New CBB

REVIEW - Lessons 1-3
Introduction
I had planned on doing this review later...but since we have already learned so much, I felt that it might be time to review what we have learned and try to refresh everything.

Things you should know
-There are three very important spelling rules.
-Russian letters are different in handwritting than they are in their printed forms.
-Russians do not use a verb when expressing "to be" in the present, they simply say "X Y" instead of "X is Y". (Я мальчик. = I boy./I am a boy.)
-The only present tense form of быть "to be" is есть which means "exists/is". Used regularly to express possession (У меня есть собака. = I have a dog./By me is dog.)
-There are three noun genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter.
-Adjectives agree in gender, number, and case.
-Animate masculine nouns take Genitive endings when they are in the Accusative case.
-There are two aspects: imperfective and perfective

The Spelling Rules
The spelling rules are extremely important to remember. You shouldn't fret if you don't remember them after simply reading through them once. Write them down and try to drill them in your memory over time. Eventually, you will know them without thinking about it...For example, by now the word книгы might look strange and incorrect to you...if it does: you're absolutely right! It should be книги "books".
Here are the spelling rules:

1. Write и instead of ы after к г х ж ч ш щ
книги instead of книгы "books"
русский instead of русскый "Russian"

2. Write а and у instead of я and ю after ж ч ш щ
я пишу "I write"

3. Write unstressed е but stressed о after ж ч ш щ ц*
хорошее "good"
большое "big"

*To better simplify this: if an <о> should come after one of the consonants listed below - write <е> instead, unless the <о> is stressed!

I'm not going to go over the rules of combination. You should make sure that you get familiar with the hard vowels and their soft counterparts. You should also be aware that these combination rules might be found "broken" in some foreign words (Нью-Йорк "New York").

The basic words and phrases
As with any language, you need to make sure that you get familiar with some basic words and phrases. These should been learned right off in the beginning, and will give you a "feel" of the language.
I have relisted some basic words and phrases (and added some new ones), along with new dialogs - different from the first dialog I introduced in lesson 2. Please don't let this be your only resource for phrases and words, though. Make sure you check out the resource list above and learn things that might be more suitable for your needs.

On Ты and Вы
Remember that Вы is the formal, polite, and plural form of ты which is the singular, informal form - both translating to "you" in English. When you meet someone for the first time, I think it might be best to use "Вы" unless you are addressing a child or maybe if you are a young teenager addressing another young person.

это = this/that/it is (not to be confused with этот)
вот = here/there is
что = what?
кто = who?
где = where?

-Что это? = What is this?
-Это моя новая книга. = It's my new book.
-Где мои книги? = Where are my books?
-Вот твои книги. = Here are your books.

спасибо = thank you
простите = excuse me/I'm sorry
извините = excuse me/I'm sorry (Excuse me, where's the nearest cafe?)
пожалуйста = please/you're welcome
не за что = you're welcome/that's alright/no problem

-Скажи́те, пожалуйста, где кафе? = Tell me, please, where's the cafe?
-Вот оно. = There it is.
-Большое спасибо! = Thank you very much!
-Пожалуйста. = You're welcome.

Здравствуйте = Hello (you can also use "Здравствуй" for someone you're familiar with)
Привет = Hi (informal)
Доброе утро = Good morning
Добрый день = Good afternoon
Добрый вечер = Good evening
Спокойной ночи = Good night

До свидания = Good-bye
Пока = Bye (informal)

Приятно познакомиться = Pleased to meet you
Очень приятно = Pleased to meet you (lit. "very pleasant")
Взаи́мно = Likewise, me too

Как (у тебя/у Вас) дела? = How are you? (remember тебя - Вас differences (ты-Вы))
Очень хорошо = Very good!
(Не)плохо = (Not) bad!

Как (тебя/Вас) зовут? = What's your name?
Меня зовут... = My name is...

-Здравствуйте! = Hello!
-Здравствуйте! Как Вас зовут? = Hello! What is your name?
-Меня зовут Михаил. А Вы? = My name is Mikhail. And you?
-Меня зовут Александр. = My name is Alexander.
-Очень приятно. = Nice to meet you.
-Взаимно. = Likewise.

