Glossika Guide to Russian Pronunciation & Grammar.pdf

Glossika Guide to

RUSSIAN Pronunciation and Grammar

CONTENTS 04

About Glossika

05

Russian Alphabet Step by Step

15

Introduction to Russian Pronunciation

17

Weak Letters in Russian

19

Palatalization Palatali zation in Russian

21

Special Pronunciations of the Letter Г

23

 

24

Introduction to Russian Grammar

25

 

Pronouns

27

 

Vocabulary

28

Intonation

Nouns: Cases, Gender

31

 

32

 

34

 

Comparisons

34

 

Superlatives

35

 

35

Locations Adjectives

Verbs Most Essential Verbs to get Started

36

 

Existential

36

 

Causative

36

 

Avoidance

38

 

Expectation

38

 

Continuity

39

 

Proximity

39

 

Attempt

39

 

Evidentiality

39

 

Circumstance

40

 

Modals

40  

Potential

40  

Regret

40  

Volition

41

Putting Perfective and Imperfective in perspective

43

Past, Present, Future

43  

Imperatives

44

Verb Conjugation

52

Verbs of Motion

55  

Adverbs

56

Adverbs of Location

59

Adverbs of Time

59

Adverbs of Manner

60

Adverbs of Measure and Degree

61

Time Expressions

64  

Prepositions

65  

Conjunctions

66 Roots

66

Noun Prefixes

67

Foreign Noun Prefixes

67

Noun Suffixes

68

Adjective Prefixes

68

Adjective Suffixes

69

Verb Prefixes

70

Verb Suffi Suffixes xes

71

Index of Roots

99 Extend Your Learning 106 Glossika Free Resour Resources ces

About Glossika Language learning requires a lot of planning, effort, training and practicing. Our vision at Glossika is to minimize the amount of planning and effort required and increase your exposure via native-speaker audio.

Since every language is unique and has its own set of difficulties, Glossika has developed methods to sort this complexity in a way that is easy to learn and acquire for students like yourself. We hope to level the playing field of difficulty between languages. By doing so we’re able to present a wide variety of languages and make them accessible to any kind of learner.

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Written by: Michael Campbell ISBN: 978-986-9497-56-5 Copyright © 2017 Glossika. All rights reserved. Any questions or feedback? Contact us at [email protected]

4

The Russian Alphabet Step by Step If you can't read Russian yet, there's nothing to worry about. This book will help you learn the alphabet in less than hour. Glossika's approach to language learning is to focus on practicing lots of things rather than memorizing grammar tables. Although you will encounter tables in this book, I strongly recommend to read through the contents of the tables line by line so that you can feel the patterns as they emerge. By the time you finish reading the following word list, you should be able to read almost any word in Russian. After this, you'll need to start learning some basic  pronunciation rules. When you start learning any foreign alphabet, I always recommend writing out the transcription in Roman letters first. This allows you to focus on recognizing each letter. Later, as you get better at it, you can start sounding out words on sight, then start practicing the letter shapes of your new alphabet. Preferably with pen and paper. The following list of words makes use of lots of foreign words that you may already recognize. The point here is to get up and running in reading Russian as quickly and easily as possible. This should only take you about half an hour.

5

Your first five letters are exactly the same as their Roman counterparts: а, о, м, т, к

 Now read the following following words: words: том

акт

какао

атом

The next letter is р which is Roman {r}. It originally comes from Greek. Some of  these words are the same as English, so you should be able to recognize several of  them. торт

мотор

арка

аорта

трактор

аромат

карта

The next letter is н which is Roman {n}. Again, these are foreign words borrowed into Russian so if you're reading them correctly, you should be able to recognize them. танк

нато

нота

контракт

норма

роман

контакт

The next letter is е which is Roman {je}, pronounced like English {ye}. мекка

тема

метр

метро

театр

момент

океан

номер

манера

The next letter is п which is Roman {p}. It originally comes from Greek. порт

парк

темп

портрет

проект

опера

пакет

6

The next letter is в which is Roman {v}. It originally comes from Greek. This letter is used in many words spelled with {u} in Latin. квота

автомат

нерв

ветеран

автор

ванна

The next letter is л which is Roman {l}. It originally comes from Greek. молоко

канал

Атланта

атлет

металл

реклама

плакат

лампа

план

парламент

The next letter is д which is Roman {d}. It originally comes from Greek. код

дом

дата

мода

доктор

драма

канада

дракон

метод

демократ

декан

парад

адвокат

Невада

Лондон

The next letter is с which is Roman {s}. It originally comes from Greek. космо с

касса

масса

маска

сорт

но с

соната

текст

орке стр

сенатор

ре сторан

стоп

спорт

паспорт

транспорт

пр протест

пре сса

спортсмен

мо сква

самовар

7

The next letter is и which is Roman {i}. It originally comes from Greek. три

рим

кино

нина

Онтарио

математика

Ам Америка

импорт

практика

патриот

квартира

вино

мали

климат

литр

лирика

лимон

миллион

минерал

капитал

политика

Литва

диктат

радио

кандидат

директор

диван

Дарвин

лидер

диплом

дипломат

киоск

 рис

риск

артист

артистка

Минск

министир

система

интерес

семинар

пианист

виски

лист

лексика

диск

стадион

Владиво сток

8

The next letter is х which is Roman {h} or {ch}. It originally comes from Greek. характер

хамелеон

хаос

Техас

химик

хроника

архитектор

техник

механик

The next letter is у which is Roman {u}. Урал

луна

туалет

молекула

документ

депутат

кактус

курс

стул

минмиуи

минута

Украина

Кенту ентукки кки

ли лите тера рату тура ра

инст инстру руме мент нт униве универс рсит итет ет

The next letter is з which is Roman {z}. зона

ваза

атеизм

оптимизм

патриотизм визит

зенит виза

мате матери риал ализ изм м прези президе дент нт

идеал идеализ изм м

марк маркси сизм зм

пессимизм

муза

коммунизм

Казахстан

9

The next letter is г which is Roman {g}. It originally comes from Greek. гамма

грот

грамм

орган

агроном

омега

агент

пентагон

Ван-Гог

гол

генерал

волга

агресс ессор

конгресс

прогресс

Лас-Вегас

тигр

гитара

грамматика магнит

гра гранит

кил килограмм

кар кардиолог

антагонист

сигнал

лингвист

аргумент

группа

газета

зоолог

магазин

The next letter is ь which is Roman {j} pronounced like English {y}, not as in "many" but as in "canyon". This letter palatalizes the previous consonant and is  pronounced  pronounced with it together together.. мать

конь

ноль

отель

кремль

апрель

модель

медаль

кален аленда дар рь

секр секре етар тарь

соль

The next letter is й which is Roman {j} pronounced like English {y}, as a separate letter. йота

трамвай

лайнер

йод

перестройка Толстой

Китай

планетарий

Дост остоевский хоккей

мавзолей

музей

йог

Гавайи

герой

The next letter is ш which is Roman {š} pronounced like English {sh}. It is the same shape as the Hebrew and Arabic letters. каша

штат

марш

атташе

штамп

Шопен

школа

шоколад

машина

Шекспир

Пушкин

шимпанзе

Польша

10

The next letter is  ж which

is Roman {ž} pronounced like English {zh}.

жанр

жакет

жена

же ст

ЛосАнджелес

инженер

Париж

журнал

журналист

жа жаргон

шпионаж

The next letter is я which

is Roman {ja} pronounced like English {ya}. It looks like

the letter {ɑ} standing up on legs. як

яма

няня

таня

Корея

яков

ваня

ляля

коля

ялта

дядя

ярд

Аляска

армия

мария

янки

теория

территория копия

партия

 Япония комедия

Италия академия

линия миссия

Латвия комиссия

Россия

Испания

яхта

ярус

галя

галерея

категория

Ге Германия

Норвегия

Монголия

религия

идеология

макияж

пять

Джорджия

Вирджиния

The next letter is б which

is Roman {b}.

бар

брат

банан

банк

барон бокс

Квебек бас

бланк Бостон

б а л ет балласт

блин

билет

балерина

бо борис

Новоси осибирск Бетховен

букет

абсурд

публика

база

кубизм

алгебра

СанктПетербург

Альберта

декабрь

автомобиль

Сибирь

бульвар

бойкот

шуба

баня

батарея

Азербайджан боря ябло яблок ко

лабо лабора раттория ория Бело Белор русси ссия

11

The next letter is ч which

is Roman {ć}, pronounced like English {chy} like the 't' in

'picture'. матч

че к

дача

чемпион

иванович ночь

сочи Черчилль

чехов чай

Чикаго чайковский

The next letter is щ which

is Roman {ś}, pronounced in English {sh+y} like the 's' in

'sure'. щека

щенок

щи

площадь

борщ The next letter is ё which

is Roman {jo}, pronounced like the English {yo}.

моё

её

твоё

манёвр

ёлка

м ёд

л ёд

тётя

счёт The next letter is ы which

is Roman {y}, pronounced like the English short {i} farther 

 back in the the throat. throat. ты

мы

атомы

вы

мыло кассы

плакаты сын

лампы курсы

планы студенты

туристы

музыка

рыба

блины

сёстры

12

The next letter is ц which is Roman {c}, pronounced like the English {ts}.

цент концерт цинк инцидент дисц дисцип ипли лина на японец инстанция инстанция

цемент проце сс пицца медицина соци социал алиизм операция констит конституция уция

акцент цитата принцип цилиндр ценз ензура коллекция конструкция онструкция

центр цирк цикл специалист царь арь полиция позиция позиция

The next letter is ю which is Roman {ju}, pronounced like the English {yu}.

каюта пюре люкс союз бюро бюджет

юмор дюна ювелир юг бюрократ юстиция

Юкон костюм юрист юрий бюст

меню нюанс рюкзак Нью-Йорк юбилей

The next letter is э which is Roman {è}, pronounced like the English short {e}.

эра экспорт элита Сиэтл энтузиазм экск экскур урси сияя

поэт экспресс электрик Эдисон эгоист эксп экспед едиц иция ия

экватор эскалатор экономист эхо Эйнштейн

электрон этика эк эксперимент экзамен Эстония

13

The next letter is ф which is Roman {f}. It originally comes from Greek. фото фронт

факт кофе

форма кафе

фонтан ферма

фен

феномен

телефон

фонд

фосфор

профессор

африка

фирма

микрофон

финал

Флорида

футурист

фраза

физика

флаг

фигура

портфель

фильм

шарф

ше ф

шрифт финиш Финляндия професс ессия

жираф буфет

Калифорния футбол

шофёр

финансы

фрукты

Фран Франц ция

аэр аэрофло офлотт

 

СанФранциско

The next letter is the hard sign ъ which is Roman {'}. This has the opposite effect of  ь. Since any vowel starting with {j} will palatalize the previous consonant, this hard

sign prevents the palatalization from happening and keeps that consonant "hard". If  you don't understand it yet, we'll discuss it more in the palatalization section later. подъезд

въезд

съезд

объект

субъект

объезд

подъём

объём

A very convenient way to master these

grammar patterns during

your busy schedule is by using the audio on Glossika. It's hands-free, and builds up your listening and speaking skills.

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14

1

Introduction to Russian

Pronunciation So you've started to learn Russian, but you'd like to know why native speakers sound so different from the pronunciation in your books. In all languages, the writing system is a loose representation of what a language actually sounds like. I like to call it writing in a lossy format because it only records the most important aspects -- just enough so that you can recognize what a word is. Writing systems leave out a lot of details about how a language is actually  pronounced  pronounc ed because because not everybody everybody pronounce pronouncess everything everything the exact exact same way way.. For example, the double {t} in the word "better" is not necessarily pronounced like the {t} in "top." Many people pronounce it as a flap, yet others pronounce it as a glottal stop. If you think the glottal stop doesn't sound natural there, perhaps you can try saying it in "button" instead. So why do you pronounce double {t} one way in one word, but another way in another word? As a linguist, I could tell you that it has to do with the surrounding letters and where the stress falls. Despite all of these different sounds, we all agree to write them simply as the letter {t}. In other words, some details have been lost when we write words down. The real pronunciations can be deduced by environmental cues. This holds true 15

Many language teachers are not completely aware of this contrast. Most native speakers will claim that deviations from the written pronunciation are incorrect or  even "lazy". However, linguists have proven that this is entirely untrue. These same  people will will just as as easily take take a call from a family member and start speaking speaking naturally using this "lazy" pronunciation that they just claimed not to use. But why? If every native speaker produces this so-called "incorrect" pronunciation naturally and in the same way, then it is a natural phenomenon of the language. This can be explained with sound rules. Most language students face the problem of learning a prescribed dictionary  pronunciation  pronunciation but but have trouble trouble understandin understanding g native speakers in a natural environment. When language students attempt to speak with proper pronunciation, native speakers tend to think they sound unnatural and robotic. At Glossika, we help language students bridge the gap between this "correct"  pronunciation  pronunciation and the native native "natural" "natural" pronunciation. pronunciation. Linguists Linguists have have a very simple term for the two: "phonemic" for the correct pronunciation and "phonetic" for the natural pronunciation. In all of the language courses at Glossika, you'll find transcriptions in romanization and the International Phonetic Alphabet. We present the sounds in the most natural  pronunciation.  pronunciation. This This helps you, you, the student, student, recognize recognize and and pick up on aspects aspects that you can't figure out by yourself from the spelling.

