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Mura_9781400024216_6p_fm_r1.s.qxp 5/29/08 10:04 AM Page viii



Course outline ix

UNIT 7 Getting around town . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Lesson 25 (Words) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

The prefix пере- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200The prefix про- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Lesson 26 (Phrases) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

The noun сторона (side) . . . . . . . . . . . . 207Expressing consecutiveness . . . . . . . . . . 208The prepositions по, до, and к . . . . . . . 211


More on asking directions . . . . . . . . . . . 214More on comparatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216Review of imperatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218The preposition по + dative . . . . . . . . . 219


Expressing need with нужно andнадо . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224The verb оказаться . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230Subjectless sentences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

UNIT 8 Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Lesson 29 (Words) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

The universal possessive pronoun . . . . . 238The verbs взять, продавать—продать, and платить—заплатить . . . . . . . . . . . 241Asking permission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

Mura_9781400024216_6p_fm_r1.s.qxp 5/29/08 10:04 AM Page ix



x Complete Russian: The Basics

Lesson 30 (Phrases) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

Describing color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246The expressions nominative + идётand подходит к + dative . . . . . . . . . . . 247The prefix по- with comparatives . . . . . 250


The expressions носить + accusative and быть в + prepositional . . . . . . . . . 252Expressing size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253Elliptic sentences with dative + infinitive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257


Demonstratives вот and вон . . . . . . . . 261Making general statements . . . . . . . . . . 262Expressing to have enough, to borrow, and to lend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263The preposition y + personal pronoun in the genitive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267Future tense in the conditional . . . . . . . 268

UNIT 9 At the restaurant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

Lesson 33 (Words) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

The verbs выбирать—выбрать andзаказывать—заказать . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272More on the instrumental case . . . . . . . 275

Mura_9781400024216_6p_fm_r1.s.qxp 5/29/08 10:04 AM Page x



Course outline xi

Lesson 34 (Phrases) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

Expressing abstract quantity . . . . . . . . . 279The prepositions без and c . . . . . . . . . . 280More restaurant grammar . . . . . . . . . . . 281The verbs накрывать—накрыть andоплачивать—оплатить . . . . . . . . . . . . 282


The subjunctive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286The genitive partitive and more on the genitive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288


More on possession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294More on the Rule of Numbers . . . . . . . 298Making requests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

UNIT 10 School, work, and leisure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303

Lesson 37 (Words) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303

Talking about school . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304Talking about free time . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308

Lesson 38 (Phrases) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311

Expressing to study in Russian . . . . . . . . 312More on the verb заниматься . . . . . . . 317The verb бегать . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

Mura_9781400024216_6p_fm_r1.s.qxp 5/29/08 10:04 AM Page xi


xii Complete Russian: The Basics


A review of verbs expressing to like . . . . 321Expressing whether or not . . . . . . . . . . . . 325The use of это + adverb . . . . . . . . . . . . 326


Sequence of tenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330Expressing so, all, some, many, none, and every . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331Expressing since and no longer . . . . . . . . . 334The verb хотеть and perfective infinitives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335

Russian in action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341

Letter and e-mail writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355

Supplemental vocabulary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364

Internet resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385

Summary of Russian grammar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387

Mura_9781400024216_6p_fm_r1.s.qxp 5/29/08 10:04 AM Page xii


Lesson 1 1

Unit 1Talking about yourself and making introductions

Здравствуйте! In Unit 1, you will begin by learning how to in-troduce yourself and others and how to say such usefulthings as where you are from, as well as how to ask otherpeople for basic information about themselves. Naturally,you will learn greetings and other essential courtesy expres-sions, along with other important conversational phrases.

Lesson 1 (Words)

WORD LIST 1здравствуйте (pl./sg. fml.) helloздравствуй (sg. infml.) helloгосподин Mr.госпожа Ms., Mrs.Очень приятно! Nice to meet you! (lit., Very pleasant!)бизнесмен businessman/businesswomanбизнесменка, бизнесвумен businesswoman (less common)журналист journalist (male)журналистка journalist (female)американец American (male)американка American (female)Добро пожаловать! Welcome! (to a visitor)До свидания. Good-bye.Спасибо. Thank you.