Identifying gender
You should remember the basic endings that all nouns have and be able to roughly classify them into specific genders. Remember that there are exceptions, though, as with many languages. Some masculine nouns end in -а/-я and nouns ending in -ь may be masculine or feminine.

-consonant/-й = masculine gender (чай "tea")
-а/-я = feminine gender, with some exceptions* (девочка "girl", мужчина* "man" m., имя* "name" n.)
-о/-е = neuter gender (окно "window")
-ь = masculine or feminine gender (день "day" m., мать "mother" f.)

-и/-у/-ю = foreign borrowed, indeclinable and neuter (такси "taxi")

*It is extremely important to remember that masculine nouns ending in -а/-я still take masculine adjective agreement!

Nominative plural
Forming the nominative plural forms of nouns is quite easy when you study the rules. You've got to remember that there are some irregular plurals though - with some very common nouns. Sometimes even though I believe I have the plural form correct, I like to check a dictionary or online to make sure it isn't irregular.

Masculine & Feminine nouns
-ы or -и (spelling rules)
мальчик - мальчики "boys" (not: мальчикы)
женщина - женщины "women"
рубль - рубли "rubles" (not: рубльы)

Neuter nouns
о becomes а
е becomes я
-stress is usually switched
окно - окна "windows"

Expressing possession
You should know how to express possession. You may remember you can use у + genitive pronoun of owner + есть + owned object. You may also use possessive adjectives. Remember that the genitive pronouns are the same as accusative ones! These genitive pronouns also should never be confused with possessive adjectives.

У меня есть собака. = I have a dog.
Вот моя собака. = Here is my dog.

Adjectives
Adjectives are extremely important to get the hang of. You've got to drill the different case endings and gender endings into your memory. Always remember your spelling rules and the basic endings and you should do fine!

Adjectives agree in case, number, and gender with the nouns they describe.

Remember:
-ый = standard and most common adjective ending (новый "new")
-ий = ending for soft consonants or when spelling rules say its so (русский "Russian")
-ой = ending when the last syllable is stressed (большой "big")

Here are the adjective endings for the three genders and plural number in the Nominative case.

Masculine: ый, ий, ой
Feminine: ая, яя*
Neuter: ое, ее*
Plural: ые, ие

*Soft stemmed adjectives or when spelling rules make it so (хороший > хорошее)

новый - новая - новое - новые "new"
последний - последняя - последнее - последние "last"
русский - русская - русское - русские "Russian"
большой - большая - большое - большие "big"

In the accusative case, remember:
Masculine: ого, его (for soft-stemmed adjectives and spelling rules)
Feminine: ую, юю
Neuter: same as Nominative

новый, нового - новую - новое - новые, новых "new"
последний, последнего - последнюю - последнее - последние, последних "last"
русский, русского - русскую - русское - русские, русских "Russian"
большой, большого - большую - большое - большие, больших "big"

Accusative singular
Masculine nouns
-remember that if a masculine noun is inanimate it takes no change!
-if the noun is animate, it takes genitive singular endings: -а/-я
мальчик - мальчика "boy"
Игорь - Игоря "Igor"

*treat masculine nouns ending in -а/-я as feminine-declined (see below)

Feminine nouns
-а/-я become -у/-ю
-ь doesn't change
девочка - девочку "girl"
дядя - дядю "uncle"*

Neuter nouns
-do not change

Accusative plural
Accusative plural forms basically take the same rules as the accusative singular, but I thought it would be best to leave them alone until I discuss the Genitive case.
Animate masculine plural nouns take genitive plural endings, just like animate masculine singular nouns take genitive singular endings. As you might have expected inanimate masculine plural nouns take their nominative plural endings, just like inanimate masculine singular nouns take their nominative singular endings!

I promise to cover plural nouns in the Accusative case in the next lesson!

Verbs
I'm just going to refresh the endings for the two conjugation types. We will dive a little deeper into verbs in future lessons. Verbs always tend to be an interesting trek for any new language I learn, and Russian is not an exception! A lot of practice helps, though.

First conjugation endings:
я -у/ю
ты -ешь/ёшь
он -ет/ёт
мы -ем/ём
Вы -ете/ёте
они -ут/ют

Second conjugation endings:
я -ю
ты -ишь
он -ит
мы -им
Вы -ите
они -ят

Select vocabulary
Here is some select vocabulary words from the first three lessons. These are the words that I have found to be the "most important" out of all that I provided. Maybe you know them all already! If so, that's very good!