16

Weak Letters in Russian

Apart from the obvious fact that Russian is written in Cyrillic, once you've learned the letters, you'll be faced with learning a lot of rules. When it comes to rules, whether pronunciation or grammar, Russian is not the language where you want start memorizing everything. There is no end to it and nobody's memory can be perfect enough to get everything right. I recommend acquiring the rules through practice of the most common patterns and adding to it slowly over time through more and more use of the language. Just as in English, Russian stress is unpredictable and all the vowels have a weak  form. For example, the English word "practically" has a stress on {a}. In the middle of the word, {i} and {a} both sound like "uh". But if you add endings to the word, the shift and pronunciation of the vowels change, as in "practicality." Do you remember  learning or memorizing either of these words and their pronunciation? Probably not. But if you heard someone pronounce practicality like practically (with an extra syllable), then you'd immediately know it's completely wrong. All of this holds true for Russian as well! Russians don't say the weak vowel "uh" the same way English speakers do. They say it more like "ah." So some of the weak vowels, especially {о} sounds like "ah." Many of the other letters sound like a short i as in "sit." This applies to Russian letters {е, я}.

17

Let's take a look at the patterns: STRESSED LETTERS:

а a

э ɛ

ы ɨ

о

у

я

е

o

u

ja

je

и ʲi

ё

ю

 jo

ju

е ʲɪ

и ʲɪ

ё

ю ʲʊ ̈

е ʲɪ

и ʲɪ

 jo

ю ʲʊ ̈

и ɪ

ё  jo

ю ʲʊ ̈ 

1st DEGREE WEAK AFTER THE STRESS:

а ə

э ɛ

ы ɨ

о ə

у ʊ

я ʲə

 jo

1st DEGREE WEAK BEFORE THE STRESS:

а ɐ

э ɛ

ы ɨ

о ɐ

 

у ʊ

я ʲə

ё

2nd DEGREE WEAK BEFORE THE STRESS: а

ə

э ɛ

ы ɨ

о

ə

у ʊ

я ʲə

е ʲɪ

 Notice there there are two two pronunciations pronunciations for for а and о: о: [ə-ɐ]. These two letters letters are  pronounced  pronounced [ɐ] just before the stress, but [ə] when occurring occurring before before [ɐ]. Notice Notice how the letters get stronger and stronger stress in succession in the following examples: положить: pəlɐʐ   tʲ ́ хо рошо: xər ɐʂó озночает: əznɐʨá ʲɪt But when two letters appear together due to a prefix they maintain [ɐ]: сообщить: sɐɐ pʲɕɕí tʲtʲ The unstressed letter э appearing at the beginning of a word is pronounced [ɪ]. Finally, at the beginning of a word, и does not have any palatalization /ʲ/ preceding it. And in sequences following prepositions or verbs, и is often pronounced like ы /ɨ/: от имена [ot ɨmʲɪnə], читал им [ʨʲɪtal ɨm]. 18

Palatalization in Russian Palatalization is an important feature of Russian pronunciation. This simply means adding a "yuh" sound onto a vowel or a consonant. Such vowels in Russian are referred to as "мягкий" (soft).

This phenomenon happens in a lot of European languages, even English, especially on the English letter {u}. For example in Italian, Spanish, and German, the word "university" starts with an "oo" sound, but in English it starts with a "yoo". This is an example of palatalization in English. The hard and soft signs of Russian are perhaps the most perplexing part of the alphabet. But there's a very easy way to understand how they work. Russian spelling can force a consonant to add a palatalization, just by adding the soft sign {ь}. It can also force a consonant not to be palatalized by adding a hard sign {ъ}.

To get an idea of how this works, let's apply the soft and hard signs to English spelling. In each English example below, the palatalized {u} affects the consonant in front of it, making it a palatalized version of itself. Cyrillic

English

Examples

сью / щю

su

sure, sugar, issue

зью

su

leisure

тью / чю

tu

future, picture, habitual, tune

дью

du

produce, schedule

 Not all English English speakers speakers pronounce pronounce these these words palatalized. palatalized. The biggest biggest differences differences can be found between American and British speakers. To better understand, you may need to imagine how someone in the other country pronounces it. Some people pronounce words like "issue" with a separated sound, making the {s} sound like a true /s/. In this case, Russians would describe this sound with a hard sign  between the letters: {su = съю}

19

As is shown above, some letters have alternate spellings, so that {сью} and {тью} are essentially equivalent to {щю} and {чю}. This is because Russian has the specific  palatalized letters {щ} and {ч}. Keep in mind the other two letters {ж} and {ш} are not palatalized at all, but rather  retroflex, and have a much deeper sound. They can only become palatalized if they are preceded by another letter like this: {зж} and {сш}. To better understand the points of articulation for each letter, we can line them up like this: Articulation

English

Russian

t, s

т, с, ц

sh, ch, si (in vision)

-

-

ш, ж

tu, du, su (see examples above)

ч, щ [сь, ть, дь, сш, зж]

Alveolar Postalveolar Retroflex

Palatal You

can easily see the correspondences to spellings in other Slavic languages:

Articulation

Alveolar Postalveolar  Retroflex

Palatal

Polish

Czech

Slovak

Croatian

Serbian

t, s, c

t, s, c

t, s, c

t, s, c

т, с, ц

-

š, č, ž, ř

š, č, ž

š, č, ž

ш, ч, ж, џ

sz, cz, rz, ż

-

-

-

-

ś, ć, ź [si-, ci-, zi-]

ť, ď

ť, ď

ć, đ

ћ, ђ

20

Special Pronunciations of the Letter Г Russian Г and Roman h

Historically, the letter Г was pronounced gh /ɣ/, which was a voiced and breathy

fricative. A fricative is a continuous sound like {f}. You may have noticed that the pronunciation of -gh- in English "night" has

disappeared. Likewise, this Russian -gh- sound has changed significantly over time. There are several languages where this -gh- sound has become /h/: southern Russian dialects, Ukranian, and the western Slavic languages of Slovak and Czech. The speakers of these languages perceive this letter {г} to be the equivalent of {h} in nonSlavic languages. This is why so many foreign words with {h} are transcribed with this letter in Russian. In standard Russian, the pronunciation has become /ɡ/. Most of the time. When the letter appears before other stop consonants, it's still pronounced as a fricative -gh-, but there are two kinds. If the letter is unvoiced, it becomes unvoiced, otherwise it is voiced. Use the following examples as a guide to help you. By the way , this voicing rule applies to the whole alphabet. гп

гт

гк

гм

гб

гд

[x p ]

[xt]

[xk]

[ɣm]

[ɣb]

[ɣd]

21

Russian Г and Roman v

In certain case endings, Г is pronounced as /v/. These are usually the genitive endings consisting of -ого and -его. It is possible for such a word to appear in a compound of another word, such as the word for "today": сего ́  + дня = сего ́ дня /sʲɪvódnʲə/   го "a lot", is pronounced with a hard /ɡ/. But when it gets an additional The word мно ́   гого, it is pronounced /mnóɡəvə/. ending, as in мно ́

Here is a list of common words that have the /v/ pronunciation: pron unciation: -́  ог  ого

но ́ вого [nóvəvə] чёрного [ćʲórnəvə] кра ́ сного [k [krásnəvə] э ́ того [ɛ ́ təvə] молодо ́ го [məlɐdóvə]

-ого  ́

-́  ег  его

того ́  [t  [tɐvó] кого ́  [k  [kɐvó] одного ́  [ə  [ədnɐvó]

ва ́ шего [vášɨvə] на ́ шего [nášɨvə] си ́ него [sʲínʲɪvə] хоро ́ шего [xɐróšɨvə] бо ́ льшего [b [bólʲšɨvə] не ́ чего [nʲéćʲɪvə]

22

его  ́

сего ́  [sʲɪvó] него ́  [nʲɪvó] моего ́  [məʲɪvó] твоего ́  [tvəʲɪvó] ничего ́  [nʲɪćʲɪvó]

Intonation

What makes Russian hard to pronounce from the writing is that the stress is unpredictable. Stress is not marked in the writing (as in English). The advantage over  English, however, is that Russian spelling is quite consistent. The spelling system was last updated in 1917, so this means there are quite a few noticeable deviations from the spelling system starting to happen. Overall, it is much more consistent than English. The second thing that might throw you off about the stress in Russian is that it's actually opposite of what it is in most languages! Let me explain, but first, feel free to take any word from this book and put it into Google translate and listen to the stress in the real automated voice. The automated voice is just as good as real and gets the stress right. In most languages, the stressed syllable of a word often has a higher pitch, at least higher than all the other syllables in the word. For example, the English word "competitive" is Low-High-Low-Low, or L-H-L-L. In Russian though, the stressed syllable is a low pitch, and the length of the vowel longer than the others. The word "competitive" in Russian is конкурентноспосо ́  бный which is pronounced M-M-M-L-H-LOW-M, where I write out LOW on the long vowel, which is the stress.

A very convenient way to master these

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23

2

Introduction to Russian

Grammar  Introduction to Russian Grammar We use subject-verb-object (SVO) word order in English and so does Russian. Occasionally, though, you'll come across word orders that seem quite different from English. Since Russian marks every word in the sentence with case endings, things can still be moved around. So although people speak in SVO word order as a habit, Russian actually has free word order which doesn't affect or change the meaning whatsoever. This means that Russian is a great language to write poetry in, which is where you'll see more free word order appear. When learning Russian, it's very important to recognize the parts of speech. This will help you understand the meaning of the whole sentence better. Luckily, every word is marked up with parts of speech data in Russian, so as long as you recognize the endings, you should be able to quickly make educated guesses of what words mean.

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Pronouns The easiest things to start recognizing in a sentence are pronouns. Don't overwhelm yourself trying to figure out the cases for each. Just recognize the kinds of endings that are possible for each to give yourself a headstart. Read through the following tables and make sure that you can recognize the head word. As a beginner , when you encounter a word like "её" in the future, you should recognize that this is one of the "she/her" words. Overwhelming yourself too early can lead to frustration and failure. My goal is to encourage you to continue on this fun journey of learning Russian. I/me

я мой

меня моя

мне моё

мной мои

my/mine

моего

моей

моих

моему

моим

мою

моими

моём

ты

тебя

тебе

тобой

твой

твоя

твоё

твои

your/yours

твоего

твоей

твоих

твоему

he/him/it

твоим он

твою его

твоими ему

твоём им / нём

his/its

его

него

she/her

её

ей

ею

ней

her/hers

её

н её

we/us

мы

нас

нам

нами

наш

наша

наше

наши

нашего нашим

нашей нашу

наших нашими

нашему нашем

вы

вас

вам

вами

ваш

ваша

ваше

ваши

вашего

вашей

ваших

вашему

вашим

вашу

вашими

вашем

they/them

они

их / них

им

ими

their/theirs

их

них

you

our/ours you (plural / polite) your/yours

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what

кто

кого

кому

кем / ком

who/whom

что /što/

чего

чему

чем / чём

чей

чья

чьё / чьём

чьи

чьей чьими

чьих чью

чьему чьего

чьим

этот

эта

это

эти

этого

этой

этих

этому

этим

эту

этими

этом

тот

та

то

те

того

той

тех

тому

тем ве сь

ту вся

теми всё

том все

всего

всей

всех

всему

всем

всю

всеми

всём

один

одна

одно

одни

одного

одной

одних

одному

одним

одну

одними

одном

whose

this

that

all

one

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Vocabulary Part of the challenge of learning Russian is memorizing lots of vocabulary. Fortunately, since Russian is an Indo-European language, a lot of the roots are shared with Greek and English. By understanding some of the sound changes it should help you acquire Russian vocabulary faster. At the end of this book is an Index of Roots that you can browse, with examples clearly explained how to make use of the list. Once you start learning sentences and reading texts in Russian, I strongly recommend highlighting or underlining the roots in new words. The more roots you understand, the faster you'll be able to remember  vocabulary.

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Nouns: Cases, Genders Russian doesn't have articles such as: a, an, the. Instead definite relations in a sentence are determined by context and cases help with this. For example, the object of many stative verbs is accusative if it's definite or countable in English, and in genitive if it's abstract or uncountable in English. Russian has six cases: nominative, genitive, accusative, dative, instrumental, and  prepositional.  prepositional. Each has different different word word endings endings for masculine, masculine, feminine, feminine, and neuter  neuter  nouns, for both the singular and plural. That's a possible 36 endings, but in most cases there are only 12 unique endings. Since memorizing all the endings to cases is so much work, instead I recommend learning the endings through frequent practice and use. Certain kinds of endings, such as genitive plural, tend to be irregular. Plurals themselves are also irregular, and if you're counting, then a group of 2-4 things use a different plural than 5 or more of something (I deliberately wrote this sentence in English to reflect how Russian really works). English, French, and Spanish make plurals by adding -s to the end of the word. This differs from languages like Italian, Russian, and the Slavic languages that add -i (or  other kinds) to the ends of words. In order to achieve a native-like ability in Russian, it's not even necessary to know what cases you're using or speaking in. If you follow the patterns as native speakers use the language, you'll start to fall into the patterns yourself.

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It's a good idea to recognize the gender of nouns, but this rule only applies to the nominative: -а is feminine, -о is neuter , neuter , and nouns ending in consonants are masculine. Nominative plurals tend to be -и or -ы. The easiest way to remember these genders is by the personal pronouns. masculine

feminine

neuter

plural

he

she

it

they

он

она

оно

они

-

-а

-о

-и

When cases change, the ending vowels get swapped around and then they no longer  have this meaning. The genitive plural is something you'll hear a lot about. It's usually because things are "parts" of "other things." In Russian, it either has -ов/-ев or it's truncated -- as if all endings have been cut off. In the singular form, there’ s usually -а or -ы. Genitives always follow the word order "A of B" and not "B's A." There’s no "of" in Russian, so the "of B" is the word that gets the genitive ending. You'll often encounter  genitive plurals either getting all endings cut of f, of f, or ending in -ов/-ев/-ей. The endings on adjectives are similar but have an extra -о at the end. The problem you'll encounter is the spelling because it uses -г- rather than -в-, but genitives are always  pronounced  pronounced with -в-. A lot of words in Russian cause the noun that follows it to become genitive. These could be prepositions, adjectives, and verbs. One example of this is when you "don't have" something: "нет идей" (haven't any idea). If you think of it as "haven't any of" something, this "of" will help you remember to use the genitive. Instrumental and Dative both usually have -м- somewhere in the ending (ом, ем, ам[и], ям[и]). In the singular, all datives end in vowels (у, е, и), and the instrumental feminine (ой, ей, ью).

