LESSON NOTES

Lower Beginner S1 #18

Talking About Family in Russian

CONTENTS
2 Russian
2 Romanization
3 English
4 Vocabulary
4 Sample Sentences
5 Vocabulary Phrase Usage
7 Grammar
11 Cultural Insight

# 18
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 RUSSIAN

1. ЛЕРА: Алекс, хочешь я покажу тебе наш семейный альбом?

2. АЛЕКС: Конечно.

3. (few seconds later..)

4. ЛЕРА: Вот. Это мои родители, отец и мать.

5. АЛЕКС: Сколько лет твоему отцу?

6. ЛЕРА: Папе уже почти 65.

7. АЛЕКС: Не может быть! Он так молодо выглядит! И ты похожа на него,

как две капли воды.

8. ЛЕРА: Спасибо. Мы сейчас не часто видимся, от случая к случаю, так

как он живёт в другом городе. Но я очень скучаю по нему.

9. АЛЕКС: Мне тоже иногда грустно без моей семьи.

ROMANIZATION

1. LERA: Aleks, khochesh' ya pokazhu tebe nash semeynyy al'bom?

2. ALEKS: Konechno.

3. (few seconds later..)

4. LERA: Vot. Eto moi roditeli, otets i mat'.

CONT'D OVER

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5. ALEKS: Skol'ko let tvoyemu ottsu?

6. LERA: Pape uzhe pochti 65.

7. ALEKS: Ne mozhet byt'! On tak molodo vyglyadit! I ty pokhozha na nego, kak

dve kapli vody.

8. LERA: Spasibo. My seychas ne chasto vidimsya, ot sluchaya k sluchayu,

tak kak on zhivot v drugom gorode. No ya ochen' skuchayu po
nemu.

9. ALEKS: Mne tozhe inogda grustno bez moyey sem'i.

ENGLISH

1. LERA: Alex, if you want, I can show you our family album.

2. ALEX: Of course.

3. (A few seconds later...)

4. LERA: Here you go. These are my parents-my mom and dad.

5. ALEX: How old is your dad?

6. LERA: Dad is almost 65.

7. ALEX: No way! He looks so young! And you look like him—like two peas in
a pod!

8. LERA: Thank you. We don't see each other often-only from time to time, as
he lives in another city. But I really miss him.

CONT'D OVER

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9. ALEX: Sometimes I'm sad without my family, too.

VOCABULARY

R ussian R omanization English C lass Ge nde r

approximately,
почти pochti almost adverb

от случая к ot sluchaya k
случаю sluchayu from time to time phrase

другой drugoy other, another adjective masculine

грустно grustno sad adverb

semeynyy,
семейный semeyny family adjective masculine

miss, to be
скучать skuchat' bored verb

like two peas in

как две капли kak dve kapli a pod (lit. "as
alike as two phrase
воды vody
peas")

быть похожим byt' pokhozhim

на na to look like phrase

to look, to look
выглядеть vyglyadet' like verb

жить zhyt' to live, to stay verb

SAMPLE SENTENCES

Уже почти 12 ночи, почему ты не Я не хочу это мороженое, я хочу

спишь? другое.
Uzhe pochti 12 nochi, pochemu ty ne spish'? Ya ne khochu eto morozhenoye, ya khochu
drugoye
"It's almost 12 at night, why don't you sleep?"
"I do not want this ice cream, I want another."

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На улице дождь и мне очень грустно. Вот, попробуйте. Это наш семейный
Na ulitse dozhd' i mne ochen' grustno. рецепт борща.
Vot poprobuyte. Eto nash semeynyy retsept
"It's raining outside, and I'm very sad."
borshcha.

"Please, try it. This is our family recipe of borscht."

Я скучаю по своему парню. Ты очень похожа на свою мать.

Ya skuchayu po svoyemu parnyu. Ty ochen' pokhozha na svoyu mat'.

"I miss my boyfriend." "You look like your mother."

Он не очень хорошо выглядит. Этот отель выглядит довольно старым.

Наверное, заболел. Etat atel' vyglyadit davol'na starym.
On ne ochen' kharasho vyglyadit. Navernaye,
"This hotel looks pretty old."
zabalel.