Аме́рика - America
аэропо́рт - airport
быть - to be
большой - big
брат - brother, plural: бра́тья
бутербро́д - sandwich
ви́деть - to see
вода́ - water
во́дка - vodka
всё - everything, always
говори́ть - to speak
го́род - city, plural: города́
гости́ница - hotel
де́вочка - girl
де́вушка - girl (older than девочка, teenager, young woman)
дочь - daughter, plural: до́чери
друг - friend (male), plural: друзья́
есть - to eat
есть - present indicative of быть
е́хать - to go (by transport)
жёлтый - yellow
жена́ - wife
женщи́на - woman
жить - to live
звать - to call
зда́ние - building
знать - to know
игра́ть - to play
идти́ - to go (by foot)
и́мя - name n.
кафе́ - cafe, indeclinable
кни́га - book
ко́мната - room
ко́фе - coffee m. or n. "extremely important :P"
краси́вый - beautiful, handsome
люби́ть - to love, like
ма́ленький - small, little
ма́льчик - boy
мать - mother, plural: ма́тери
маши́на - car
молодой - young
молоко́ - milk (something I need to drink more of...)
мо́ре - sea
Москва́ - Moscow
муж - husband
мужчи́на - man
му́зыка - music
новый - new
норма́льно - normal adv.
ночь - night
окно́ - window
оте́ц - father, plural: отцы́
отли́чно - excellent
о́чень - very
пи́сать - to pee
писа́ть - to write
пить - to drink
подру́га - friend (female)
понима́ть - to understand
после́дний - last
ребёнок - child, plural: де́ти
Росси́я - Russia
рубль - ruble
русский - Russian
РФ, Росси́йская Федера́ция - RF, Russian Federation
сестра́ - sister, plural: сёстры
соба́ка - dog
старый - old
страна́ - country
США, Соединённые Шта́ты Аме́рики - USA, United States of America
та́кже - also
такси́ - taxi
телеви́зор - television
телефо́н - telephone
то́же - also
хлеб - bread
хоро́ший - good
хорошо́ - good adv
хоте́ть - to want
царь - tsar
чай - tea
чёрный - black
чита́ть - to read
я́блоко - apple, plural: я́блоки
язы́к - language
яйцо́

Conclusion
There it is, a review of Lessons 1-3. We have learned so much thus far and have paved the way for more difficult but important parts of the language. I promise to get you all familiar with the genitive case in the next lesson, which will unlock the accusative plural forms. The genitive is a whole lot of fun and I hope you all look forward to it!

УРОК 4
Introduction
We learn about the Genitive case in this lesson! This lesson solves the great mystery surrounding the plural for nouns in the Accusative case.

Answers to Lesson 3's exercises
Exercise 1: Translate the following sentences into English.


Exercise 2: Translate the following sentences into Russian.


Exercise 3: Provide the accusative singular forms of the following adjectives. Give me only the masculine animate and feminine forms.
Sample: новый = нового - новую


Lesson 4 - Dialog
This lesson's dialog deals with buying a nice Coke or Monster...two important beverages that have assisted humans for thousands of years. It's fairly simple, but it sums up what we will learn in this lesson - the genitive case! Our conversation includes three people: Михаил (А), Мария (Б), and the waiter (В).

В: Что Вы бу́дете?
А: Ско́лько сто́ит Кока-Ко́ла?
В: Со́рок пять (45) рубле́й.
А: Я бу́ду Кока-Ко́ла.
В: А Вы?
Б: Ско́лько сто́ит Монстр?
В: Во́семьдесят два (82) рубля́.
Б: Я буду Монстр.

C: What will you have?
A: How much does a Coke cost?
C: Forty-five (45) rubles.
A: I'll have a Coke.
C: And you?
B: How much does a Monster cost?
C: Eighty-two (82) rubles.
D: I'll have a Monster.

Notice how 45 rubles was 45 рублей and 82 rubles was 82 рубля? You will learn about this in this lesson!