29

The prepositional usually ends in -е/-и, and is the only one that ends in -х in the  plural. If you look at a Russian noun table, it can be quite intimidating — use these simple rules to help you get a foothold.

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Locations

Locations, whether at, going to, or coming from, use a variety of cases (prepositional

/ пред., accusative / вин., genitive / род.). As mentioned above, I strongly recommend practicing locations locations as parts of phrases so that you get used to automatically automatically creating the correct endings without having to think about it. This is in line with how native speakers speak. in the city

to the city

from the city

on the street

to the street

from the street

at the hotel

to the hotel

from the hotel

at school

to school

from school

at the airport

to the airport

from the airport

at the train station

to the train station

from the train station

at the station

to the station

from the station

at the company

to the company

from the company

in a meeting

to a meeting

from a meeting

в го  роде  род е ́

на у на  у ́ лыце лыце

в гости ́ нице нице в шко ́ ле

в аэропорту  аэропорту ́ * на вокза на  вокза ́ ле

на ста ́ нции на ста нции at work  на рабо на  рабо ́ те

в компа ́ нии нии

в го  род ́

из го из  го ́ рода  рода

на у на  у ́ лыцу лыцу

с у ́ лыцы лыцы

в гости ́ ницу ницу

из гости из  гости ́ ницы ницы

в шко ́ лу

из шко из  шко ́ лы

в аэропо  рт ́ на вокза на  вокза ́ л

на ста ́ нцию на ста нцию to work  на рабо на  рабо ́ ту

в компа ́ нию нию

из аэропорт из  аэропортаа ́ с вокза ́ ла

со ста ́ нции со ста нции from work  с рабо ́ ты

из компа из  компа ́ нии нии

на встре ́ че на встре на встре на  встре ́ чу со встре со  встре ́ чи on a business trip to a business trip from a business trip в командиро ́ вке вке в командиро ́ вку вку из командиро из  командиро ́ вки вки at the exhibition to the exhibition from the exhibition на вы на  вы ́ ставке ставке на вы на  вы ́ ставку ставку с вы ́ ставки ставки *аэропорт  is irregular: it happens to have an extra case called "locative" with its own ending.

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Adjectives Adjectives describe nouns, so their endings must agree in number and gender. Fortunately, most of these endings are very similar with the noun endings, and you'll grasp them with a bit of practice. Another kind of adjective appears as a predicate after such verbs as: becomes, looks, sounds, tastes, is. These adjectives are known as short form adjectives and they are much simpler in form: голоден, голодна (hungry). Adjectives always appear before the noun. But sometimes we have a long phrase that we'd like to use to describe a noun we just said. You can start any dependent clause using "which," (который) which declines just like an adjective. Dependent clauses always follow what they're describing. The English sentence "The man wearing the green jacket" will have the exact same word order in Russian, and in this case, the verb "wear" becomes an adjective that describes "man". It is exactly the same as English, except that Russian must add adjective endings. You can change any verb into an adjective form. For example, in English: A tiring movie. (active participle describing the movie giving the action) A tired audience. (passive participle describing audience receiving the action) The man wearing the watch. (active participle 'wearing' defines which man) The watch worn by the man. (passive participle 'worn' defines which watch) In English we call these active and passive participles. But they look exactly the same as adjectives. We can also use them as predicate adjectives: He is tiring. He is tired.

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In fact, Russian and English share parts of the same grammar. The oldest known Indo-European roots have -nt as the suffix. In English this evolved into -ng, but you can still see the -nt suffix in most Romance and Germanic languages. You'll notice how the past participle in English frequently ends in -n or -ed. In

Russian, these same words also have -н attached to the verb root, then followed by regular adjective endings to agree with the noun it describes. English

to open an open[ed] door  an opening door  to close a closed door  a closing door  to lock  a locked door  a locking door 

Russian

откры ́ ть откры ́ тая дверь открыва ́ ющая дверь закры ́ ть закры ́ тая дверь закрыва ́ ющая дверь запере ́ ть за ́ пертая дверь запира ́ ющая дверь

33

Comparatives

The comparison is formed by adding -е or -ее. Due to palatalization, quite a lot of  sound changes can happen, and there are irregular forms. These comparisons work for   both adjectives and adverbs. -кий → -че

-гий → -же

-хий → -ше

-тый → -ще

Other changes may occur: бли ́ зкий → бли ́ же глубо ́ кий → глу ́ бже до ́ лгий → до ́ льше лёгкий → ле ́ гче  ре ́ дкий → ре ́ же у ́ зкий → у ́ же

высо ́ кий → вы ́ ше далёкий → да ́ льше коро ́ ткий → коро ́ че ни ́ зкий → ни ́ же то ́ нкий → то ́ ньше широ ́ кий → ши ́ ре

Some exceptions: хоро ́ ший → лу ́ чше большо ́ й → бо ́ льше

плохо ́ й → ху ́ же ма ́ ленький → ме ́ ньше

  лее and less ́ме   нее in front of adjectives. In As in English we can also add more ́бо which case, the adjective that follows does not change into comparative form.

Superlatives

There are several ways to make the superlative: 1. Add наи- as prefix: наитру ́  дный (most difficult) 2. Add айший or ейший as suffix: трудне ficultest) ́  йший (dif ficultest)   мый тру 3. Use "the most": ́са ́  дный (the most difficult) 4. Use the comparative with "of all": тру ficult of all) ́  дне всех (dif ficult

34

Verbs Most Essential Verbs to Get Started English

take give

doing

   

 bring (in hand)  borrow return

(something)

уходи ́ ть приходи ́ ть arrive sit сади ́ ть stand встава ́ ть   буди ́ ть wake sleep спать laugh смея ́ ться есть eat drink пить see (can) ви ́ деть see one another ви ́ деться hear (can) слы ́ шать watch смотре ́ ть listen to слу ́ шать feel that находи ́ ть, что think дума ́ ть remember по ́ мнить forget   read чита ́ ть   писа ́ ть write speak/say говорить (language/word) talk/chat разгова  ривать ́ understand понима ́ ть leave

   

брать, принима ́ ть дава ́ ть приноси ́ ть ода ́ лживать  

did/have done

взять, приня ́ ть дать прине сти ́ одолжи ́ ть верну ́ ть уйти ́ прийти ́ сесть стать разбуди ́ ть поспа ́ ть посмея ́ ться съесть вы ́ пить уви ́ деть уви ́ деться услы ́ шать посмотре ́ ть послу ́ шать поду ́ мать запо ́ мнить забы ́ ть почита ́ ть написа ́ ть поговори ́ ть поня ́ ть

35

English

doing

встреча ́ ть ждать wait   иска ́ ть look for  find   жить live ться stay (reside)   остана  влив ́ вливааться   рабо ́ тать work    изуча ́ ть study учи ́ ться learn stay busy with   занима  ться ́ change изменять   чини ́ ть fix чи ́ стить clean   вари ́ ть cook    гото ́ вить  prepare   включа ́ ть turn on вы ́ ключать turn off  open   открыва ́ ть   закрыва ́ ть close   тяну ́ ть  pull   толка ́ ть  push   люби ́ ть love нра ́ виться like   покупа ́ ть  buy sell   продава ́ ть  put on (clothes)   надева  ть ́ take off (clothes)   раздева  ться ́   сади ́ ться get on (bus)   сходи ́ ть get off (bus) meet

 

did/have done

встре ́ тить ожида ́ ть поиска ́ ть найти ́ прожи ́ ть оста остано нови ви ́ тся порабо ́ тать изучи ́ ть научи ́ ться заня ́ ться измени ́ ть почини ́ ть почи ́ стить свари ́ ть пригото ́ вить включи ́ ть вы ́ ключить откры ́ ть закры ́ ть потяну ́ ть толкну ́ ть полюби ́ ть понра ́ виться купи ́ ть прода ́ ть наде ́ ть разде ́ ться сесть сойти ́

For verbs of motion (going, flying, driving) see the section called Verbs of Motion.

36

Existential

In conversational Russian, there is no verb "is" and no verb "have". To state that you have something, restate it as "of me is a ...", and in the negative "of me is not [any of  the things]". Russian doesn't require extra words "any of the". The genitive case itself  means "any of the", so the genitive plural is always used in the negative. past tense): был/была  ́ usually/frequently be: бы ́ вать be (high register): я  виться/явля  ́ ються ́ I have/don't have: у меня  ́ есть/нет you have/don't have: у тебя ́ /вас есть/нет he/she has: у него ́ /неё есть/нет it has: име ́ ть (things as a part of it) there is/isn't (are/arent): есть/нет here is: вот to be enough of  / / this is enough: этого хва ́ тит (of-this is-enough) not be enough / (I) miss someone: (мне) не хва ́ тит кто be in a location: нахо   диться be (in

́

Causative

do: заста ́ вь его ́ сде ́ лать let him do: позво ́ ль его ́ сде ́ лать have/get/request him to do: попроси ́ ть его ́ сде ́ лать tell him to do: скажить ему ́ , чтобы он сде ́ лает teach him how to do: нау ́ чить его ́ , как  как сде сде ́ лать show him how to do: покажи ́ ть его ́ , как  как сде сде ́ лать stop him from doing: мешать/помешать ему сделать make him

Avoidance

avoid: избега ́  ть  prevent: меша ́  ть keep from: не дать, держа ́  ть/держи ́  ть от

37

Expectation

you should: вы должны ́  hope: наде ́  яться/понаде ́  яться wish: хоте ́  л бы expect: ожида ́  ть forgot to: забыл it requires: тре ́  бует Continuity   лать keep doing: продолжа ́  ть/продо ́  лжить ́де it takes time:́ это займёт вре ́  мя spend time: проводи ́  ть/провести ́   вре ́  мя waste time: тра ́  тить/потра ́  тить вре ́  мя leave, stand/bear: терпе ́  ть/потерпе ́  ть   лать start doing something: нача ́  ть ́де Using this verb is easier than the alternative, but you'll need to start getting accustomed to the following kinds of verbs. Many kinds of verbs (especially verbs of motion) use по- as a prefix to indicate the beginning of motion. A lar ge ge number of stative verbs use the prefix за-. And yet another prefix рас- means to break out in an action. to fall in love: полюби ́  ть to start speaking: заговори ́  ть to start crying: запла ́  кать, to break out in tears: распла ́  каться to start laughing: рассмея ́  ться and interestingly: to fall ill заболе ́  ть and to stop talking (literally to fall silent) замолча ́  ть finish doing something: зако ́  нчить Likewise, you can prefix verbs with до- to indicate finished action: to finish reading дочита ́  ть. stop doing something: прекрати ́  ть/переста ́  ть stop something: прекрати ́  ть что stop smoking: переста ́  ть кури ́  ть stop [in order] to smoke: останови ́  ться, чтобы кури ́  ть

38

Proximity

about to/get ready to: собира ́  ться/собра ́  ться  prepare to: гото ́  вить   лко что сде  just did: ́то ́  лать, про ́  сто сде ́  лать Attempt

try: пыта ́  ться I/you failed to: мне/вам не уда ́  лось Evidentiality

сertainly happened: коне ́  чно произошло ́  supposed to have happened: должно ́   бы ́  ло произойти ́  , должно ́   произошёл it's supposed to have been done:́ это должно ́   быть сде ́  лано   жется случи seems to have happened: ́ка ́  лось must have happened: должно ́   случи ́  лось   род ́до   лжен име This city must have a beautiful park: Этот ́го ́  ть краси ́  вый парк. heard that: слы ́  шалось, что...   мать, что... think that: ́ду   дел, как он сде I saw him do: Я ́ви ́  лать I heard him do: Я слы ́  шал, как он сде ́  лать I noticed him do: Я заме ́  тил, как он сде ́  лать

Circumstance

it depends on:́ это зави ́  сит от того ́  Habit   лать  be used to doing: при ́  вык ́де  be used to something: при ́  вык к   льше не ́де   лать don't do anymore: ́бо like to: мне/вам нравится love to: люби ́  ть/полюби ́  ть hate to: ненави ́  деть/возненави ́  деть

39

Modals

could do: мог бы сдела  ть ́ I/you should do: мне/вам сле  дует сдела  ть ́ ́ supposed to do: до  лжен де  лать ́ ́ haven't done yet: ещё не сдела  ть

́

Potential

can: мочь can hear: слы ́  шать can make out, see/tell what it is: разобра ́  ть   жеть may: ́мо I'm/you're allowed to: мне/вам разреше ́  но   жно, ́на   до (compulsion from elsewhere: impersonal) need to: пора ́  , ́ну must: долже ́  н, должна ́  , должны ́   (compulsion from within oneself: change for  gender/number; see Regret below for more) might: мог бы, возмо ́  жно   жет быть, вероя  probably/maybe: ́мо ́  тно, наве ́  рное impossible/forbidden: невозмо ́  жно, нельзя ́  most likely, most probably: скоре ́  е всего ́  Regret   лжен́ этого ́де   лать shouldn't have done it: не ́до    должны   ли сде You should have done that differently: ́Вы ́   бы ́бы ́  лать́ это ина ́  че.   м сле You ought to have written to t o her: ́Ва ́  довало написа ́  ть́ ей.   лать regret doing: сожале ́  ть ́де

Volition   теть want: ́хо would like: хоте ́  л бы thinking of doing: догада ́  ться дела ́  ть   чше́ это сде you better do it: вам ́лу ́  лать (I'd) rather/prefer to do it: продпочёл бы сде ́  лать will (see perfective explanation below)

40

Putting Perfective and Imperfective in Perspective Russian verb conjugation and the total number of tenses tend to be simpler than most other European languages. The biggest difference is with perfective (finished actions) and imperfective (unfinished actions). And these are not tied to tense (time). Because of this there is no one-to-one mapping of English verb tenses with Russian verb tenses. You have to look at the broader meaning of a sentence to determine the correct tense to use. In western European languages we tend to speak of verbs in terms of "perfect" and "imperfect" and "preterite". These terms include both tense (time) and aspect (completion), and usually refer to the past. We don't normally use these terms for  English, but the imperfect would be "was doing", the perfect "have done", and the  preterite "did". "did". In languages like Russian that have imperfective, this refers to any verb in present or   past that is continuing. continuing. The The Russian perfective, on the other other hand, hand, is a completed completed action, of which is impossible to have in the present tense. You can be almost finished with doing something (future), or you could have just finished doing something (past), but you cannot "did" something right now. Verb Grammar

English

habitual

I do (often)

 present

I'm doing (now)

imperfect

I was doing

 preterite

I did

 present perfect

I have done

 past perfect

I had done

41

Perfective verbs differ in that they add prefixes to the beginning of the verb (there are a few exceptions that change internally, or that are completely irregular). In order to grasp the concept of how perfective verbs are created, let me use an example from English. Latin-based

English

Russian

elevate

push up

подня  ть

re pel

push away

оттолкну  ть

exclude

lock out

decelerate

slow down

́

́ исключи  ть ́ замедли  ть ́

English causative verbs have a large variety of resultative complements, for example:  push prices prices up, push someone away, lock someone out, slow down, rope an area off , etc. Now I want you to pay attention to your conversations with people and try to identif identif sentence sentencess with with these these resultati resultative ve com lements. lements. I'm sure ou'll ou'll identif  identif  Just as in the last example, there are situations when you want to take a nicely  prefixed perfective verb that you're using and use it in a conti nuous tense. One can easily do this in Russian by adding a stressed -ва- inside the verb, for example: открыть (to open up) becomes открывать (be opening up).

