Russian Word of the Day

One of the words you use in Russian to describe where something is located is the adverb справа, which can be translated "on the right" or "on the right-hand side." When you experience your first Russian-language tours in Russia, your tour guide will certainly use the word in phrases like this:

To express the concept "to the right of," you add the preposition от followed by the genitive case:

Although справа can be used to indicate location, the word can also mean "coming from the right" or "from the right" or "from the right side":

The word for bank machine or ATM in Russian is банкомат. Back in the 80s there were essentially no banks in Russia in the sense of an ordinary bank in the US. Nowadays they are everywhere. And one of the chief ways to interact with a bank is through a bank machine:

Just as in the States, to get money from an ATM you need a bank card банковская карта. Usually people will call it simply a карта, and sometimes they will call it кредитная карта. (Usually a bank card in Russia participates as well in the Visa or Mastercard system.) You also need a PIN number, which the Russians usually simply call a код, although it is also called ПИН-код (usually the first part is spelled with English letters, thus PIN-код) or личный код "personal code."

Just as in the States, a bank machine usually belongs to a particular bank. If you use ATMs owned by that bank, there are usually no withdraw fees. If you use one out of their system, there are:

That last example is interesting. «Берут проценты» really means "they charge a percentage." We Americans would expect that they charge a commission «берут комиссию», and that the commission would be a fixed fee. The commission in Russia is often not a fixed fee, but rather a percentage of the withdrawal, sometimes with a minimum amount of, say, $5. In this case phrase "they charge extra" is not a precise or technical translation of «они берут проценты». Instead it is a substitution of the most common English phrase used in that context for the most common Russian phrase used in the similar context.

One of the Russian words for shoe is туфля. Note the genitive plural:

The word is mostly used in the plural:

Of course, it is possible to use the word in the singular:

Young women in Russia are much more likely to wear high-heeled shoes than their US counterparts. If a woman is young and sexy in Russia, then by heaven she is going to dress to kill. The picture below captures a commonplace: here are the feet of a lovely young woman next to the feet of her boyfriend.

It's funny, really. If ever there was a country where sensible shoes would be... well... sensible, it is Russia. There are cobblestone streets, dirt streets, uneven asphalt streets, and potholes the size of Kilauea, all of which can twist your ankle and break your leg at a moment's notice. Young Russian women conquer them all in high-heeled shoes.

We mentioned previously that one of the words in Russian that is translated as need is надо. Sometimes you will run across sentences like this:

Such sentences are conversational, and they really have an implied verb in them. Thus the first sentence probably implies something like «Мне надо купить книгу» "I need to buy a book," and the second probably implies something like «Вите надо взять гаечный ключ» "Viktor needs to get a wrench."

People often use these phrases to ask you what you need:

That reminds me... the phrase is used in a wonderful children's poem by Корней Чуковский called «Телефон». Read it out loud to yourself in Russian. The rhymes are delightful:

You can find the complete text of the poem here.

¹ Шоколада here is in the genitive case, not the accusative. The genitive adds the 'some' idea.

Рисовать/нарисовать means to draw or pаint. It is a perfectly standard -овать verb, which means that in the conjugated non-past forms the -ова- is replaced by -у- :

Sample sentences:

The noun form is рисунок:

Both the verb and the noun are used in the world-famous song «Пусть всегда будет солнце» "Let there always be sunshine." Just as in French you cannot live without knowing "Freres Jacque" and "La vie en rose," just as in Spanish you cannot live without knowing "La cucaracha," just as in English you cannot live without knowing "Oh, my darling Clementine," so in Russian it is absolutely essential that you know this schmaltzy song, without which you will an ignoramus and a hooligan... So click here for the text and a video of the song.