The numbers 1-100
Since we're learning about the genitive case in this lesson - it's time to show you the numbers...which you have probably already looked up (and that's good). I don't think I have to say that numbers are important to know...Don't let a three or four-year-old Russian outsmart you - learn your numbers!

оди́н m. - одна́ f. - одно́ n. "one"
два m./n. - две f. "two"
три "three"
четы́ре "four"
пять "five"
шесть "six"
семь "seven"
восемь "eight"
де́вять "nine"
де́сять "ten"
оди́ннадцать "eleven"
двена́дцать "twelve"
трина́дцать "thirteen"
четы́рнадцать "fourteen"
пятна́дцать "fifteen"
шестна́дцать "sixteen"
семна́дцать "seventeen"
восемна́дцать "eighteen"
девятна́дцать "nineteen"
два́дцать "twenty"
два́дцать один/одна/одно "twenty-one"
два́дцать два/две "twenty-two"
два́дцать три "twenty-three"
три́дцать "thirty"
со́рок "forty"
пятьдеся́т "fifty"
шестьдеся́т "sixty"
се́мьдесят "seventy"
во́семьдесят "eighty"
девяно́сто "ninety"
сто "one hundred"

Fleeting vowels
I almost forgot to mention fleeting vowels...I was going to cover it when we learned about nominative plurals, but we can learn about it now! Some masculine nouns that have the vowels о, е, or ё in their final syllable drop this vowel when their other endings are added. These are known as "fleeting vowels".

оте́ц > отцы́ "fathers"
америка́нец > америка́нцы "Americans"
день > дни "days"

The Genitive pronouns
We've already seen these before. Remember that the genitive pronouns are the same as the accusative ones.

я - меня́ [mʲɪˈnʲa]
ты - тебя́ [tʲɪˈbʲa]
он/оно́ - его́ [jɪˈvo] (remember that г is pronounced like в)
она́ - её [jɪˈjo]
мы - нас [nas]
Вы - Вас [vas]
они́ - их [ix]

The Genitive case
I'll cover the basics of the genitive case in this lesson. There are some parts that I have not covered here - which you might want to do some research on the "partitive genitive" forms which some masculine nouns have - alongside their regular genitive forms to express "some" of something.

The Genitive case is used...
1. with numbers and quantity;
три рубля́ "three rubles"
мно́го рубле́й "a lot of rubles"

The genitive singular should be used for the numbers 2 "два/две", 3 "три", and 4 "четы́ре", while the genitive plural should be used for numbers 5 "пять" and above.
два, три, четы́ре рубля́ "two, three, four rubles"
пять, шесть, семь рубле́й "five, six, seven rubles"

2. with possession and "of";
дом Михаи́ла "Mikhail's house"
центр го́рода "center of the city, downtown"

3. after some prepositions;
до свида́ния "Good-bye 'until meeting'"

4. with нет to express "there isn't"...the opposite of есть "there is";
Есть во́дка? - 'Is there vodka?'
Есть во́дка. - 'There's vodka.'
Нет во́дки. - 'There isn't vodka.'

Also used after У + genitive pronoun + нет... "X doesn't have" (and with all other pronouns):
У меня́ нет во́дки. - 'I don't have vodka.'
У неё нет соба́ки. - 'She doesn't have a dog.'

5. after negative transitive verbs
Она́ зна́ет англи́йский язык. - 'She knows English.'
Она не знает английского языка́. - 'She doesn't know English.'
Я чита́л кни́ги. - 'I read books.'
Я не чита́л книг. - 'I didn't read books.'

HOWEVER, you will often encounter objects after negative transitive verbs in the Accusative - especially in spoken, everday Russian. I do believe both forms are great, but there are some guidelines to follow:
-Use the genitive if the object is strongly negated.
Я не зна́ю ни одного́ сло́ва! - 'I don't know a single word!'

-Use the genitive if the object is abstract, something indefinite, or the это.
Я не ви́дел э́того. - 'I didn't see that.'
Я не вижу письма́. - 'I don't see a letter.'
Я не вижу собаки. - 'I don't see a dog.'

-Use the accusative if the object is definite.
Я не вижу письмо. - 'I don't see the letter.'
Я не вижу собаку. - 'I don't see the dog.'