42

Perspective Past, Present, Future When you're thinking of how to say something in Russian, first think about whether  the action is completed or not (perfective or imperfective) as described above. If it's a verb of motion, think about whether it's definite (unidirectional) or indefinite (multidirectional). Finally, Finally, if the verb occurred in the past, add your -л endings (and don't forget the extra feminine, neuter, or plural vowels). For a continuous action in the future (will be doing), use "will" plus the infinitive. For  completed action "be done with", add с- "with" as a prefix to the verb.   дешь, ́бу   дет, ́бу   дем, ́бу   дете, ́бу   дут] + ́де   лать will be doing: [бу ́  ду, ́бу   лала, ́де   лало, ́де   лали] was doing: [де ́  лал, ́де will get done with: [сде ́  лаю, сде ́  лаешь, сде ́  лает, сде ́  лаем, сде ́  лаете, сде ́  лают]

 be done with: [сде ́  лал, сде ́  лала, сде ́  лало, сде ́  лали] That is pretty much the whole verb tense structure of Russian.

Imperatives Very simple: drop the infinitive ending -ть and add -й (делай). If you're being polite or speaking to a group of people, then add -йте (делайте).

43

Verb Conjugation This next section may feel long and intimidating. We're here to help you pick up the  patterns, so I strongly recommend to read through the contents of the table s presented here line by line so that you can feel the patterns as they emerge. You might want to keep these tables as a future reference, but you shouldn't force yourself to memorize all of their contents. All Russian verbs are listed in dictionaries in their infinitive form:

делать = to be doing (this is imperfective, it's continuous) сделать = to get done with (this is perfective, it's finished) The -ть ending on the verb tells you it's in infinitive. It means it's not conjugated for  any particular person or tense yet. To conjugate in the present tense (I'm doing, you're doing,

he's doing, we're doing,

you're doing, they're doing), apply the following endings: Present Tense of де  лать (to do), теря  ть (to lose), боле  ть (to hurt) infinitive

де ́ лать лать doing

теря ́ ть losing

́

I

you

́ he/she/it

де ́ лаю лаю

де ́ лаешь лаешь

де ́ лает лает

теря ́ ю

теря ́ ешь

теря ́ ет

́

you

they

де ́ лаем лаем

де ́ лаете лаете

де ́ лают лают

теря ́ ем

теря ́ ете

теря ́ ют

we

боле ́ ть

боле ́ ю боле ́ ешь боле ́ ет боле ́ ем боле ́ ете боле ́ ют Past Tense of де  лать (to do), сде  лать (to be done with), теря  ть (to lose), боле  ть (to hurt) ́ ́ ́ ́ he/she/it they infinitive I you we you де ́ лать лать де ́ лал/ла лал/ла де ́ лал/ла лал/ла де ́ лал/ла/ло лал/ла/ло де ́ лали лали де ́ лали лали де ́ лали лали did/have hurting

done

сде ́ лать лать

сде ́ лал/ла лал/ла  be done with теря ́ ть теря ́ л/ла lost боле ́ ть боле ́ л/ла hurt

сде ́ лал/ла/ лал/ла/ ло

сде ́ лали лали

сде ́ лали лали

сде ́ лали лали

теря ́ л/ла теря ́ л/ла/ло

теря ́ ли

теря ́ ли

теря ́ ли

боле ́ л/ла боле ́ л/ла/ло

боле ́ ли

боле ́ ли

боле ́ ли

сде ́ лал/ла лал/ла

44

ense де ́ лать (to do), теря ́ ть (to lose), боле ́ ть (to hurt), and perfective сде ́ лать (get done with) infinitive you he/she/it we you they I де ́ лать лать бу ́ дешь бу ́ дет бу ́ дем бу ́ дете бу ́ дут бу ́ ду де ́ лать will be де ́ лать де ́ лать де ́ лать де ́ лать де ́ лать Future T

doing

теря ́ ть will be losing

боле ́ ть will be hurting

сде ́ лать лать

get done with

бу ́ ду теря ́ ть

бу ́ дешь теря ́ ть

бу ́ дет теря ́ ть

бу ́ дем теря ́ ть

бу ́ дете теря ́ ть

бу ́ дут теря ́ ть

бу ́ ду боле ́ ть

бу ́ дешь боле ́ ть

бу ́ дет боле ́ ть

бу ́ дем боле ́ ть

бу ́ дете боле ́ ть

бу ́ дут боле ́ ть

сде ́ лаю лаю

сде ́ лаешь лаешь

се ́ лает лает

сде ́ лаем лаем

сде ́ лаете лаете

сде ́ лают лают

The past and future patterns will stay the same for all other verbs. Now the only thing you need to master are the individual conjugational patterns for each kind of infinitive ending. The next few charts show these patterns.

infinitive ночева ночева ́ ть

spending the night

I

you

he/she/it

we

you

they

ночу ночу ́ ю

ночу ночу ́ ешь

ночу ночу ́ ет

ночу ночу ́ ем

ночу ночу ́ ете

ночу ночу ́ ют

сове ́ товать   сове ́ тую   сове ́ туешь   сове ́ тует   сове ́ туем   сове ́ туете   сове ́ туют advising тре ́ бовать тре ́ бую тре ́ буешь тре ́ бует тре ́ буем тре ́ буете тре ́ буют demanding це ́ ловать це ́ лую це ́ луешь це ́ лует це ́ луем це ́ луете це ́ луют kissing

45

The next set of verbs are all perfective. Notice that each of these verbs have -ну- in the stem. This indicates the verb is instantaneous or semelfactive. It finishes at soon as it happens. In the following table is the first reflexive verb to appear. The reflexive ending

contains an {s/с} as in "self/собой". The ending is added to the end of the word. One ending is used to attach to a vowel, the other is for attaching to a consonant. infinitive

обману обману ́ ть deceive

сту ́ кнуть кнуть knock 

I

you

he/she/it

we

you

they

обману обману ́

обма ́ нешь

обма ́ нет

обма ́ нем

обма ́ нете

обма ́ нут

сту ́ кну кну

сту ́ кнешь кнешь

сту ́ кнет кнет

сту ́ кнем кнем

сту ́ кнете кнете

сту ́ кнут кнут

просну просну ́ ться просну просну ́ сь проснёшься проснёшься проснётся проснётся проснёмся проснёмся проснётесь проснётесь просну просну ́ тся wake up Here are a few more semelfactive verbs. In this situation, the past tense stem

completely loses -ну-. infinitive

I

you

he/she/it

we

you

they

исче ́ знуть знуть

исче ́ зну зну ́ исче ́ з-/ла

исче ́ знешь знешь исче ́ з-/ла

исче ́ знет знет исче ́ з-/ла/ ло па ́ хнет хнет

исче ́ знем знем исче ́ зли

исче ́ знете знете исче ́ зли

исче ́ знут знут исче ́ зли

disappear  disappeared

па ́ хнуть хнуть

па ́ хну хну па ́ хнешь хнешь па ́ хнем хнем па ́ хнете хнете па ́ хнут хнут smell of  па ́ х-/ла па ́ х-/ла па ́ х-/ла/ло па ́ хли па ́ хли па ́ хли smelled of  кну привы ́ кнешь кнешь привы ́ кнет кнет привы ́ кнем кнем привы ́ кнете кнете привы ́ кнут кнут привы ́ кнуть кнуть привы ́ кну get used to привы ́ к-/ла/ привы ́ кли привы ́ кли привы ́ кли  ́ к-/ла привы ́ к-/ла got used to привы ло

46

The following set of verbs are those that end in

-ить. Verbs that have specific

consonants at the end of their root require a small change before the conjugated

ending: б>бл, в>вл, м>мл, п>пл, з>ж, д>ж, с>ш, т>ч, т>щ, ст>щ. infinitive

ко ́ нчить нчить finish

I

you

he/she/it

we

you

they

ко ́ нчу нчу

ко ́ нчишь нчишь

ко ́ нчит нчит

ко ́ нчим нчим

ко ́ нчите нчите

ко ́ нчат нчат

стро ́ ить  

стро ́ ю   стро ́ ишь   стро ́ ит   стро ́ им   стро ́ ите   стро ́ ят

спеши спеши ́ ть  

спешу спешу ́   спеши спеши ́ шь   спеши спеши ́ т   спеши спеши ́ м   спеши спеши ́ те   спешáт спешáт

 build

hurry

корми корми ́ ть   feed

кормлю кормлю ́

ко  рмишь  рм ́ ишь

ко  рмит  рм ́ ит

The following set of verbs are those that end in infinitive

висе висе ́ ть hang

зави ́ сеть   depend

ко  рмим  рм ́ им

ко ́ рмите  рмите

ко  рмят  рм ́ ят

-еть.

I

you

he/she/it

we

you

they

вишу вишу ́

виси виси ́ шь

виси виси ́ т

виси виси ́ м

виси виси ́ те

вися вися ́ т

зави ́ шу   зави ́ сишь   зави ́ сит   зави ́ сим   зави ́ сите   зави ́ сят

47

Verbs that end in infinitive

смея смея ́ ться laugh at

-ать with -у, -ёт, -ет conjugations. I

you

he/she/it

we

you

they

смею смею ́ сь

смеёшься смеёшься

смеётся смеётся

смеёмся смеёмся

смеётесь смеётесь

смею смею ́ тся

наде ́ яться   наде ́ юсь   наде ́ ешься   наде ́ ется   hope for  связа связа ́ ть   свяжу свяжу ́ свя ́ жешь свя ́ жет select  разберу  разберу ́   разберёшь разберёшь   разберёт разберёт    разобра  разобра ́ ть discern, tell  разобра л/ла   разобра л/ла    разобра ́л/   ́ ́ ́ ́ ла ́ /́ло ло

наде ́ емся   наде ́ етесь   наде ́ ются свя ́ жем свя ́ жете свя ́ жут разберём разберём   разберёте разберёте   разберу разберу ́ т разобра ́ ли   разобра ́ ли   разобра ́ ли

Russian has a small group of verbs that end in consonants where the infinitive changes to -ти. infinitive

везти везти ́ select

I

you

he/she/it

we

you

they

везу везу ́

везёшь везёшь

везёт везёт

везём везём

везёте везёте

везу везу ́ т

ведём ведём

ведёте ведёте

вести вести ́

веду веду ́ ведёшь ведёшь ведёт ведёт пропаду пропад у ́   пропадёшь пропадёшь   пропадёт пропадёт   пропа ́ сть discern, tell пропа  л/ла   пропа  л/ла   пропа ́ л/ла/  ́ ́ ло совпаду совпад у ́   совпадёшь совпадёшь   совпадёт совпадёт   совпа ́ сть   совпа ́ л/ла/ coincide совпа ́ л/ла   совпа ́ л/ла ло   ся ́ ду ся ́ дешь ся ́ дет сесть сесть take a seat се ́ л/ла се ́ л/ла се ́ л/ла/ло discern, tell

48

веду веду ́ т пропадём пропадём   пропадёте пропадёте   пропаду пропаду ́ т пропа ́ ли   пропа ́ ли   пропа ́ ли совпадём совпадём   совпадёте совпадёте   совпаду совпаду ́ т совпа ́ ли   совпа ́ ли   совпа ́ ли ся ́ дем се ́ ли

ся ́ дете се ́ ли

ся ́ дут се ́ ли

There are a small group of verbs with infinitive

-чь that have velar-palatalization

changes in their conjugation. infinitive

жечь жечь  burning

мочь мочь able

обже ́ чь

 burn the  body

помо ́ чь help

 развле ́ чь entertain

I

you

he/she/it

we

you

they

жгу ́ жгу

жжёшь жжёшь

жжёт жжёт

жжём жжём

жжёте жжёте

жгу ́ т жгу

могу могу ́ обожгу обожгу ́   обжёг/ обожгла обожгла ́ помогу помогу ́   помо ́ г/ помогла помогла ́  развлеку  развлеку ́    развлёк/  развлекла  развлекла ́

мо ́ жешь мо ́ жет обожжёшь обожжёшь   обожжёт обожжёт обжёг/ обжёг/ обожгла обожгла ́ обожгла обожгла ́ помо ́ жешь   помо ́ жет помо ́ г/ помо ́ г/ помогла помогла ́ помогла помогла ́ развлечёшь развлечёшь   развлечёт развлечёт  развлёк/  развлёк/  развлекла  развлекла ́  развлекла  развлекла ́

Some verbs ending in infinitive infinitive

пить drink 

мо ́ жем мо ́ жете мо ́ гут   обожжём обожжём   обожжёте обожжёте   обожгу обожгу ́ т   обожги обожги ́   обожги обожги ́   обожги обожги ́   помо ́ жем   помо ́ жете   помо ́ гут   помоги помоги ́   помоги помоги ́   помоги помоги ́   развлечём развлечём   развлечёте развлечёте   развлеку развлеку ́ т   развлеки развлеки ́   развлеки развлеки ́   развлеки развлеки ́

-ить that have a special conjugation pattern.

