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Idioms and Proverbs S1

Good Luck!

Formal Russian Formal Romanization English Vocabulary Phrase Usage Grammar Points

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Formal Russian
, ! !

Formal Romanization
Ni pukha, ni pera. K chortu!

English
Translation "Neither down (from a duck), nor feather." "(Go) to devil!" English version "Break a leg!"

2
Russian ..., ...

Vocabulary
Romanization nee..., nee... pooh pero

English neither...nor... down (as of a bird) feather

Vocabulary Sample Sentences

, . . . "Neither him nor her could do it." "This is real (natural) goose down." "My grandfather was still writing with a goose feather."

LC: IDPR_S1L1_102109

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Vocabulary Phrase Usage

Meaning: This phrase means "Good Luck" or more directly "May nothing stand in your way."

Grammar Points
The Focus of This Lesson Series is Russian Idioms and Phrases , ! ! Ni pooha, ni pera! K chortu! "Wish you neither fur, nor feather." "Go to devil." One person says, , ! (Ni pooha, ni pera!) And the other answers: ! (K chortu!) The English equivalent to this idiom might be "break a leg," and the general meaning is just "good luck." If I translate it word for word it won't make much sense: "Wish you neither fur, nor feather," says the one who wishes luck. "Go to devil," answers the other one.

There is a story behind this popular nonsense. The idiom takes its origin in hunters' circles. "Fur" in hunters' language meant "animals," and "feather" meant "birds." So literally, the wish was completely opposite from good luck: not to catch any animals or birds while hunting. "Let all your arrows miss the mark, let all your traps be empty." Why? Russian people were once highly superstitious. They believed that wishing good luck directly could put the evil eye on the hunters and overlook the luck. A rude reply - "Go to devil!"- should make the hunter even safer. The idiom is no longer just the hunters' lingo. is wished to students before exams, to job hunters going to interviews, and in other situations when one could really use some luck. We can shorten the phrase to just Ni pooha, but the answer remains the same: K chortu!-literally, just "to devil." There's an easy grammatical structure worth rememberingin this idiom: "neither...nor...." Luckily, there's not much to remember, as it sounds really simple: Nee...nee.... So just put any Russian words you know after these two nee,

LC: IDPR_S1L1_102109

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2009-10-21

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and you'll get a double negation. For example, , (nee ya, nee ty) means: "neither I nor you." Good luck to you in learning Russian, !

LC: IDPR_S1L1_102109

www.RussianPod101.com - All Rights Reserved

2009-10-21