Mura_9781400024216_6p_01_r1.s.qxp 5/29/08 10:01 AM Page 1


2 Unit 1: Talking about yourself and making introductions

NUTS & BOLTS 1Singular pronounsThe Russian greeting здравствуйте (hello) is a command that lit-erally means be healthy. Notice that there are two ways of sayinghello. One is formal; you’d use it with strangers and in formal sit-uations; it has the plural/formal imperative ending, -те. Theother, здравствуй, is informal; it is used in the singular with fam-ily members, close friends, and children. This distinction be-tween formal and informal is also made in Russian between thedifferent pronouns for the word you. Let’s take a look at all of thesubject pronouns in Russian. We will start with those that refer toone person.

я I

ты (infml.) you

он he

она she

онo it

вы (fml.) you

As you can see, there are two forms of the singular you in thetable above. Ты is informal; вы is formal.

Notice that the third person singular pronoun is either masculine(он) or feminine (она). It can also be neuter (оно) when it re-places a neuter inanimate noun, such as вино. The Russian pro-nouns oн, она, and the plural form, они (they), can refer tohuman beings as well as to inanimate objects; оно refers only toinanimate objects. So он can stand either for бизнесмен or forресторан, because both are masculine, just as the English theycan refer to both people and things. Only third person Russian



Lesson 1 3

pronouns have gender; all others are “gender blind.” Russian pro-nouns are rarely omitted from the sentence even though theymay seem redundant, as the verb ending clearly indicates the ref-erent.

PRACTICE 1Which Russian pronoun would you use in each of the followingsituations?

1. Talking to your best friend Иван

2. Asking directions from an older stranger you see on the street

3. Talking about your brother

4. Talking about yourself

5. Talking about your boss, господин Петров

6. Telling your waiter in a restaurant what you would like to order

NUTS & BOLTS 2Introduction to genderNotice that the words бизнесмен, господин, and американец*all end in a consonant, while the words журналистка, госпожа,and американка end in the vowel a. This is so because the wordsin the first group are masculine, referring to males, while thewords in the second group are feminine, referring to females.Most masculine nouns end in a consonant (they have a “zero”ending); most feminine nouns have the ending a. There are alsoneuter nouns, but we’ll focus on those later. For now, we’ll useonly masculine and feminine nouns in our vocabulary.

*All nationalities, as well as the pronoun I (я), are not capitalized in Russian unless at thebeginning of a sentence.




PRACTICE 2What gender is each of the following nouns?

1. господин 4. журналистка

2. американка 5. журналист

3. госпожа 6. американец

WORD LIST 2студент student (male)студентка student (female)пожалуйста pleaseизвините (pl./sg. fml.) excuse meизвини (sg. infml.) excuse meоткуда where fromрусский Russian (male)русская Russian (female)университет universityздесь hereдавайте (fml.) let’sдавай (infml.) let’sСчастливо! So long! (lit., Happily!)

NUTS & BOLTS 3Plural pronounsNow let’s look at the personal pronouns that refer to more thanone person.

мы we

вы (pl.) you

они they



Lesson 1 5

Russian plural forms don’t have gender. Мы, вы, and они referequally to males and females. Notice that the pronoun вы can beeither singular or plural. When it is singular, it refers to one per-son in the formal sense. When it is plural, there is no distinctionbetween formal and informal.

PRACTICE 3Now replace the people in the following list with the appropriateRussian pronouns.

1. Николай и Наталья 4. Yourself and your friends

2. Ольга 5. Джон

3. Борис и Джон 6. You (fml./pl.)

PRACTICE 4Which Russian pronoun would you use when addressing the fol-lowing people? There are two second person pronouns to choosefrom: ты, informal for one person, and вы, formal for one per-son, and either formal or informal for more than one person.

1. a child 4. your sister

2. two students 5. your brothers

3. a waiter/waitress 6. a police officer

Tip!There are many different ways to memorize new vocabulary, so it’sa good idea to try a few to see what works for you. Simply readinga word in a list isn’t going to make you remember it. Write downyour new vocabulary in a notebook, and then try to repeat it outloud and write each word several times to make it sink in. Use therecordings to give yourself even more repetition. You could alsomake flash cards, with Russian on one side and English on theother. Start by trying to guess the translations of the words fromRussian into English, and once you’ve mastered that, go from




English to Russian, which will be harder. The most effective way tomemorize your new vocabulary, however, is by writing out the wordsas you repeat them. This makes you focus longer on a given word andreinforces your visual memory with sound. You could also labelthings in your home or office. Experiment and explore, but whateveryou do, try to make vocabulary learning as active as possible!