I

you

he/she/it

we

you

they

пью пью

пьёшь пьёшь

пьёт пьёт

пьём пьём

пьёте пьёте

пьют пьют

49

Infinitives that end in infinitive

-авать drop part of the stem -аю.

I

ава ́ ть

узн

you

аю ́

 be finding out

he/she/it

аёшь

узн

аёт

узн

закр

ы ́ ть

close

I  

закр

you

о ́ ю

 

о ́ ешь

закр

There is a group of verbs that insert

they

аёте

узн

аю ́ т

узн

узн

-авать.

he/she/it  

you

аём

узн

Conjugation pattern for verbs that end in infinitive

we

о ́ ет

закр

we  

о ́ ем

закр

you  

закр

о ́ ете

they  

о ́ ют

закр

-м- or -н- into the conjugated forms. Here are a

few examples from common verbs. infinitive

ять

вз

take

ать

ж

shake, squeeze

а ́ ть

нач

 begin, start

I  

you

му ́

возь

му

ж

ну ́

нач

 

мёшь

возь

мёшь

ж

нёшь

нач

he/she/it  

мёт

возь

мёт

ж

нёт

нач

50

we  

мём

возь

мём

ж

нём

нач

you  

мёте

возь

мёте

ж

нёте

нач

they  

му ́ т

возь

мут

ж

ну ́ т

нач

Russian has few irregular verbs. Here are a few of the most common ones. infinitive

быть  be

забыть забыть forget

идти идти ́ go went

жить live

плыть плыть swim, sail

стать стать stand

бежа бежа ́ ть run

хот хоте ́ ть want

есть есть eat

е ́ хать

go by vehicle

 

I

you

-

-

 

he/she/it

we

you

they

есть

-

-

-

забу ́ ду   забу ́ дешь   забу ́ дет   забу ́ дем   забу ́ дете   забу ́ дут иду иду идёшь идёшь идёт идёт идём идём идёте идёте идут идут шёл шёл/шла /шла

шёл шёл/шла /шла

шёл шёл/шла /шла

шли

шли

шли

живу живу ́

живёшь живёшь

живёт живёт

живём живём

живёте живёте

живу живу ́ т

  плыву плыву ́   плывёшь плывёшь   плывёт плывёт   плывём плывём   плывёте плывёте   плыву плыву ́ т ста ́ ну

ста ́ нешь

ста ́ нет

ста ́ нем

ста ́ нете

ста ́ нут

бегу бегу ́

бежи бежи ́ шь

бежи бежи ́ т

бежи бежи ́ м

бежи бежи ́ те

бегу бегу ́ т

хоч хочу ́

хо ́ чешь

хо ́ чет

хот хоти ́ м

хоти хоти ́ те

хотя хотя ́ т

ем

ешь

ест ест

еди еди ́ м

еди еди ́ те

едя едя ́ т

е ́ ду

е ́ дешь

е ́ дет

е ́ дем

е ́ дете

е ́ дут

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Verbs of Motion Russian verbs of motion, like other verbs, come in pairs. However, the pairs are unidirectional and multidirectional, which then each have imperfective and perfective forms. Here is a list of base pairs in imperfective (with applicable perfective forms in  parentheses). As demonstrated, each of the verbs can be made perfective wit h  prefixes to add more layers of meaning, examples of which are given below the following table. Unid Unidir irec ecti tion onal al

бежа ́ ть (pf побежа ́ ть) брести ́   вести ́ (pf повести ́ ) везти ́ (pf повезти ́ , отвезти ́ , свезти ́ ) гнать (pf погна ́ ть, загна ́ ть) е ́ хать (pf пое ́ хать) кати ́ ть (pf покати ́ ть) лезть (pf зале ́ зть, влезть, поле ́ зть) лете ́ ть (pf полете ́ ть) нести ́ (pf понести ́ ) плыть (pf поплы ́ ть) ползти ́ (pf поползти ́ ) тащи ́ ть (pf вы ́ тащить,

Mul Multi tidi dirrecti ection onal al

бе ́ гать (pf побе ́ гать) броди ́ ть   води ́ ть вози ́ ть гоня ́ ть (pf погоня ́ ть) е ́ здить/езжа ́ ть (pf пое ́ здить) ката ́ ть (pf поката ́ ть) ла ́ зить (pf пола ́ зить) лета ́ ть (pf полета ́ ть) носи ́ ть (pf износи ́ ть, наноси ́ ть, ...) пла ́ вать (pf попла ́ вать) полза ́ ть (pf попо ́ лзать) таска ́ ть (pf таска ́ ть)

Engl En glis ish h

to run to stroll/wander  to lead/drive to carry by vehicle

to drive to go by vehicle to ride to climb to fly to carry (hands/body), wear  to swim to crawl to pull

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стащи ́ ть) идти ́ (pf пойти ́ )

ходи ́ ть (pf сходи ́ ть)

to go by foot

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Meanings of a few of the perfective forms:

побе ́ гать: run for a while повезти ́ : be lucky, work out, succeed отвезти ́ : take/drive away свезти ́ : transport/drive there and back  погна ́ ть: drive, to tell a lie загна ́ ть: drive/hammer into, to fatigue, to sell ge on погоня ́ ть: drive on, ur ge зале ́ зть: climb up, get into, scramble влезть (не в своё де ́ ло): meddle, pry (in one's business) поле ́ зть: get into пола ́ зить: climb up понести ́ : carry/suffer a loss, get carried away; pregnant наноси ́ ть: deposit, pile up сноси ́ ть: carry/pull down, tolerate поплы ́ ть: start swimming попла ́ вать: swim for a while Prefixes for verbs of motion include the following: в: movement into an enclosed place вы: movement out of an enclosed place при: arrival or bringing of something to a place у: departure or removal of something from a place за: movement behind something; stopping at a place on the way до: movement to от: movement away from вз/вс: movement upward с: movement downward  раз/рас: scattering scattering movement под: approaching to пере: movement across про: movement past, through, or via a set distance об: movement around, or through various locations Students often ask: what is the difference between уйти and пойти? They seem to mean the same thing. Leaving in general is уйти, and leaving for a specific destination like work or home is пойти. Your Your sentence sounds  better if you mention mention the destination destination when using пойти.

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Adverbs Adverbs created from other parts of speech (like "good" to "well") simply change the

word ending to -о. So "good" (хорошый) becomes "well" (хорошо). "Rare" (редкий)  becomes "rarely" "rarely" (редк (редко). о). Some very common adverbs like "now" (здесь) are not formed from another word, so they won't have the -о ending. There is no specific position for adverbs in the sentence. Native speakers put them where they feel they enhance the meaning best. Other than the uses listed below, adverbs are frequently a function of verbs and may even be modal verbs in your own language. Russian has what is known as impersonal constructions that put the subject of the sentence into the dative case, together with an adverb functioning as a modal verb. The most frequently seen one is: need to'.

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мне нужно 'I

Adverbs of Location Source

where from from here from there from somewhere from nowhere from inside from outside from above from below

отку ́ да отсю ́ да отту ́ да откуда ́ -то, отку ́ данибудь никуда ́ изнутри ́ снару ́ жи све  рху ́ сни ́ зу

Appropriate prepositions used with куда: куда: accusative: в, на, за, под dative: к

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Location

where here there somewhere nowhere

on the right on the left in front  behind inside outside above

 below everywhere

at home

где здесь, тут там где ́ -то, где ́ -нибудь нигде ́ напра ́ во нале ́ во вспереди ́ сза ́ ди внутри ́ снару ́ жи наверху ́ внизу ́ везде ́ до ́ ма

Appropriate prepositions used with где: где:  prepositional: в, на genitive: у instrumental: за, под

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Goal/Destination

where to to here to there to somewhere to nowhere to the right to the left forward  backwards to inside to outside upwards downwards homewards

куда ́ сюда ́ туда ́ куда ́ -то, куда ́ -нибудь нитокуда ́ напра ́ во нале ́ во вперёд назад внутрь нару ́ жу наве  рх ́ вниз домо ́ й

Appropriate prepositions used with откуда: откуда: genitive: из, с, от, из-за, из-под

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Adverbs of Time

 

when

 

at one time, once

 

sometime how long how frequently yesterday

 

 

today tomorrow

in the morning

 

during the day in the evening

 

in the spring in the summer  in the autumn

 

in the winter 

 

a long time ago

 

not long ago for a long time for a short time earlier 

 

in the beginning

 

later 

 

early late in time soon always usually

 

sometimes never  frequently rarely

 

когда ́ когда ́ -то когда ́ -нибудь ско ́ лько вре ́ мени как ча ́ сто вчера ́ сего ́ дня за ́ втра у ́ тром диём ве ́ чером весно ́ й ле ́ том о ́ сенью зимо ́ й давно ́ недавно ́ до ́ лго недо ́ лго ра ́ ньше снача ́ ла пото ́ м ра ́ но по ́ здно во ́ время ско  ро ́ все ́ гда обы ́ чно иногда ́ никогда ́ ча ́ сто ре ́ дко

Adverbs of Manner

As noted in the introduction, almost any word can become an adverb of manner by adding -о. 59

Adverbs of Measure and Degree very quite

     

almost enough too a lot a little amount

 

not much twice

 

twice as much thrice

 

thrice as much so then

 

so much/many why

 

that's why

   

for some reason how somehow in no way

 

о ́ чень совсе ́ м почти ́ доста ́ точно сли ́ шком мно ́ го ма ́ ло немно ́ го два ́ жды вдво ́ е три ́ жды втро ́ е так тогда ́ сто ́ лько почему ́ потому ́ почему ́ -то как ка ́ к-нибудь ника ́ к

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Time Expressions Next and Last and Times

The English word "last" is ambiguous. It can mean the last item in a series (the last month that I saw her ), it can also mean the previous time to present (I saw her last month). Be careful to distinguish between these two kinds of "last" when speaking a foreign language. Likewise, the word "time" is ambiguous. Be careful to distinguish when counting the "times" that something has happened in a sequence, and use раз. The phrase 'for the last time' is also using 'last' in a sequence: в после ́  дный раз (notice the root сле ́  д indicating sequence/following). Compare this with 'the last time' в про ́  шлый раз. next week: на про ́  шлой неде ́  ле   сяце next month: в про ́  шлом ́ме   тницу next Friday: в про ́  шлую ́пя next year: в про ́  шлом году ́  next time in a series: после ́  дный the last (previous): про ́  шлый the last time I was here: в про ́  шлый раз, когда ́   я был здесь   сяце в после last month for the last time: в про ́  шлом ́ме ́  дный раз   ша прева our first and last opportunity: ́на ́  я и после ́  дняя возмо ́  жность on the following Sunday: в сле ́  дующее воскресе ́  нье   дущее воскресе next Sunday: в ́бу ́  нье   дом его last year was the last year of his life: про ́  шлый год был после ́  дним ́го ́   жи ́  зни

the following/next morning: на дру ́  гое / сле ́  дуюущее́ утро   чер the following/next evening: на дру ́  гой / сле ́  дующий ́ве the following/next day: на дру ́  гой / сле ́  дующий день the day before: накану ́  не + genitive twice a week: два раза ́   в неде ́  лю five times a year: пять раз в год six times a day: шесть часо ́  в в день   ждую неде every week: ́ка ́  лю   ждый ́ме   сяц every month: ́ка   ждую ́пя   тницу every Friday: ́ка   ждый год every year: ́ка

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Then

This is also an ambiguous word in English. In Russian, be sure to distinguish between at a later point in time пото ́  м, and then зате ́  м (time sequence), and at that specific time тогда ́   which answers когда ́  . (later time) see you later/then: пото ́  м (succession) and then: зате ́  м (succession) first, and then, finally: снача ́  ла, зате ́  м, наконе ́  ц (at that time) do this, then you'll know: тогда ́  Time Duration

 Notice the difference in the use of на in the following sentences. He's been here for a week: Он здесь уже ́   неде ́  лю He came here for a week: Он прие ́  хал сюда ́   на неде ́  лю   хал навсегда He's gone forever: Он ́уе ́  Time: before and by   лжен ́ко   нчить́ это до субботы. I have to finish this before Saturday: Я ́до   лжен ́ко   нчить́ это к субботе. I have to finish this by Saturday: Я ́до

Time: use of через   рез пять дней in five days: ́че   рез неде after a week: ́че ́  лю   рез пять дней ́по   сле его five days after his arrival: ́че ́   прие ́  зда   рез ́ка   ждые двадцать мину every twenty minutes: ́че ́  т   рез ́ка   ждые ́де   сять страни every ten pages: ́че ́  ц   рез день every other day: ́че

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Time: use of пор

until when: до каки ́  х пор since when: с каки ́  х пор until now: до сих пор ever since then: с тех пор Time: don't be negative!

