Dialogues:

A: Thats our cat

: That's a tree!
Grammar:
Frozen constructions
Word order in Russian (Introduction)
Spelling/Sounds: The Russian alphabet

Dialogues

Thats our cat

and his wife (who does not speak) are looking at a . walks up to them.
:

What is that?

Its a photograph.

? ?

Whos that? Is that you?

e, e . . a. No, thats not me. Thats our cat. Her name is

Murka (Purrer).

, . ? ?

Oh, Im really sorry. And whos this? Is this

your mother?

e, e . e.

No, thats not my mother. Thats my wife.

, , ! ?

Oh, Im really sorry! And is this your son?

e, ! !
.

No, thats not our son. Thats our dog! Her

name is Belka (Whitey).

Thats a tree

and her husband (who does not speak) are looking at a . walks up to them.
:

10

What is that?

11

Its a photograph.

12

e?

Is that your sister?

13
14

e, e e. . No, thats not my sister. Thats my husband.

His name is Kolya.
.

15

. ? ?

Oh, Im sorry. And whos that? Is that your

brother?

16
17

e, e . .
.

No, thats not my brother. Thats our daughter.

Her name is Lyuba.

18

, ! ?

Oh, Im really sorry! And is this your father?

19

e, e ! !

No, thats not my father! Thats a tree!

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Lesson 4

1
1
2
2
3
4
4
4
4
4
5
5
5
6
6
7
7
8
8
12
13
13
15
15
16
18
19

?
[X] (person or thing)

e
e [X] (person or thing)

a
( is a male cat)
!

Vocabulary
what
whats this/that?; what are those?
this/that/it is (a)[X]
photograph
you (informal singular)
no
this isnt/thats not/these are not [X]
I (or me as in Its me)
our (feminine)
cat
oh!
your (feminine informal goes with )
mother (Russians often say and it doesnt sound sappy)
my (feminine)
wife
your (masculine formal goes with since is addressing two people)
son
our (masculine)
dog (Chewbacca from Star Wars is supposedly related to this word)
sister
my (masculine)
husband
your (masculine informal goes with )
brother (just think of brat)
daughter
father (Russians often say and it doesnt sound sappy)
tree

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4.

Lesson 4

Frozen ' Constructions

? (e) X (person / thing)

By now weve seen that some words change form depending on gender:

MASCULINE

FEMININE

Nouns:

(Lessons 1-2)

Adjectives:

(Lesson 3)

Possessives:

, , ,

, , ,

(Lesson 4)

In Lessons 3 and 4, weve seen several constructions containing the word , which is roughly equivalent to
that/this/it/these (depending on the context), and which never changes in form. These constructions, while
very common, can be quite tricky. Its best to memorize a few patterns and there really arent that many. Here
are the ones weve seen so far. (We have varied the English translation this/that/it, though, given the correct
context, all three are possible.)

QUESTION

POSSIBLE RESPONSES

Who is this?

Its me.

This is Sasha.

Thats (my) father.

What is that?

Thats a cat.

Its a photo.

Its a bar.

&

, .

&

, .

Is that your bother?

?
Is this a tree?

Yes, thats my brother.

Yes, this is a tree.

'

e, e , .

'

e, e , .

No, its not my brother, its my mother.

No, thats not a tree, thats Zhenya.

Well refer to this form as frozen . (Makes a nice dessert.)

Answer the question based on the prompt provided. Answer yes/no questions with no and
then say who/what the person/thing is :

Example:

? ( e)
? ( )

e.
e, e , .

1. ? ( )

2. ? ()

3. ? ( )

4. ? ()

5. ? ()

6. ? ( e)

7. ? ( )

8. ? ()

9. ? ()

10. ? ( )

11. ? ()

12. ? ()
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Lesson 4

Note: I / me is not capitalized in Russian (unless, of course, its at the beginning of a

sentence):
.

Its me.

e , .

Thats not me, thats my brother.

e!

Im a good-looking guy!

Remember, Russians are very humble (except for the person who uttered the last example), so theres no
need to capitalize I.

4.

Word Order in Russian (Introduction)

? vs. ?

Note that for variety, and , having gotten fed up with asking ? change the word order to
? with no real change in meaning. Word order in Russian is much more flexible than in English. We wont
see why this is so until Chapter 3, so for now just take our word on this.

More oral practice

(Todays lesson has less oral practice because of a rather large writing assignment.)

Try to say the word before it is pronounced. You may notice that several of the vowels get
reduced. Well cover this is greater detail in a few lessons. For now do your best to imitate the
pronunciation of your instructor and the speakers on the recording. (Words will be read from left
to right.)

4-4

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4.

- The Russian Alphabet (in the official order)

Repeat the names of the letters. Note that the italicized letters , , are quite different from their nonitalicized forms.
Letter

Italic

Name of letter

English equivalent

a as in father
b
v
g (v)
d
/ ye
o / yo
zh as in Zhivago
z
i as in machine
y as in yes
k
l
m
n
o as in born
p
r (trilled)
s
t
u as in lunatic
f
(ch as in Bach)
ts as in its
ch as in cheap
sh as in shoot

()

4-5

(back in mouth)

sh as in fresh sheets
(long & forward in mouth)

hard sign (see Lesson 5)

i in bit
soft sign (see Lesson 5)
e as in bet
u / yu
a / ya

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Writing Russian For Class

"

Exercise 1

Copy each letter 4-5 times. And be sure to pay attention to the notes!

Note: both and must start with a hook

4-6

Note: both and must start with a hook

Note: and start at the top, finish at the bottom!

4-7

Note: touch the bottom line in all 3 places

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No capital - never at the beginning of a word

No capital - never at the beginning of a word. Note: Do not close up the middle of the first part, like a 6

No capital - never at the beginning of a word

Note: both and must start with a hook

"

Exercise 2

Copy the following words and phrases:

(lemon)

(the writer)

(the composer)

(write in your name).

check this out: (you deprive)

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