ANSWERSPRACTICE 1: 1. ты; 2. вы; 3. он; 4. я; 5. он; 6. я

PRACTICE 2: 1. masculine; 2. feminine; 3. feminine; 4. feminine; 5. masculine; 6. masculine

PRACTICE 3: 1. они; 2. она; 3. они; 4. мы; 5. он; 6. вы

PRACTICE 4: 1. ты; 2. вы; 3. вы; 4. ты; 5. вы; 6. вы

Lesson 2 (Phrases)

PHRASE LIST 1Я американец. I’m an American. (male)Я американка. I’m an American. (female)Извините. (pl./sg. fml.) Excuse me.Извини. (sg. infml.) Excuse me.Пойдёмте! (pl./sg. addressee Let’s go!fml.)

Пойдём! (sg. addressee infml.) Let’s go!c удовольствием gladly (lit., with pleasure)Большое спасибо! Thank you very much! (lit., Big thank

you!)Пожалуйста! Please!, You’re welcome!Правда? Really? (lit., Truth?)недавно recentlyМне очень понравилось. I liked it very much. (lit., It was very

pleasing to me.)



Lesson 2 7

NUTS & BOLTS 1Omission of TO BE

Notice that the sentence I’m an American has only two words inRussian. This is because Russian doesn’t have articles (a, an, orthe) and doesn’t use the verb to be in the present tense. So the sen-tence Я американец is grammatically correct although it literallytranslates as I American.

PRACTICE 1How would you rephrase the following sentences in Russian?

1. I’m an American (male). 5. She’s an American.

2. I’m a student (female). 6. I’m a businessperson (male).

3. He’s a student. 7. She’s Russian.

4. She’s a journalist.

NUTS & BOLTS 2Formal and informal greetings and commandsYou may have noticed some differences in the commands andgreetings you saw in the phrase list. Извини(те), давай(те), andпойдём(те) are all command forms, similar to the greetingздравствуй(те). Again, notice how the ending -те is used in for-mal situations or in the plural but dropped in the informal singu-lar. This is especially important in the following expressions thatyou’ve seen so far.

Informal: To a good friend Formal: To a person you don’t know well

здравствуй здравствуйте

пойдём пойдёмте

давай давайте

извини извините




PRACTICE 2Choose здравствуйте or здравствуй as appropriate to the fol-lowing situations.

1. Greeting your tour guide. 4. Greeting a child.

2. Greeting your friends. 5. Greeting several children.

3. Greeting your sister.

PRACTICE 3Choose пойдёмте or пойдём as appropriate to the following sit-uations.

1. Saying “Let’s go” to your colleagues.

2. Saying “Let’s go” to your husband.

3. Saying “Let’s go” to your daughter.

4. Saying “Let’s go” to your good friend.

5. Saying “Let’s go” to your parents.

PHRASE LIST 2Как вас зовут? (pl./sg. fml.) What is your name?Как тебя зовут? (sg. infml.) What is your name?Меня зовут . . . My name is . . .Приятно познакомиться! Nice to meet you! (lit., Pleasant to

meet you!)по профессии by professionиз Москвы from Moscowконечно of courseна “ты” on familiar terms (saying “ты” to each

other)на “вы” on formal terms (saying “вы” to each

other)да yes



Lesson 2 9

нет noГде вы были? (pl./sg. fml.) Where were you?

NotesWhen people are on familiar terms with each other, Russians saythat they are на “ты”—literally, on “ты” terms. Conversely, withsomebody you don’t know very well, you need to be on “вы”terms: на “вы.”

NUTS & BOLTS 3Asking questionsNow, let’s look at some question words in Russian.

кто who

что what

как how

где where

откуда where from

куда where to

The English question What is your name? corresponds to the Rus-sian expression Как вас зовут? which literally means How do theycall you? To ask the same question informally, you need to replaceвас with тебя: Как тебя зовут? The answer to both questions is:

Меня зовут Борис.

My name is Boris. (lit., They call me Boris.)

The Russian question word что (what) never refers to human be-ings; therefore, the English question What are you? corresponds tothe Russian expression Кто вы? (Who are you?). To make this




question less ambiguous, Russian speakers often add попрофессии.

Кто вы по профессии?