"He doesn't look so good. He probably got sick."

Ты выглядишь бледным, ты хорошо Где ты живёшь?

себя чувствуешь? Gde ty zhivyosh'?
Ty vyglyadish' blednym, ty kharasho sebya
"Where do you live?"
chustvuyesh'?

"You look pale, are you all right?"

Где ты живёшь? Она хотела бы здесь жить.

Gde ty zhyvyosh'? Ana khatela by zdes' zhyt'.

"Where do you live?" "She'd like to live here."

VOCABULARY PHRASE USAGE

вре мя от вре ме ни (vremya ot vremeni)

The first key phrase for this lesson is время от времени (vremya ot vremeni), which can be
translated as "from time to time."

Let's look at an example from the dialogue:

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1. Мы сейчас не часто видимся, от случая к случаю, так как он живёт в другом
городе.
My seychas ne chasto vidimsya, ot sluchaya k sluchayu, tak kak on zhivot v drugom
gorode.
"We don't see each other often—only from time to time, as he lives in another city."

The noun время (vremya) (instrumental case) means "time;" the preposition от (ot) means
"from;" and another noun, времени (vremeni), also means "time" in the genitive case. So, this
phrase literally means exactly the same as the English phrase "from time to time." We use this
phrase when we want to emphasize that something happens irregularly, sometimes, or
seldomly.

For example:

1. Вы часто видитесь?
- Нет, время от времени.
Vy chasto vidites'?
- Net, vremya ot vremeni.
"Do you see each other often?"
- "No, from time to time."

2. Время от времени я хожу в театр.

Vremya ot vremeni ya khozhu v teatr.
"I go to the theater from time to time."

быт ь похожим на (byt' pokhozhim na)

The second key phrase for this lesson is быть похожим на (byt' pokhozhim na), which can
be translated as "to look like." It requires the accusative case of a noun. This phrase is used in
the following forms:

1. Я похож на...(Ya pokhozh na...) "I look like..."

2. Т ы похож на...(Ty pokhozh na...) "You look like..."

3. Он похож на...(On pokhozh na...) "He looks like..."

4. Она похожа на...(Ona pokhozha na...) "She looks like..."

5. Оно похоже на...(Ono pokhozhe na...) "It looks like..."

6. Мы похожи на...(My pokhozhi na...) "We look like..."

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7. Вы похожи на...(Vy pokhozhi na...) "You look like..."

8. Они похожи на...(Oni pokhozhi na...) "They look like..."

For example:

1. Она похожа на свою мать.

Ona pokhozha na svoyu mat'.
"She looks like her mother."

2. Мне кажется, что он похож на знаменитого певца.

Mne kazhetsya, chto on pokhozh na znamenitogo pevtsa.
"I think that he looks like a famous singer."

3. Они похожи на студентов.

Oni pokhozhi na studentov.
"They look like students."

GRAMMAR

The Focus of This Lesson Is the Dative Case

Сколько ле т т вое му от цу?
Skol'ko let tvoyemu ottsu?
"How old is your father?"

In Lesson 17, you learned that the dative case is used when we want to indicate who the
recipient (receiver) of an action is. In addition to this, the dative case is used for:

1) Expressing someone's age. In this case, the person whose age we are talking about
should be put in the dative case.

Now, let's take a look at the following table, which describes the personal pronouns in the
dative case.

Personal pronoun in
Pronoun dative case English translation

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Я
ya
mne (мне) "to/for me"
"I"

Ты
ty
tebe (тебе) "to/for you"
"you"

Он yemu / k nemu (ему / к

on нему)
"to/for him"
"he"

Она
ona
yey / k ney (ей / к ней) "to/for her"
"she"

Оно
ono yemu / k nemu (ему / к
"to/for it"
"it" нему)

Мы
my
nam (нам) "to/for us"
"we"

Вы
vy
vam (вам) "to/for you"
"you"

Они
oni
im / k nim (им / к ним) "to/for them"
"they"

For example:

1. Мне 25 лет.
Mne 25 let.
"I'm 25 years old."

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2. Сколько вам лет?
- Мне 19 лет.
Skol'ko vam let?
- Mne 19 let.
"How old are you?"
- "I'm nineteen years old."