Forming the Genitive singular
Forming the genitive singular is quite easy. You have already been exposed to the genitive singular when you learned about the accusative singular for masculine animate nouns.
When masculine animate nouns are in the accusative they take genitive endings for both singular and plural...but remember that masculine inanimate nouns simply take their normal, nominative endings!
The same goes for feminine nouns when it comes to the accusative plural! As long as they are animate they take genitive plural endings in the accusative plural...remember that this isn't the case for the feminine accusative singular! Don't worry - i'll review this in the next section.

Masculine and neuter nouns
Masculine and neuter nouns simply add -a or -я depending on their endings, again referring back to our spelling and combination rules - which are very important.
-, -о = add -а or replace -о with -а
друг - дру́га "of a friend"
письмо́ - письма́ "of a letter"

-ь, -й, -е = replace with -я
рубль - рубля "of a ruble"
музе́й - музе́я "of a museum"
свида́ние - свида́ния "of a meeting"

Feminine nouns
Feminine nouns simply add -ы or -и again depending on their endings, again referring back to our spelling and combination rules!
-а = replace with -ы
же́нщина - же́нщины "of a woman"
Москва́ - Москвы́ "of Moscow"
мужчи́на - мужчи́ны "of a man"

-я, -ь, -spelling rule consonant when -a is removed = replace with -и
дя́дя - дя́ди "of an uncle"*
дверь - две́ри "of a door"
кни́га - кни́ги "of a book"

*remember that these masculine nouns decline like feminine ones, but take masc. adjective agreement!

Forming the Genitive plural
The genitive plural is more complicated and you will probably have to read over this more than once to get everything understood. This is one of the main reasons why I didn't discuss the genitive plural in the previous lesson!

1. All nouns ending in -ь replace with -ей, which is also sometimes stressed.
рубль "ruble" - рубле́й "of rubles"
день "day" - дней "of days"
пло́щадь "square" - площаде́й "of squares"

2. Nouns ending in ж ч ш щ add -ей
врач "doctor" - враче́й "of doctors"

3. Most masculine nouns ending in a consonant add -ов or -ев depending on spelling rules.
язы́к "language" - языко́в "of languages"
америка́нец "American" - америка́нцев "of Americans"

4. Feminine nouns ending in -а and neuter nouns ending in -о simply lose those vowels and have a "zero ending."
у́лица "street" - у́лиц "of streets"
сло́во "word" - слов "of words"
же́нщина "woman" - же́нщин "of women"

An о or е may be added to break up strange consonant clusters that might occur.
окно́ "window" - о́кон "of windows"
письмо́ "letter" - пи́сем "of letters"
де́вочка "girl" - де́вочек "of girls"

5. All nouns ending in -ия or -ие replace -я or -е with -й
упражне́ние "exercise" - упражне́ний "of exercises"

6. Nouns ending in -й replace with -ев
музе́й "museum" - музе́ев "of museums"

7. Many nouns ending in -я replace with -ь - but if they end in -ня change to -ен
неде́ля "week" - неде́ль "of weeks"
пе́сня "song" - пе́сен "of songs"

8. Masculine nouns ending in unstressed -ья in the Nominative plural replace with -ьев
бра́тья "brothers" - бра́тьев "of brothers"

9. Masculine nouns ending in stressed -ья́ in the Nominative plural replace with -е́й
сыновья́ "sons" - сынове́й "of sons"

That's all I have! There are some additional rules that could be studied...but you can cover those in another lesson.

The Accusative Plural
By now you probably know, for singular nouns:
-Masculine animate: Genitive singular
мальчик - мальчика
-Masculine inanimate: Nominative singular
рубль -рубль
-Feminine: -у/-ю
девочка - девочку
-Neuter: Nominative singular
письмо - письмо

Я вижу письмо. - 'I see a letter.'
Я люблю эту женщину. - 'I love this woman.'
Спасибо за собака. - 'Thank you for the dog.'

And here are the rules for the plural nouns:
-Masculine animate: Genitive plural
мальчик - мальчиков
-Masculine inanimate: Nominative plural
рубль - рубли
-Feminine animate: Genitive plural
девочка - девочек
-Feminine inanimate: Nominative plural
двери - двери
-Neuter: Nominative plural
письма - письма

Я вижу письма. - 'I see letters.'
Я люблю этих женщин. - 'I love these women.'
Спасибо за собак. - 'Thank you for the dogs.'