English is a bit misleading in its use of 'until', as we frequently use negative sentence structures to delay a future action. In many languages, starting a sentence with can't or  won't negates the actions for the listener, likewise, when speaking foreign languages English speakers should take caution and distinguish whether or not they are describing truly negated actions:   лько в сре He didn't come until Wednesday: Он прие ́  хал ́то ́  ду   лько в про   сяце He won't come until next month: Он прие ́  дет ́то ́  шлом ́ме

Time: Repeated Frequency Frequency with по

in the evenings: по вечера ́  м on Thursdays: по четверга ́  м

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Prepositions I should take a moment and relate a personal story. As someone who has spent a long time learning Russian, I find that memorizing masculine/feminine/neuter case endings for every variety of noun quite ineffective. I've found that the only time I've actually remembered them is through real-life experiences. This is part of the reason behind why and how I built the Glossika audio training platform for dozens of complex languages. 1) Grammar tables don't really work and 2) native speakers can't even name all the endings in a table without context. So, fluency really isn't about knowing all the grammar tables, it's about being able to feel what's right and using it at the right time. Up to this point, I haven't presented any of the Russian cases. And for good reason: it really is overwhelming. Let's not make Russian harder than it has to be. Every author has treated prepositions the same way: which verbs use which  prepositions,  prepositions, and which which cases cases prepositions prepositions govern. govern. I'm working working on a new approach approach in a forthcoming book that helps train the cases in various languages. The best way to get familiar with noun cases and the prepositions used with them is to simply read a lot. This is called mass input. Unfortunately reading doesn't give you much fluency because you're lacking response time and motor skills in your tongue. The best way to build up your speaking and listening fluency is to get a free account on Glossika's platform. You can give it a try for as long as you like, there's no obligation. If you feel that it fulfills a need for you, then I would recommend upgrading to the full subscription. When you start using it aggressively, you can make huge progress in just two to three months.

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Conjunctions Common and: и and/but: а  but/however: но or:́ или either...or:́ или...и ́  ли neither...nor: ни...ни in order to: что ́  бы if: если if/whether: ли  because: потому ́   что

Time when/while/after: когда ́  while/until: пока ́ 

Various no matter what: во что ́   бы ни ста ́  ло since you're here: так как вы здесь, поско ́  льку вы здесь

A very convenient way to master these

grammar patterns during

your busy schedule is by using the audio on Glossika. It's hands-free, and builds up your listening and speaking skills.

Sign up now

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3

Roots Noun Prefixes

без-: without, disза-: beyond, on the other side of  между-: between, mesoна-: on над-: super-, over, above не-: not, non-, unпере-: re-, secondary по-: area along a coast or river  под-: under, subпра-: pre-, proto-, great- (family relative) пред-: before, preпри-: near, adjoining, sub-, additional, secondary про-: a trace of something противо-: anti-, counterраз-: high degree of something сверх-: superсо-: with, co-, col-, con-, com-, cor-

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Foreign Noun Prefixes а-: without анти-: antiархи-: archвице-: viceгипер-: hyperде-: (дез-) de-, disдиз-: (дес-) disконтр-: contra-, counterобер-: over-, superпро-: pro-, for, in place of  прото-: protoпсевдо-: pseudoре-: reсуб-: subсупер-: superультра-: ultraэкс-: ex-

Noun Suffixes Agents: -ака, -ант/ент, -арь, -атор, -ач, -ёр, -ец, -ист, -лка, -ло, -льник, льщик, -ьник, -ок/ток, -тель, -ун, -ьшик/ьчик -ьшик/ьчик Abstract: -аж, -знь, -ие, -ье, -изм, -изна, -ица, -ия, -я/ьа, -ость, -ота, ьство, -ьствие, -ть, -ция, -ь Collective: -ие, -ье, -ьство, -ьствие Diminutive: -онька/енька, -ец, -ишка/ишко, -ъка, -ъко, -ок/ток, -ушка, ьце/ьцо, -ышко Experiencer: -лец Female: -ыня, -иня, -иха, -ъка, -ьша Inhabitant: -янин/анин, -ин, -ич Location: -ище, -ина, -ьница, -ьня  Name: -ович, -овна  Nominalization:  Nominalization: -а, -ак, -як, -ьба, -ёж, -еж, -ение/енье, -ец, -ъка, -ние/нье, -ьня, -ок/ток, -тие, -тьё Object of action: -ат, -ина, -лина, -ок/ток Profession: -ик Young: ёнок, -онок

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Adjective Prefixes вне-: outside, extraвнутри-: inside, intraдо-: pre-, before еже-: each, every интер-: interмеж-: interнаи-: most, used for superlatives небез-: not without около-: around, circumпо-: divided into units, postпре-: very, greatly транс-: across, transчрез-: across, transэкстра-: extra-

Adjective Suffixes -ав/яв: verb ending -аст: having a lot of  -ат: possessing/having it -ейший: high degree, superlative -енький: diminutive -ий: possessive -ин: possessive, characteristic -ист: charaterized by -к: adjective ending -ьлив: characterized by -ьн: a common suffix -ьнь: time, position, relation -ов: possessive, pertaining to social class -оват: characteristic to a degree -ьск: proper/place name -ян: containing something

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Verb Prefixes

в-: movement into вз-: (взо-, вс-) movement up, begin an action suddenly воз-: renewal, repetition вы-: out of, thoroughly (always stressed in perfective verbs) до-: as far as, up to a point, complete an action, do more of  за-: behind, beyond, a long way, begin, cover/close из-: (ис-) similar to English ex-, out of  на-: movement onto, into, do a certain quantity of  над-: super-, do superficially недо-: do insufficiently, less than expected низ-: downward о-: (об-, обо-) movement around, surrounding, comprehensively, overtaking обез-: loss of  от-: (ото-) movement away from, off of progressively пере-: (пре-) movement across, beyond a limit, excessively; again, redo по-: short time duration, limited extent под-: from below, supportive, towards, upwards пред-: preceding, in advance, anticipating (English fore-) при-: movement to, attachment про-: movement by, past, through, for a definite time period раз-: (рас-) dis-, apart, scatter (reflexive), intensely, negated action, progressive increase с-: (сo-) movement off, down from, convergence (English con-) у-: movement away from, achievement of purpose

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Verb Suffixes

If a verb is already in perfective form, you can make it imperfective with the following suffixes: -ай-: imperfective infix (with stress) -вай-: imperfective infix (with stress) -ывай-: imperfective infix (without stress) -ну-: (-нов- in verbal nouns) do something quickly or once

Other verbal suffixes: -ей-: become/appear as such -и-: causative, caused to be as such -ничай-: play/work the role of  -ну-: (imperfective, disappears in past) become a state -ова/ева- : attached to foreign words

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Index of Roots Recommendation on How to Use

I strongly recommend coming back frequently to browse through this list of roots as they can be particularly helpful in acquiring a large vocabulary. For example, taking a look at some recent news articles, we can break down vocabulary that you may not know yet by looking at the roots, learning their underlying meanings to help you remember the new vocabulary. 1. отмет отметил ил представ представитель итель прав правоо оохран хранительных ительных орган органов ов от- мет- ил пред-став- и- тель прав-о- о- хран- и- тель-ных орган-ов out-note-PST fore-stand-ing-AGT rights- sur-protect-ing-AGTPL organ-PL

noted a representative of the law enforcement agencies 2. увелич величивает ивает продолж продолжительность ительность жизн  жизни и прост простых ых организм организмов ов у- величи-вает про- долж- и- тель-ность жизн-и прост- ых организм- ов achieve greaten-ing past-length-ing-AGT- ness life-of simpleof organisms-of

increases life expectancy of simple organisms методы ы отмен отмены ы стар старения ения на люд людях ях 3. метод метод- ы от- мен- ы стар-ен- ия на люд- ях method-PL out-alter-PL old- en-ABS on people-PL

methods of reversing aging in humans  жиданнее побоч  жиданнее побочные ные эффект эффекты ы 4. нео не-о- жид- ан-нее по- боч- н- ые эффект-ы un-sur-wait-en-more past-side-Adj-PL effect-PL

unexpected side ef fects fects (note: бок → боч)

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5. курс доллар доллара а взлет взлетел ел полугод полугодичных ичных максимум максимумов ов курс доллар-а вз-лет-ел полу-год- ич-н- ых максимум-ов course dollar-of up-fly-PST half-year-ly-Adj-PL maximum- PL

the dollar rate soared to six-month highs 6. курс доллар доллара а расчет расчетами ами рос рос на  на Москов Московской ской бирж бирже е во втор вторник ник на 68 копеков копеков курс доллар-а рас-чет- ами рос на Москов-ской бирж-е во вторник на 68 копек-ов course dollar-of dis-count-PL rose on Moscow-Adj bourse at 2nd- AGT on 68 kopek-PL

the discounted dollar exchange rate rose on the Moscow stock exchange on Tuesday by 68 kopecks 7. относ относительно ительно хорош хорошими ими данн данными ыми по роз розничным ничным продаж продажам ам в США от- нос- и- тель-но хорош-ими данн-ыми по роз- ничн-ым продаж-ам в США out-carry-ing-AGT- ly good- PL data-PL by seprt-Adj- PL produce-PL at USA

relatively good data on retail sales in the US (note: retail is from Romance re-tagl- (re-cut), that is, the person who takes another cut of sales)

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List of Roots

ал: scarlet алк: hunger, greed бав: add, amuse за-бав: amuse say, sing баи: tell, speak, say, басн: tale, fable бал: spoil, indulge бар: noble, gentle, lord бд: awake, alert бод: awake, alert, hearty, brisk, cheerful, courage бодр бег: run, flee, -fuge бед: vic-, vinc-, trouble, misfortune, poverty бел: alb-, white берег: bank, shore, bound, limit брег, брёг берёг: guard, watch, save, preserve бес: mad, fury, rage, devil, demon бий: beat, strike, hit бой: beat, battle, fight, slaughter, sharp бив, бьй благ: good, bless, welfare болог блёв: vomit блед: pale блей: bleat блёк: pale, fade блёск: sparkle, shine, glitter  блест, блист близ: proxi-, near  way, sin блуд: roam, wander, lose one's way, блюд: dish бог: riches, lavish, god бог-ат: rich бод: butt бой: fear  бок: side, lateral бол: pain, sick, hurt; big, large болот: swamp 73

болт: stir, shake, hang, chatter  бор: fight, struggle борон: -fend, -fense, fight бород: beard брад бос: barefoot бр: -lect, take (compare EN: bear, -fer) берем: load, burden, pregnant бер, бир, беремён, брем, бремен бран: scold, abuse, curse брат: frat-, brother  брёд: wander, roam брод брезг: disgust, squeamish брий: shave брей брон: armor  брос: throw, hurl, abandon брызг: splash, splatter, sprinkle брюзг: grumble буд буд: waken, rouse, excite; future (compare EN: future, physic) блюд: -vise, observe, watch буи: rage, storm, wild, violent букв: liter-, letter  бур: storm бух: swell, puff up быв: be, exist бы быстр: swift, fast ваг: weight, esteem, important (compare EN: weigh, DE: wichtig) важ, вес вал: pile up, throw, wave, roll (compare EN: to well, -volve) вар: boil, cook (compare EN: burn) вдов: widow вед: know (compare EN: wit) повест: tell, tale, story совест: conscience вежл: polite вест вёз: veh-, -vey, convey by vehicle, -port, -fer, -duct вёд: -fer, -late, -duce, -duct, lead воз, вод вей: blow ветр: wind 74

век: long time, century, age, life вел: command, order, will велик: great вер: faith, trust, believe, true, sure (compare EN: very, verify, DE: wahr) верг: -ject, throw верз: open верст верх: top, upper, surface (compare EN -ver/-per: over, super, sovereinty, superior) вес: -pend, hand; weight (compare Spanish: pes-, DE: Wacht) вис весёл: happy вет: say, speak  обет (об-вет): promise ветх: old, decrepit вещ: thing, substance, essence в-за-им: mutual вид: -spect, see, vision, appearance за-вид: envy обид (об-вид): offend вист визг: squeal, squeak  вий: to wind, twist вих: twist, hurl, throw, wave винт: screw, spiral раз-вий: develop, unwind вив, вьй вин: -cuse, guilt, fault, blame влаг: moisture, damp вн: outside, out вън, вон вод: aqua-, hydro-, water, marine вад вой: war, military вол: will, free (compare EN: volition) до-вол, довл: suffice, satisfy звол: permit вл волн: wave, agitation волод: domin-, rule, power, possess влад: strong (compare EN: wield, valid, prevail) облад (об-влад) : rule власт волок: -tract, pull, drag, attract; -velop, wrap 75

облёк (об-влёк): vest, clothe влак, влёк волх: magic вон: smell, stink  воп: cry out, shout вор: steal, thief  ворк: grumble ворот: -vert, -vort, -verse, -volve, turn оборот (об-ворот): revol-, turn обрат (об-врат): revol-, reverse, turn вёрт, вёрт, верет, врат, врат, обёр, обё р, обёрт об ёрт (об-вёрт) (об- вёрт) вр: lie, talk nonsense вир, вьр враг: enm-, inim-, enemy вражд вред: harm, injury, damage врем: temp-, tempor-, time времён вс: omni-, all, entire втор: second вый: howl вой, выв вык: custom, accustom, habit обык (об-вык): accustom, custom ( обычно) выс: alt-, high вяд: fade вял вяз: -nect, bind, tie, join, stick, adhere (compare EN: viscous) обяз (об-вяз): obligate гад: guess, divine; vile, nasty, filthy гас: extinguish гб: bend, flexible, supple гиб: perish, ruin, destruction губ: ruin, destroy гн: bend гд: time год год: time, year, fitting, proper  выгод: advantage гъд глав: capit-, head, chief, principal голов: head глаз: eye глот: gulp, swallow (compare EN: glottis) глуб: deep 76