3. Сколько лет этому мужчине?

Skol'ko let etomu muzhchine?
"How old is this man?"

2) The dative case is also used to express someone's mood, feelings, or physical state.
As a rule, in such a grammatical structure, the short form of adjectives should be used.

For example:

1. Мне больно.
Mne bol'no.
"I feel pain."

2. На улице мороз и поэтому ему холодно.

Na ulitse moroz i poetomu yemu kholodno.
"There's frost outside, and he feels cold."

3. Ей часто грустно.
Yey chasto grustno.
"She is often sad."

4. Мне интересно, о чём ты сейчас думаешь.

Mne interesno, o chom ty seychas dumayesh'.
"I wonder what you're thinking about."

5. Нам очень жалко, что вы не пришли.

Nam ochen' zhalko, chto vy ne prishli.
"We're very sorry that you did not come."

6. Маме здесь тепло.

Mame zdes' teplo.
"Mom is warm here."

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7. Надеюсь, что вам здесь удобно.
Nadeyus', chto vam zdes' udobno.
"I hope that you're comfortable here."

3) The dative case is used in the grammatical structure: "I like/I don't like."

The grammatical structure is:

[pronoun/noun in dative case] + нравиться/не нравиться (in the appropriate form) + [object
in the accusative case or verb in the infinitive form]

For example:

1. Мне нравится черный кофе.

Mne nravitsya chernyy kofe.
"I like black coffee."

2. Tебе нравится это пальто?

Tebe nravitsya eto pal'to
"Do you like this coat?"

3. Ему нравится читать.

Yemu nravitsya chitat'.
"He likes to read."

4. Маме нравится смотреть документальные фильмы.

Mame nravitsya smotret' dokumental'nyye fil'my.
"Mom likes to watch documentaries."

5. Ей нравится мой брат.

Yey nravitsya moy brat.
"She likes my brother."

6. Нам нравится путешествовать.

Nam nravitsya puteshestvovat'.
"We like travelling."

4) The dative case is also used after such words as nado (над о), meaning "need, must,
have to;" nuzhno (нужно), meaning "necessary, must;" and neobkhodimo
(не обход имо), meaning "necessary, must, need."

The grammatical structure is:

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[Noun/pronoun in dative case] + надо/нужно/необходимо + [infinitive form of the verb]

For example:

1. Мне нужно приготовить поесть.

Mne nuzhno prigotovit' poyest'.
"I need to cook meals."

2. Студенту нужно сдать экзамен.

Studentu nuzhno sdat' ekzamen.
"The student must take the exam."

3. Нам необходимо купить хлеб и молоко.

Nam neobkhodimo kupit' khleb i moloko.
"We need to buy bread and milk."

4. Т ебе надо лучше заниматься.

Tebe nado luchshe zanimat'sya.
"You need to study better."

5. Мне необходимо позвонить брату.

Mne neobkhodimo pozvonit' bratu.
"I need to call my brother."

6. Мне нужно помочь маме убрать в комнате.

Mne nuzhno pomoch' mame ubrat' v komnate.
"I need to help my mother to clean the room."

4) The dative case is also used after such words as mozhno (можно), meaning "it's
permitted" or "can," and nel'zya (не льзя), meaning "it's not permitted."

The grammatical structure is:

[Noun/pronoun in dative case] + можно/нельзя + [infinitive form of the verb]

For example:

1. Детям нельзя есть много сладкого.

Detyam nel'zya yest' mnogo sladkogo.
"Children aren't allowed to eat a lot of sweets."

2. Можно мне войти?

Mozhno mne voyti?
"Can I enter?"

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CULTURAL INSIGHT

Russian Relationships

Russian women are very independent and are not afraid of making decisions. It's not a rare
case when a woman becomes the head of a family and earns more than her husband.
However, in relationships, a man should always pay for a woman, whether in a restaurant or
at a cinema. If he doesn't, he is considered to be greedy and not worthy of attention.
Regarding trips abroad, it's considered to be good manners for a man to pay for the whole
trip. From the times of the Soviet Union, men were taught that they should give their seats in
public transportation to women. Of course, traditions are changing, but still, many Russian
men feel uncomfortable sitting while a woman is standing.

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