What do you do? (lit., Who are you by profession?)

The question word где refers only to stationary reference points:where you live, where you are, where you stand, where you were, etc.Any time there’s any movement from a place or to a place, Rus-sian speakers use either откуда (where from) or куда (where to). Ifit helps, you can compare this to the antiquated English formswhence (where from) and whither (where to).

PRACTICE 4Ask the following people what their names are. Use either a for-mal or an informal question. Also provide their answers.

1. Your fellow traveler on the plane, Natalia.

2. Her child, Misha.

3. Her husband, Nikolai.

4. Your tour guide, Olga.

5. The driver, Vladimir.

PRACTICE 5Take a look at the following answers. What are the questionsbeing answered?

1. Я журналистка. 4. Я бизнесмен.

2. Я из Москвы. 5. Да, я русская.

3. Меня зовут Джон.



Lesson 2 11

Culture noteRussian first names are rarely shortened in formal situations orwhen accompanied by a last name. Thus Наталья Петрова will beНаталья rather than Наташа; Владимир will be Владимирrather than Володя; Борис will be Борис instead of Боря, etc.When meeting Russians, you should call them by their full firstnames (Наталья, Владимир, Борис) and switch to nicknamesonly after they have suggested you do so.

For your reference, here are some common Russian names andnicknames. Full first names are given first.

Female

Full name Nickname

Александра Саша, Шура

Анна Аня

Елена Лена

Ирина Ира

Мария Маша

Наталья Наташа

Ольга Оля

Светлана Света

Татьяна Таня

Юлия Юля





Male

Full name Nickname

Александр Саша, Шура

Алексей Алеша, Лёша

Борис Боря

Владимир Володя

Иван Ваня

Константин Костя

Михаил Миша

Николай Коля

Пётр Петя

Юрий Юра

ANSWERSPRACTICE 1: 1. Я американец. 2. Я студентка. 3. Онстудент. 4. Она журналистка. 5. Она американка. 6. Ябизнесмен. 7. Она русская.

PRACTICE 2: 1. Здравствуйте. 2. Здравствуйте. 3. Здравствуй. 4. Здравствуй. 5. Здравствуйте.

PRACTICE 3: 1. Пойдёмте. 2. Пойдём. 3. Пойдём. 4. Пойдём. 5. Пойдёмте.

PRACTICE 4: 1. Как вас зовут? Меня зовут Наталья. 2. Кактебя зовут? Меня зовут Миша. 3. Как вас зовут? Менязовут Николай. 4. Как вас зовут? Меня зовут Ольга. 5. Каквас зовут? Меня зовут Владимир.

PRACTICE 5: 1. Кто вы по профессии? 2. Откуда вы? 3. Каквас зовут? 4. Кто вы по профессии? 5. Вы русская?




Lesson 3 13

Lesson 3 (Sentences)

SENTENCE LIST 1Откуда вы? Where are you (pl./sg. fml.) from?

Я из Москвы. I am from Moscow.

Я из Америки. I am from America.

Где вы были в Америке? Where were you (pl./sg. fml.) in America?

Я был(a) в Вашингтоне. I was in Washington.

Я был(a) один месяц в I was in New York for one month.Нью-Йорке.

Я был(a) две недели I was in Moscow for two weeks.в Москве.

Очень интересно! Very interesting!

Вот как? Really? (Is that so?)

NUTS & BOLTS 1Introduction to casesЯ из Америки. Где вы были в Америке?

I am from America. Where were you (pl./sg. fml.) in America?

Notice the change in the word ending in the Russian word forAmerica in the previous two sentences. These changes to the end-ings of nouns or adjectives are called “cases.”

Russian has many distinctions of this kind to mark a particularmeaning. Here, the distinctions are location (в Америке—inAmerica) and origin (из Америки—from America). Let’s look at an-other similar phrase.

Я был(a) в Вашингтоне.

I was in Washington.

В Вашингтоне (in Washington) has the location ending -e addedto the noun Вашингтон (Washington) because in this sentence, itdenotes being in a place rather than coming from or going to one.





You will eventually learn all of the Russian cases; for now, how-ever, it will do just to memorize these forms as they are. We’llcome back to them in later lessons.

PRACTICE 1Answer the question Где вы были? using the cues provided.

1. Америка 3. Москва

2. Нью-Йорк 4. Вашингтон

Answer the question Откуда вы? using the cues provided.