глух: deaf, dull, remote глох гляд: look, glance гн: drive, chase гон гнев: anger, wrath гнёт: oppress гний: rot, decay гной гнус: vile, repulsive, shun гов: beef, cow говор: talk, speech гол: bare, naked голод: hunger  голос: voice (compare EN: vox, vocal, vowel) глас гор: burn, heat (compare EN: scorch; see also жг); bitter, grief; mountain грей: heat, warm жар: heat, hot, fire (compare EN: sear) гар, горк, горьк, грев: (compare EN: warm, thermal) горб: hump, bump горд: proud город: civi-, enclosure, town, city, barrier, fence, garden град господ: domin-, lord, master  гост: guest готов: ready граб: grab, rob град: reward; hail гран: border, edge, facet грёб: dig, bury (compare EN: grave) гроб: grave, coffin грёз: dream грем: ring, peal, thunder  гром: thunder, loud грех: sin гроз: storm, threat гром: mass, huge, enormous гром-ад, громозд грох: crash, rumble, rattle груб: coarse, rude груд: chest, breast груз: load, burden груст: sad, melancholy 77

грыз: gnaw гряд: go, come, walk  грян гряз: dirt, mud, filth губ: lip гуд гуд: hum, buzz, hoot гул: stroll густ: thick, dense дав: press, squeeze; long ago, old, former  дай: give (compare EN: dose, donation) дар: -don, gift продай: sell дад/даж, дан, дат, дач дал: far  далёк дв: two двиг: move, motion двин двой: bi-, double, dual двор: court дей: do, act, work, make (compare EN the-: theme, thesis, synthesis) дел: make, do, deed, business дел: divide, share (compare EN: deal, atom) дол: part, share предел: boundary, limit ден: place, put надей, надёд: hope одён, оден: clothe дев, дёд, дей дёрг: -tain, -tention, hold, pull, tug держав: -crat, state дерев: tree, wood дров, древ дерз: bold, daring, impudent дет: child дешёв: cheap див: wonder, marvel дик: wild, savage дл: long дол: long, valley долг: long time (compare EN: linger) дъл, длин дн: day; bottom дън, дон 78

доб: time, convenient, fitting добр: kind, good надоб: necessary добл: valor, valiant дой: milk  долб: hollow долг: debt, duty дорог: dear, expensive драг дорог: road доч: daughter  дочер др: tear, fight дыр: hole дьр, дер, дир, дор драз: irritate древ: old, ancient дрем: dream, snooze, doze (compare EN: dream) дроб: split, crush, divide дрог: tremble, shudder, shake друг: ami-, amic-, friend друг: other  дрян: garbage, rubbish, junk  дрях, дряхл дуг: bow, arch дуй: blow дув дум: think  дур: stup-, stupid, foolish, bad дух: -spir-, -spire, breathe, spirit, close, stuffy (compare EN: deer) дох, дых дым: smoke ед: ride; eat езд: -gress обед: dine ех ём: -cap, take им ест: exist, natural, nature (compare Latin: est, EN: is) жад: thirst, greed жал: pity, regret, complain жг: burn жиг, жог жд: wait 79

жид жёв: chew жв жел: desire, wish жёлт: yellow жён: femin-, woman, wife (compare EN: queen) жёст: hard, stiff, strict, cruel жив: viv-, bio-, live живот: life, animal, stomach жил, жит жид: liquid жир: fat, grease жм: press, squeeze жал: sting, bite жим жн: reap, harvest жин жр: gulp, eat (compare EN: gorge, Latin: vor in English: voracious, devour) гор: throat, neck  горло, жер, жир, жор жр: sacrifice жертв забот: care, worry, concern забыв: forget забв зад: back, rear  закон: law, legal зв: voc-, -voke, call, evoke зъв, зов, зыв звер: wild animal звон: ring, resound, link  звук: sound звен зд: edif-, build, erect, create зид, зъд, зод, созд здоров: health здрав зев: yawn зий: gape зел: green зелён зём: terr-, land, earth, ground (compare Latin: humus, English: humble) зёрн: grain (compare EN: corn) зим: winter  80

зл: evil, bad, malicious, angry зъл знай: cogn-, know (Slavic zn- = Greek/Latin gn- = Germanic kn-) знак: sign знаком: known знам, знамён: sign, banner  золот: gold злат зр: sight, view, light, vision, clear  зар: dawn, dusk, glow, light позор: shame презр: despise зер, зир, зор, зър, зрак зрей: ripe, mature зуб: dent-, tooth зыб: shake, shift, surge, swell зяб: sensitive to cold (autumn plowing) игл игл: needle игр: play ид: go (compare EN -it-: exit, initial, transit) йд им: have, possess, hold; nomin-, name (compare EN -em-: exempt, preempt, redeem) имён, йм, ьм, я ин: other (compare EN: one, as in another) иск: seek (compare EN: ask) искр: spark  искрен: sincere, genuine ис-кус: artificial ист: true, genuine иск каз: show, indicate; punish казн: punish, execute сказ: say, tell, speak  казн: state, treasury кай: repent как: qual-, how кал: temper, harden кам: stone камен кап: drop кар: punish кат: roll, slope кач: roll, rock, swing, sway 81

кашл: cough квас: sour, ferment кив: nod кид: throw, toss, hurl кин кип: boil, seethe кис: oxy-, sour, ferment кисл клад: place, put (compare EN: lade, load) клёв: peck, nibble клюв, клюй, клюн клевет: slander  клей: glue, stick, paste (compare EN: clay, glue) клик: shout, call (compare EN: cry, creak) клин: wedge клн: curse, swear, oath, enchant клин, клян клон: -cline, -flect, bow, incline, bend, lean клан ключ: -clude, -cluse, key, spring water  книг: bibli-, book, literary ков: forge кож: derm-, skin, peel кол: round, ring; prick, stab; break, chop, crack; quanti-, how much колес: wheel кал, колик, кольк, скольк колд: enchant, magic колеб: sway, waver, rock  колот: hammer, beat, knock, thrash кон: end, final, limit конц, конч конь: horse коп: dig; heap, hoard, amass копт: smoke, soot копот кор: submit, subject; reproach; root, radical; skin, rind, peel, crust корн корм: feed, nourish корот: short (compare EN: curt) крат: brevкой: rest, quiet (compare EN: quiet, while) покой: peace чи, кай кос: cut, mow; tang-, -tig-, -tact, touch 82

кас кост: osteo-, bone крад: steal крап: sprinkle, spatter  b eauty,, red крас: color, paint, beauty крат: -fold, time in a series крен: askew креп: fort-, strong, firm, fast крес: resurrect, revive крив: crooked, askance, curve крик: shout (compare EN: cry, creak) кров: blood крой: cut (cloth) край: cut, border, edge; extreme крот: mild, meek, gentle крох: crumb, crumble, small круг: round, circle, turn (compare EN: ring) крук: woe, grief, destruction, failure круп: large, huge screw, twirl, turn крут: steep, abrupt; screw, крух: ruin, wreck  крый: cover, close (compare EN: crypt) кров: shelter, cover  крыл: wing крой, крыв куп: bathe; purchase; together, entirety купор: seal, plug кур: smoke; fair-haired; fowl, chicken кус: bite; try, test, attempt (compare EN: choose) вкус: taste (compare EN: disgust, gustatory) куш кут: wrap, to wind лад: smooth глад: smooth лай: to bark  ласк: affection, kind, caress лг: lie, false (compare EN: g has become ie) лъг, лог лев: left (compare EN: v has become f) лёг: light, easy (compare EN: g has become gh) лаг: -pose, lay (compare EN: g has become y) лез: easy, useful лог: -pose, -pone, put, lay слог: complex, compound 83

льг лез: climb, crawl польз: use лаз, льз лек: medic-, heal, cure, treat лен: lazy, sloth леп: fitting, proper, beauty лёт: fly (compare EN: pilot) лет: summer, year  лиз: lick  лий: flu-, pour, flow лив, льй: (compare EN: libation) лик: face, person, visage лиц лист: leaf, sheet лих: extra, superfluous, deprive (compare EN -linq-: relinquish) лиш лов: catch, agile ловк лом: -fract, break  лоп: break, burst лук: bend, bow; separate луп: shell, hull, to skin луч: ray лыс: bald льд: ice лёд льп: stick, adhere леп, лип, льн льст: flatter  лест: charm люб: love, like люд люд: popul-, people (compare DE: Leute, Italic louðertos > Latin lībertus) лют: fierce, cruel, wild маз: grease, smear, oil масл: oil, grease, butter  мал: little, small (compare EN: small) ман: lure, entice, deceive мах: wave, miss мг: wink, blink  мьг, миг мед: med-, mid-, middle; copper  медл: slow мёк: hint, indicate 84

мел: shallow, small, fine; grind, mill мельк: flash мен: change, alter; less мер: measure (compare EN: metric) намер: intend мерз: vile, nasty мёрз: freeze мерк: dim, dark  мес: mix мест: loc-, place, local мет: notice, note, mark  мёт: sweep, hurl, throw (compare EN: permeate) мех: mix, hinder  мечт: dream мил: dear, nice by, skip мин: pass, go by, мир: pacif-, peace, world мк: close, lock, adhere; hurry, rush мък, мык мн: mem-, think; crumple, knead (compare EN: mind, monument, reminisce, mnemonic) памят: memory помн: remember  сомн: doubt мън мног: mult-, poly-, many мог: physically able, might помог: help моч (мог-т), мощ мок: wet мак: dip, dunk  мокр мол: pray, implore; mill, grind молв: say, speak  молк: silent молод: young млад молок: lact-, milk  млек молот: beat, hammer, thresh мор: sea, ocean, marine морг: wink, blink  мороз: frost, freeze морск: wrinkle 85

мост: bridge, pave мот: to wind, twist; squander, waste мат мр: mort-, die (compare EN: mortal, murder) мёртв: dead мор: tire, exhaust, plague мёр мрак: gloom, dark  морок: dark, obscure мудр: wise муж: man, husband мук: torture, torment; flour  мут: dull, confused, turbid мый: lav-, wash мыл: soap мой, мов, мыв мысл: thought, think (compare EN: myth) про-мысл: industry мьзд: reward, payment, retribution мезд, мзд мьст: vengeance мест, мст мяг: soft мяк мяс: meat, flesh мят: disturb, confuse наг: bare (compare EN: naked) нагл: impudent неб: heaven, sky нёб, небес нег: tender, luxury недр: internal, insides нем: dumb (can't speak) нёс: -pose, -fer, -late, -port, carry by hand нос нз: penetrate, pierce, cut down низ: string, thread, pierce ник: penetrate, appear, disappear  ньз, ниц, ноз низ: down, low ниск (низ-ск): poor, poverty нм: cap-, -cept, take, grasp ним, ньм, ня нов: nov-, neo-, new 86

ног: ped-, foot ноч: night, nocturnal нощ нрав: disposition, temper, morals норов нуд нуд: want, need, force ный: ache, hurt, whine, complain ной ныр: to dive, to duck  нюх: smell, sniff  обил: abundant об-раз: form, image, educate обт: common, general, in quantity обществ: social, society опт огн: ign-, fire одн: uni-, one, single, lone едн: uniодин, един ок: eye (compare Latin: oculus, DE: Auge) о-пас: danger, apprehension, caution оруд: arm, equip, tool основ: base, foundation особ: self, special, particular, person остр: sharp, acute востр, ощр от-лик: distinguish от-нос: relate отц: patri-, father  отьц ошиб: пад: fall (Greek p becomes Latin c in cadere, compare EN case / RU падеж) пак: soil, dirty; pack  пал: burn, flame плам: flame пламён пар: steam, vapor, soar  пас: tend, herd, pasture, store, supply спас: save, rescue пах: smell, plow пей: sing пев, песн пек: care, concern печал: sad, sorrow 87

печ пёк: bake печ, пещ пен: foam перв: first, prime перёд: front, forward пред перёк: cross пёстр: multi-colored, mixed пех: foot печат: print, seal пий: drink  пир: feast пой: drench, water  пьян: drunk  пив, пьй пил: saw пис: scribe, script, write, draw писк: squeal, squeak  пит: nutr-, nourish, feed; soak  пих: shove, push, cram плав: swim, float, sail плак: cry, weep, lament плат: pay плёв: spit плюй плем: tribe, race, nation племён плеск: clap, splash плёт: weave, braid, twist, plait плат: cloth полот плод: fruit, fruitful, fertile плоск: flat плот: close, dense, firm, tight, compact; flesh плох: bad, poor  плыв: swim, float, sail (compare EN: flow, flood, fleet) плав: melt плов плюск: flat пляс: dance пн: stretch (compare EN: span) пьн, пин, пон подл: base, low, mean 88

подлин: real, genuine подоб: like, seem, appear, proper, fitting позд: late, tardy пол: half; sex полов: half  полз: crawl, creep полн: -plete, -pleni, full, fill (compare EN: plenty) полон: capt-, capture плен: captполоск: rinse пор: rip, slash, thrash, flog пороз: empty празд: empty, vain, idle, holiday прас: vain, idle порох: powder, dust прах: порт: spoil пот: sweat пр: trample, go; shut, close, brace, support, press спор: quarrel пор, пьр прав: -rect, correct, right, ortho-, direct, rule правд: прёк: reproach прес: fresh прет: forbid, prohibit прия: friendly, like, pleasant проб: probe, attempt, try прок: firm, tight, secure прос: -quire, ask, request прост: simple, pardon, forgive, take leave, part прот-ив: anti-, contra- against, opposite, oppose пруг: spring, resilient прыг: jump, leap, spring, hop прыск: sprinkle, squirt пряг: harness, hitch пряд: spin yarn прям: straight, direct прят: hide, conceal пт: fly пуг: fright, scare пук: bulge пуст: -mit, release, allow; empty пуск 89