The Genitive for adjectives
You might have not known it at the time - but you've already seen genitive adjective forms for the masculine! Remember that animate masculine nouns take genitive forms in the accusative, while inanimate masculine nouns take nominative forms! The endings we saw were -ого and -его. Welp, here they are again!

SINGULAR
Masculine and neuter nouns
-ого or -его (for soft-stemmed adjectives, or where spelling rules require)
русского "Russian"
последнего "last"
хорошего "good"
*remember to pronounce г as в

Feminine nouns
-ой or -ей (for soft-stemmed adjectives, or where spelling rules require)
русской "Russian"
последней "last"
хорошей "good"

PLURAL
All nouns simply add -ых or -их (when spelling rules require!)
новых
русских
последних
хороших
родных "native" from родно́й

Vocabulary
англи́йский - English
врач - doctor
дверь - door
Кока-Ко́ла - Coca-Cola, Coke
Монстр - Monster (energy drink)
музе́й - museum
пе́сня - song
родной - native
свида́ние - meeting
ско́лько - how many, how much?
сло́во - word
сто́ить - to cost
упражне́ние - exercise
центр - center

Conclusion
Welp - there it is. Lesson 4. I didn't do everything as promised (no Prepositional case), but we'll learn about that sometime. No more lessons for probably a week or so. No exercises this time either!

Giganormous lessons=difficult to comment on.

About the formal dialogue in the second lesson, you would never say Как поживаете? to a stranger. You would usually skip over "How are you?" and get right to introducing yourself after the hello. Pragmatics, pragmatics...




Russian conversations don't deteriorate that fast..



I think it'd be useful to point out that this mostly happens in words concerning men and male relatives.

Too much to read... more in-depth comments later.

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sup

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have some lessons

Тоже долгий; не читал.

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초보

Pirka can correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure it might be better to say: "Слишком долгий. Я не читал."
тоже is like "also", as in Я тоже рад тебя видеть "I'm glad to see you too."

It would be better to say: (Excuse me for the romanization; I'm on my phone)
Slíshkom mnógo; ya ne prochitál.
There's too much; I didn't read it.

Testyal, you may have wanted to say:
...; ya tózhe ne prochital.

The difference between prochitat' and chitat' is minute: if you use chitat', it suggests that you didn't read it whatsoever, whereas prochitat' suggests that you read some but didn't bother finishing.

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sup

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have some lessons

In other words, Imperfective vs. Perfective.

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초보

I suppose, but (im)perfective is too broad of a term to describe this, imo.
But I'm probably crazy, so yeah, I think you're right.

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sup

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have some lessons

Да! Ты безумный!

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초보

«безумный» is more on the lines of "unpredictable, insane, crazy good at sex, etc. etc." It would have made more sense to say «У тебя галлюцинации/глюки», which means "You're having hallucinations/glitches."

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sup

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have some lessons

But you are unpredictable!

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초보

А где русские уроки? Мы не посмортрели на времня нас.

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초보

I've updated the "Resources" section of the first post. If you know of any other good resources let me know!

You missed an important aspect of Russian: SWEARING.

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Svo hvernig get ég annað en glott á þig dauðlega?

Блядь!

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(native)
(learning)

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Języki sztuczne i lingwistyka, po polsku.

На кой хуй и на кого хера вы так ёбанно ругаетесь, а?!

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sup

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have some lessons

На жопу!

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(native)
(learning)

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Języki sztuczne i lingwistyka, po polsku.

Я ненавижу вас, засранцы.

Я шучу, блядь.

Слишком по-детски получилось...

Лучше сказать «НЕ ПИЗДИТЕ, СУКИНЫ СЫНОВЬЯ, ПОШЛИ ВЫ ВСЕ НА ХЕР К ЧЁРТОВОЙ МАТЕРИ. БЛЯДИ.»

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sup

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have some lessons

Thanks for the correction, Pirka . That's the first time I've cursed in Russian. I think I'll leave it to the pros ;)

As for the word "блядь" - does it always translate as "whore, b*tch, slut" or can it have other meanings depending on its context?