5. Москва 6. Америка

NUTS & BOLTS 2More on genderAll Russian nouns have gender—masculine, feminine, or neuter.As we mentioned in the previous lesson, nouns that denotehuman beings (animate nouns) can only be either masculine orfeminine.

Masc. Fem.

студент студентка

“zero” ending -a ending

Nouns that denote things (inanimate nouns) can be masculine,feminine, or neuter, and their gender is meaningless.

Masc. Fem. Neuter

университет правда (truth) пиво (beer)(university)

месяц (month) неделя (week) вино (wine)




Lesson 3 15

Most masculine nouns end in a consonant (have a “zero” end-ing), most feminine nouns end in a, and most neuter nouns endin -o or -e.

Now let’s look at the numerals 1 and 2 in Russian.

один (одна, одно) one

два (две) two

The numerals one and two in Russian change to match the genderof the word that follows.

Singular Plural

один университет (one два университета* (two university, m.) universities, m.)

одна неделя (one week, f.) две недели (two weeks, f.)

одно пиво (one beer, n.) два пива (two beers, n.)

* We’ll discuss plural endings and endings of nouns with numerals in future units.

Notice that the number two has only two forms in Russian: два(masculine and neuter) and две (feminine).

PRACTICE 2Choose the correct Russian numeral one (один, одна, одно) forthe following nouns.

1. журналистка 5. пиво

2. бизнесмен 6. студентка

3. месяц 7. вино

4. университет





PRACTICE 3Choose the correct Russian numeral two (два, две) for the fol-lowing items.

1. two female students 5. two wines

2. two beers 6. two girls

3. two male Americans 7. two universities

4. two weeks

SENTENCE LIST 2Я тоже студент. I’m a student too.

Извините, пожалуйста. Excuse me, please.

Я вас познакомлю. I’ll introduce you.(pl./sg. fml.)

Я тебя познакомлю. I’ll introduce you.(sg. infml.)

Как вас зовут? (pl./sg. fml.) What is your name?

Давайте на “ты.” Let’s be on informal terms. (Let’s be on“ты” terms.)

Мне очень понравилось! I liked (it) very much!

Я надеюсь, вам тоже I hope you like (it) too.понравится. (pl./sg. fml.)

NUTS & BOLTS 3The adverb тожеThe Russian adverb тоже means too when comparing one personto another.

Я студент(кa).

I’m a student.

Я тоже студент(кa).

I’m a student too.




Lesson 3 17

Тоже is not used for listing things you like, do, or know, etc.; forthese expressions, you’d use another Russian adverb, ещё.

PRACTICE 4Respond to the following statements saying that you are one ofthose things too.

1. Я американка. 4. Я бизнесмен.

2. Я из Америки. 5. Мне очень понравилось!

3. Я был в Москве.

NUTS & BOLTS 4Numbers 1–10You already learned the numbers 1 and 2; let’s review them andadd the rest of the numbers up to 10.


два (две) two

три three

четыре four

пять five

шесть six

семь seven

восемь eight

девять nine

десять ten





Russian numerals after 2 are “gender blind”—they have only oneform for all three genders.

PRACTICE 5Place the following Russian numerals in ascending order.

семь, три, пять, один, девять, четыре

Discovery activityDo you exercise? If you do, count your first ten repetitions in Rus-sian: one to ten steps, one to ten sit-ups, one to ten squats, one toten push-ups, etc. This will help you remember the Russian numer-als as well as keep you in shape!

ANSWERSPRACTICE 1: 1. Я был в Америке. 2. Я был в Нью-Йорке.3. Я был в Москве. 4. Я был в Вашингтоне. 5. Я изМосквы. 6. Я из Америки.

PRACTICE 2: 1. одна; 2. один; 3. один; 4. один; 5. одно; 6. одна; 7. одно

PRACTICE 3: 1. две; 2. два; 3. два; 4. две; 5. два; 6. две; 7. два

PRACTICE 4: 1. Я тоже американка. 2. Я тоже из Америки.3. Я тоже был в Москве. 4. Я тоже бизнесмен. 5. Мне тожеочень понравилось!

PRACTICE 5: 1. один; 2. три; 3. четыре; 4. пять; 5. семь; 6. девять




Lesson 4 19

Lesson 4 (Conversations)

CONVERSATION 1John Bradley, an American businessman, is meeting a Russianjournalist, Natalia Petrova, at the airport in Moscow.