пут: confuse, mix, tangle; way, path, road (compare EN: path) пух: swell, puff  пыл: dust пыт: flame, fire, heat, passion опыт: experiment, experience пых: flare, puff, luxury пят: spot, blotch; heel, backward раб: work, slave (compare EN: orphan, Latin: orbus, DE: Arbeit) работ: work  рад: glad, joy раз: different, various, separate роз: separate ран: wound; early рв: -rupt, tear, rip, rupt рыв, ръв рд: red, rust руд руд: red, ore рж: (compare FR: rouge) рёв: howl, roar  рев: jealousy, zeal, fervor  ревн ред: rare рез: -grave, -cise, cut, slice, carve рей: hover, swarm рек: speak, say, to name порок: defect срок: time limit, period of time рёк, реч, риц, рок рет: find, come upon, meet встрет: meet рёт реш: solve рис: draw, sketch роб: meek, timid ров: even, equal, smooth рав: equi-, equal, even род: gen-, gener-, nat-, bear, birth народ: popul-, people природ: nature рой: swarm рон: drop ропт: murmur, grumble ропот рос: dew, water, moisture 90

рост: grow расл, раст, рос, росл руб: cut, hew, hack, chop руг: swear, curse, scold руж: outside, exterior  рук: manu-, hand, arm рум: red, ruddy рух: crash, destruction рыг: -ruct, belch рыд: sob рый: dig рой, рыв: ряд: order, row, rank (compare EN: ordinal, order) сам: auto-, self (compare Latin: homo-, EN: same) свеж: fresh сверк: sparkle, flash свет: lumin-, light, world (compare EN: white) свист: whistle своб-од: liber-, free свой: own сев: holy, sacred сед: sit, seat, set, settle; gray сад: sed-, seat, set, plant сёл: settle сосед: neighbor  сид, сяд сей: sow сек: -sect, chop, hack, cut (compare EN: section, sector, segment) сем: seed семьй: family семен сер: gray, sulphur  серд: heat, anger  серд: cardi-, heart серед: med-, middle, center, heart сред: medi-, mid, mean, middle серебр: silver  сребр сестр: sister  сий: shine, radiate сил: strength, power  скобл: scrape скок: spring, leap, jump, hop, gallop скак: 91

скольз: slip, slide, glide скор: quick, soon скорб: grief, woe, sorrow, offense скот: cattle, livestock  скрёб: scrape скрип: squeak, scrape, squeal скук: bore сл: send съл, сол, сыл слаб: weak  слав: glory слад: sweet солод: malt след: sequ-, secu-, trace, track, follow, heir (compare EN: sled) наслед: inherit слеп: blind слов: log-, word услов: condition, convention словес слой: layer  слон: -cline, lean слуг: serve случ: happen, event слыв: pass for, be known as слых: hear  смей: dare, laugh смел: daring, bold смех: laughter  смотр: -vision, -vise, look, watch, observe, view сн: dream, sleep сън, съп соб: special, particular, own сов: push, shove суй, сун сок: juice, liquid, soak  сол: sal-, salt солн-ц: sol-, sun сор: litter, trash сос: suck  сп: sleep спей: be on time, succeed; ripe спех: hurry (compare EN -spe-: speed, despair, prosperous) успех: success спел 92

device , way, way, capable способ: means, device, срам: shame ссор: quarrel стар: old, ancient; try, attempt стёг: button, close, fasten стёкл: glass стен: wall степ: gradu-, step, stage, degree стерёг : watch, guard сторог, сторог, страг с траг стиг: achieve, get, obtain, reach стир: wash стл: spread, cover  стол: table стел, стъл, стил стой: -sist, stand; be worth, cost достой: worthy став: -pose, put, place, cause to stand стан: become, begin to stand стан-ов: put, stand, stop стат: стон: groan, moan стр: stretch, expand сторон: side, country стран: expanse стор, стър страд: suffer  страст: passion стран: strange, foreign страх: fear, fight стрек: excite, arouse стрел: shoot, arrow стрем: strive, rush, aspire стриг: shear, clip, cut строг: strict, stern строй: -struct, order, build строк: line струй: stream, current студ: freeze, cold стук: knock  ступ: -gress, -ceed, -cede, -cess, step, stride, act, deed (compare EN: stamp) стыд: shame стын: grow cool, freeze, stiffen стыв 93

суд суд: judic-, judge; vessel, ship сут: -sent, -sence, existence, essence, nature сущ: essential, essence сух: dry сох, сых счаст: happy, luck, fortune сын: fili-, son сып: pour, sprinkle, strew, scatter (compare EN -sip-: dissipate) сыр: damp, raw; cheese сыт: satisfy, sate сяг: obtain, seize, grasp сяз тай: -crypt, hide, secret; melt таск: drag, pull твёрд: hard, firm твор: -fy, make, do, create рас-твор: dissolve, solvent твар тёк: flow, run ток: flow, current тел: corp-, body телес тём: dark  тьм тен: shade, shadow тёп: warm, heat топ тер: lose терз: tear  терп: bear, endure тес: close, tight, narrow тиск: press, squeeze, print тёс: hew, cut, scrape, finish тех: comfort, amuse тих: quiet, calm тк: poke, weave тък, тык тл: rot, decay, corrupt товар: goods, commodities, wares ток: sharp, point, exact толк: sense; push, shove, pound талк, толок: толст: fat том: weary, tire, oppress 94

тон: thin, fine топ: sink, drown топт: trample, stamp топот торг: trade; thrust, life, elevate торжеств : solemn, celebration, triumph торк: jut тороп: hurry, rush тоск: year, weary, oppress тр: rub тир, тър трав: herb, grass, poison трат: lose, spend, waste треб: demand, need, require, use, consume трезв: sober  трёп: beat, strike, stamp, shake, tear  трепет: tremble треск: crack, split трог: touch трон: труд: oper-, labor, work, difficulty трус: coward тряс: shake, tremble, cause to tremble трях: тск: vain, useless туг: tight, sad, grief  тук: fertile, fat туп: dull, blunt туск: dull, dim тух: extinguish, spoil тяг: -tract, -tend, pull, tug, drag (compare EN: tug) тяз, тян тяп: hit, chop, hack  угл: corner; coal, carbon уд: fish, angle уз: bind, bond, fetter, tie союз: union узл: knot юз узд: bridle, rein, restrain уй: shoe ув ук: accustom, teach, learn наук: science, learning 95

ул: street, lane ум: mind, intellect уст: mouth, oral утр: morning; womb, inside нутр: internal, inside внутр: хвал: praise хваст: brag, boast хват: grab, seize, catch; sufficient хвор: sick, ill хвост: tail хит: grab, seize хитр: sly, crafty, cunning хищ: predatory хлеб: grain, bread; gulp хлоп: slam хлопот: trouble, care хмел: tipsy, intoxicate, hops хмур: gloomy, cloudy; frown ход ход: -gress, -cede, -ceed, -cess, go, come, pass шёд, шъд, шеств, шьд : (compare EN -od-: episode, exodus, method,  period) хозяй: boss, owner, landlord, host хол: care, groom холод: cold хлад хороб: brave, good храб хорон: bury хран: -serve, protect хорош: good хот: wish, want хрип: hoarse хром: lame худ худ: thin, bad, poor  худож: art, handicraft хул хул: censure, blaspheme цар: reg-, tsar, emperor, king, royal царап: scratch цвёт: flor-, color, flower, bloom цвет цед: filter, strain цел: whole, entire; kiss; goal, aim цен: price, value 96

цеп: chain, catch, hook  чай: expect, wait, hope чар: charm час: hour, time част: part, share чез: appear, disappear  черед: line, row, rank, turn, alternate чред: institute чёрк: sketch, line, draw чёрн: black  черп: draw up/out, scoop чёрств: stale черт: line, feature, draw чёрт: devil чёс: scratch, comb чин: ord-, rank, order; make, do, cause, fix числ: num-, numer-, number  чист: clean, pure член: member, limb чн: begin чт: count, consider, read; honor, esteem чест: honor  чёт, чит чуд чуд: strange, alien чудес чуй: -path-, feel, sense (compare EN: caveat, caution) чув, чут шаг: step, stride шал: prank, mischief  шат: shake, stagger  швыр: hurl, throw шёпт: whisper  шёпот шиб: shove, push, hit ший: sew шв, шив, шьи : шир: wide, broad шум: noise шут: joke пошл: banal, hack  прошл: past щад: spare, mercy щедр: generous щёлк: click, snap 97

щем:

squeeze, pinch щеп: chip, split щип: pinch, pluck  щит: shield, fend, defend щуп: feel, grope щут: percept-, perceive юн: young ют: shelter, refuge яв: show, appearance, obvious, display яд: toxi-, poison, eat яр: harsh, raging, fierce ясн: clear, bright ясън

A very convenient way to master these

grammar patterns during

your busy schedule is by using the audio on Glossika. It's hands-free, and builds up your listening and speaking skills.

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4

Extend Your Your Learni Learning ng with Glossika

Glossika delivers uency in foreign languages

How are you?

Как ты? kak tɪ?

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Most learners traditionally spend a lot of time on a single sentence trying to get it right, trying to figure out the grammar or the patterns, even memorizing all its parts and vocabulary. This requires lots of memorization and written puzzles and quizzes. This doesn’t necessarily lead to fluency because all of this work doesn’t automatically internalize into an audio pattern that you can recognize or even say.

It comes down to getting enough exposure to the spoken sounds of the language. This is a trees vs forest problem. Instead of seeing the big patterns (the forest) you may be stuck on analyzing a single leaf on one of the trees. Why spend so much time on a single anomaly?

If you look at hundreds and thousands of leaves in a forest, you begin to see patterns, you begin to differentiate old vs young leaves, you even get an idea of the kinds of trees they grow on. And then you start to wonder how to explain the details you often see in common among all the leaves, things you may have never noticed by just looking at a single or even a dozen leaves. The more you do, the more of the general patterns become obvious, and the more you want to know about the details.

This becomes a positive feedback loop fulfilling your desire to fill in the details of your knowledge. You become more and more of an expert without having to memorize anything.

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Guaranteed 3-Step Method to Fluency Imagine a situation where all the patterns in a foreign language have already been prepared and laid out for you in an easy to learn order. You’d be hard pressed to find this in a grammar book or even a publication with thousands of examples.

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Now even if you did find such a resource, you’d definitely want to have all the examples ordered by difficulty in a way that it would make it easy for you to pick up. Once you have all the data entered into a computer you could either pick apart the grammar of each sentence or do some other tricks and try to program it yourself. But this may be way too much work, especially if you just want to get started with the basics.

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Once you’ve got all the data in the right order, you’ll want a native speaker who could sit patiently and train you to say each sentence until you could say them equally as fluently. But finding such a person with this amount of patience is not easy, not to mention downright expensive. You could ask your tutor or teacher to say all of the examples so that you could record them for later practice. You’d want to get the recordings done in a prof professionally essionally recorded environment, environment, which can also be very expensive expensive..

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Next, you’d want a really advanced spaced repetition program that could deliver this content to you at the right pace, the right speed, and could even adjust to your specific needs by adding and deleting content as you provide feedback. You’d probably want it all available on your mobile device so that you could take the audio training anywhere you go.

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If the foreign language is written in a different script like Chinese, you have extra hurdles to deal with: how do you get all of the text transcribed into its exact pronunciations? pronunciations ? Is there a way to learn the correct pronunciations? pronunciations?

This is the solution that Glossika has already built. Glossika has thought about every pitfall you may encounter along the way. Not only have we curated and recorded all the content across dozens of languages, but we have machine learning algorithms sorting the data, delivering the data through spaced repetition, and adjusting to your learning speed.

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Speak First, Read Later  The amazing part is, with Glossika you can actually learn how to speak a language before even learning how to read it. We can train you to speak everything completely through audio. Besides, learning how to read is a breeze once you already know how to speak a language. It’s much more of a challenge to learn how to speak by reading first.

If you’re about to start a college course, or start working with a teacher, you’d be at a considerable advantage of getting lots of audio training done on your own time. The next time you meet for class, you can spend that time wisely by getting great explanations from your teacher about the tough parts you don’t understand yet, or just plain getting lots of conversation practice. The best part about having a real person talk to you is that it’s real life conversation. And that drives better results than a teacher explaining so much grammar that you’re not likely to remember anyway.

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Speak First, Grammar Falls into Place Naturally So how does Glossika deliver grammar then? If you’re used to speaking a certain way, then the grammar flows naturally. Let’s take for example the last sentence: “if you’re used to speaking”. How do you know that “used to” has “ed” or is past tense, or why don’t you say “if you’re use to spoken” -- why do you say that one particular way and no other way? Does it come out naturally when you speak English, or do you think about adding the “ed” and the “ing”? How do you know these things. Ask a six or seven year old child. How do they know? And do they say it right? Every time? So what is grammar?

Grammar is simply describing something that already happens: how people already talk. Grammar didn’t come first. The talking did. Everybody speaks a certain way, therefore we can write down grammar rules to describe what’s happening.

What Glossika does is introduce you to phrases like “used to speaking” in foreign languages and you practice saying that to the point where you say it naturally and easily with all the grammar intact. In fact, you didn’t even have to learn any grammar to say it correctly. All you need to do is mimic.

Eventually the patterns emerge out of hundreds and thousands of these examples to the point where you have complete control and manipulation over every sentence you want to say in the foreign language.

These are the results that Glossika delivers.

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Start Saving Your Your Valuable Time You could think about going back to your classes and doing everything the old way. Memorizing lots of vocabulary and having your teachers explain all the concepts one by one. It really does take years of such classes.

Or you could make a decision to focus on audio patterns and learning how to say each one until you’re comfortable. It really only takes a few months of your time practicing for a few minutes every day.

Think about the massive difference this could make in your life, and how soon you could be achieving your goals with Glossika. It’s so easy to get started. Sign up now up now and get 1000 reps (sentence practice) and 7-day access to premium features for free!

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Glossika Free Resources Glossika Blog Regularly updated with new articles about language learning. Free ebooks are buried among these articles!

Glossika Youtube Channel Subscribe to our channel and get the latest news on how to use the Glossika method and how to tackle various languages.

Glossika IPA Youtube Channel Specifically dedicated to the international phonetic alphabet (IPA) and covers all the symbols and sounds used in the IPA.

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