Джон: Здравствуйте. Я Джон Брэдли. А вы?Наталья: Здравствуйте, господин Брэдли. Очень

приятно. Я Наталья Петрова.Джон: Очень приятно, госпожа Петрова. Кто вы по

профессии?Наталья: Я журналистка. А кто вы по профессии?

Джон: Я бизнесмен. Вы русская?Наталья: Да, я русская. Я из Москвы. А откуда вы?

Джон: Я из Америки.Наталья: Вот как? Очень интересно! Я недавно была в

Америке.Джон: Где вы были в Америке?

Наталья: Я была один месяц в Нью-Йорке и две неделив Вашингтоне. Мне очень понравилось.Добро пожаловать в Россию! Я надеюсь, вамтоже понравится.

Джон: Большое спасибо! До свидания.Наталья: Счастливо!

John: Hello. I’m John Bradley. And you?Natalia: Hello, Mr. Bradley. Nice to meet you. I’m Natalia

Petrova.John: Nice to meet you, Ms. Petrova. What do you do?

Natalia: I’m a journalist. And what do you do?John: I’m a businessman. Are you Russian?

Natalia: Yes, I am (Russian). I’m from Moscow. Where are youfrom?

John: I’m from America.Natalia: Oh, really? Very interesting. I was recently in America.

John: Where were you in America?





Natalia: I was in New York for a month and in Washington fortwo weeks. I liked it very much. Welcome to Russia! Ihope you like it too.

John: Thank you very much! Good-bye!Natalia: So long! (lit., Happily!)

NotesNatalia and John are on formal terms at their first introduction.They say to each other здравствуйте and вы.

The endings of Москва (Moscow) and Америка (America)change when you say из Москвы (from Moscow) and изАмерики (from America).

Notice the masculine (“zero”) and feminine (-a) endings inгосподин, госпожа, бизнесмен, and журналистка.

NUTS & BOLTS 1Past tense of бытьYou may have noticed in the dialogue that the sentence Янедавно была в Америке is translated with the past tense of theverb быть (to be). Although this verb is always left out in the pres-ent tense, it is necessary to include in the past tense. It changesaccording to the natural gender of the speaking person or, moregenerally, to the gender of the subject of was/were. Natalia is awoman, so she adds the feminine ending -a when she says ябыла (I was), as above. Let’s look at the paradigm of the verb tobe in the past tense.

был was (masculine)

была was (feminine)

было was (neuter)

были were (pl.)




Lesson 4 21

Я был(а) в Америке.

I was in America.

Я был(a) в Москве.

I was in Moscow.

PRACTICE 1Insert the correct past form of the verb быть (был, была, было,были) in the following sentences.

1. Наталья Петрова ____ в Америке.

2. Джон Брэдли ____ в Москве.

3. Джон и Наталья ____ в Нью-Йорке.

4. Мы тоже ____ в Нью-Йорке.

5. Я ____ в Петербурге. (female)

6. Я ____ в Москве. (male)

CONVERSATION 2Sean, an American student, is visiting a Russian university andmeeting a Russian student there, Olga.

Шон: Извините, пожалуйста, вы студентка?Ольга: Да, я студентка. Это мой университет.

Шон: Я тоже студент.Ольга: Откуда вы?

Шон: Я из Нью-Йорка. Я американец.Ольга: Правда? А как вас зовут?

Шон: Меня зовут Шон. А как вас зовут?Ольга: Очень приятно, Шон. Меня зовут Ольга, или

просто Оля. Давайте на “ты.”Шон: Приятно познакомиться, Оля. Конечно,

давай на “ты.” Это твои друзья там?Ольга: Да, они тоже студенты. Пойдём, я тебя

познакомлю.Шон: С удовольствием! Пойдём.





Sean: Excuse me please, are you a student?Olga: Yes, I’m a student. This is my university.Sean: I’m also a student.Olga: Where are you from?Sean: I’m from New York. I’m an American.Olga: Really? And what’s your name?Sean: My name is Sean. And what is your name?Olga: Nice to meet you, Sean. My name is Olga or simply

Olya. Let’s be informal.Sean: Nice to meet you, Olya. Of course, let’s be informal.

Are those your friends over there?Olga: Yes, they are students too. Let’s go, I’ll introduce you.Sean: Sure (with pleasure). Let’s go.

NotesNotice how Olga and Sean switch to the informal mode after thefirst introduction. They are both students and peers, so theyquickly do away with formalities. Yet they were on formal termsat the very first moment of introduction. When they switch to на“ты,” Olga also changes her full name to a shorter variant, Оля.

When Sean asks Olga what her name is, he starts his questionwith a (and, but), which shows that this is not the first questionbut rather a continuation of their conversation: My name is Sean.And/But what is your name?

NUTS & BOLTS 2The basic plural of nounsNote the ending -ы in the word студенты. When Olga says ofher friends, Они тоже студенты, she uses the standard mascu-line plural ending, -ы, in order to make the singular nounстудент plural: студенты.

Они тоже студенты.

They are students too.




Lesson 4 23

The ending -ы (or its soft counterpart, и) is used to pluralize mostnouns. However, друзья is the irregular plural form of the singu-lar masculine noun друг. Remember these forms for now as theyare. We will take a look at more plural forms in the next Unit.

Это твои друзья там?

Are those your friends over there?

PRACTICE 2What are the plural forms of the following nouns?

1. студент 4. бизнесмен

2. университет 5. журналист

3. друг

Culture noteIn addition to a first name (имя) and a last name (фамилия), all com-plete Russian personal names also have another formal part, called apatronymic (отчество). The patronymic always consists of the per-son’s father’s first name with a particular suffix: -ович (-евич) formales, and -овна (-евна) for females. For example, if Николай’sfather’s first name was, say, Иван, his patronymic would beИванович. We know from the first dialogue that Наталья’s lastname is Петрова; so, if her father’s first name was Борис, herpatronymic would be Борисовна, and her complete фамилия, имя,отчество (last name, first name, patronymic) would be ПетроваНаталья Борисовна. Notice also that in formal situations and alllegal documents, Russian names are given in this order: 1. фамилия(last or family name) 2. имя (first name) 3. отчество (patronymic).

The имя and отчество can be initialized, so instead of ПушкинАлександр Сергеевич, you will often see А. С. Пушкин. Theseinitials are never pronounced as individual letters but are eitherleft out altogether from pronunciation or deciphered as the fullname and patronymic.





ANSWERSPRACTICE 1: 1. была; 2. был; 3. были; 4. были; 5. была; 6. был

PRACTICE 2: 1. студенты; 2. университеты; 3. друзья; 4. бизнесмены; 5. журналисты

UNIT 1 ESSENTIALSЗдравствуйте. (fml.) Hello.

Здравствуй. (infml.) Hello.

Как вас зовут? (fml.) What’s your name?

Меня зовут . . . My name is . . .

Очень приятно. Nice to meet you. (Very pleasant.)

Приятно познакомиться. Nice to meet you. (Pleasant to meet you.)

Я американец. I’m an American. (male)

Я американка. I’m an American. (female)

Откуда вы? Where’re you from?

Я из Москвы. I’m from Moscow.

Я из Нью-Йорка. I’m from New York.

Где вы были? Where were you?

Я был(a) в Москве. I was in Moscow.

Я был(a) в Вашингтоне. I was in Washington.

Пойдёмте. (fml.) Let’s go.

Пойдём. (infml.) Let’s go.

Давайте на “ты.” Let’s be on informal terms. (“ты” terms)

С удовольствием! Sure! (With pleasure!)

Большое спасибо! Thank you very much!

Пожалуйста. Please., You’re welcome.


два (две) two

три three

четыре four

пять five




Lesson 4 25

шесть six

семь seven

восемь eight

девять nine

десять ten




To purchase a copy of

The Basics Complete Russian:

visit one of these online retailers:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Borders

IndieBound

Powell’s Books

Random House


http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Russian-Basics-Basic-Courses/dp/1400024218?tag=randohouseinc22-20

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Russian/Living-Language/e/9781400024223/&afsrc=1&lkid=J28248944&pubid=K124596&byo=1

http://www.tkqlhce.com/click-2665379-10568661?url=http://www.borders.com/online/store/TitleDetail?sku=1400024218&cmpid=pub-rh-155

http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781400024216

http://powells.com/biblio/62-9781400024216-0

http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781400024216&ref=externallink_livlang_excerpt_9781400024216_08-09


Documents

Complete Russian: The Basics by Living Language - Excerpt