Russian Word of the Day

The word часы means a watch or a clock. It has no singular form, only plural; such nouns that lack singulars we label “pluralia tantum.” It declines likes this:

	Pl
Nom	часы
Acc
Gen	часов
Pre	часах
Dat	часам
Ins	часами

Since the word only has plural forms, the pronouns that refer to it must also by in the plural:

Какие красивые часы! Где ты их купил?	What a beautiful watch! Where did you buy it?
Я раньше не носил часов, но теперь я жить без них не могу.	I didn't use to wear a watch, but now I can't live without one.
— Сколько сейчас времени? — По моим часам уже два часа, но они часто отстают. Может быть и попозже.	“What time is it?” “It's already two o'clock according to my watch, but it often runs slow so it might be a bit later.”
Мне нужны новые часы, мои старые всегда спешат.	I need a new wach. My old one always runs fast.

Since the word only occurs in the plural, you might wonder how to say “one watch.” Easy: you use the plural of the number one!

— Сколько ты купил часов? — Только одни часы и два ремешка к ним.

“How many watches did you buy?” “Just one watch and two watchbands to go with it.”

If you are talking about two, three, or four watches, then двое, трое and четверо can be used:

Наша семья очень любит часы. У меня двое часов, у брата трое часов, а у сестры целых четверо.

Our family really likes watches. I have two watches. My brother has three watches, and my sister has no less than four.¹

These collective numbers don't combine very well with the other ordinal numbers. That is, don't try to say something like:

двадцать одни часы	twenty-one watches
двадцать двое часов	twenty-two watches
двадцать трое часов	twenty-three watches
двадцать четверо часов	twenty-four watches

In these circumstances it is best to add the word штука ‘unit’ to the phrase:

Наш клуб купил двадцать одну штуку подарочных часов.	Our club purchased twenty-one watches.
Наш клуб купил двадцать две штуки часов	Our club purchased twenty-two watches.
Наш клуб купил двадцать три штуки часов	Our club purchased twenty-three watches.
Наш клуб купил двадцать четыре штуки часов	Our club purchased twenty-four watches.

Some Russians allow the use of the word пара ‘pair’ in place of штука:

Наш клуб купил двадцать одну пару часов.	Our club purchased twenty-one watches.
Наш клуб купил двадцать две пары часов	Our club purchased twenty-two watches.
Наш клуб купил двадцать три пары часов	Our club purchased twenty-three watches.
Наш клуб купил двадцать четыре пары часов	Our club purchased twenty-four watches.

I say “some Russians” because to some other Russians that type of phrase sounds like просторечье “substandard speech” (see Rosenthal's commentary). If you want to be sure you sound okay, use the штука approach.

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¹ Yes, yes, I know that one properly is supposed to say “no fewer than four,” but frankly “no less than four” is the way most Americans will say it nowadays, even educated ones. “No fewer than four” sounds forced and unnatural, as if someone with a mediocre education is trying to prove that he isn't ignorant.

The most generic verb for “to carry” in Russian is носить. Note the consonant mutation in the я form:

	Imperfective
Infinitive	носить
Past	носил носила носило носили
Present	ношу носишь носит носим носите носят
Future	буду носить будешь носить будет носить будем носить будете носить будут носить
Imperative	носи(те)

This is an indeterminate imperfective verb which means it can be used with the preposition по + dative to indicated carrying something here and there, all over the place:

Олечка всё утро носила свою новую куклу во дворе, знакомя её со всеми соседями.	All morning long little Olga carried her new doll around the courtyard, introducing her to all the neighbors.
Мой девиз — «Всегда готов!» Я везде ношу с собой швейцарский армейский нож.	My motto is “Always be prepared!” I carry a Swiss Army knife with me everywhere I go.

Most indeterminate imperfective verbs can bear the meaning of “go there and back.” Носить is a bit odd in that it really isn't considered good style to use the verb that way. You will find it used conversationally, though, in that sense:

— Где ты был? — Я носил черновик доклада к профессору. Хотел посоветоваться. Кажется, надо переписывать с нуля.

“Where were you?” “I took the rough draft of my presentation to my professor's office. I wanted some advice. Looks like I'll have to rewrite it completely.”

Notice that the translation of the last sentence doesn't contain the word “carry” in it. It is often the case that the Russian verbs of carrying (носить, нести, возить, везти, and the dozens of words derived from them) are best translate with “bring” or “take” in English.

Носить can also be used to take something to a particularly place on multiple occasions:

Каждый день почтальон нам носит почту.	Every day the mailman brings us mail.
Мама каждый день носит свой обед на работу.	Mom takes her lunch to work every day.

The most common verb pair for “to close” in Russian is закрывать/закрыть:

	Imperfective	Perfective
Infinitive	закрывать	закрыть
Past	закрывал закрывала закрывало закрывали	закрыл закрыла закрыло закрыли
Present	закрываю закрываешь закрывает закрываем закрываете закрывают	No such thing as perfective present in Russian.
Future	буду закрывать будешь закрывать будет закрывать будем закрывать будете закрывать будут закрывать	закрою закроешь закроет закроем закроете закроют
Imperative	закрывай(те)	закрой(те)

The person who closes something goes in the nominative case, and the thing closed goes in the accusative:

Нина закрыла дверь.	Nina closed the door.
Не закроешь окно?	Could you close the window?
Игорь закрыл за собой дверь	Igor closed the door behind him.
Когда выйдешь из дома, не забудь закрыть дверь на ключ.	When you leave the house, don't forget to lock the door.

This very common verb can be used to illustrate some of the amazing flexibility of Russian grammar. Let's say I was supposed to buy bread at the store, but I got there too late. I might explain the situation like this:

1. Магазин уже был закрыт. 2. Магазин уже закрыли. 3. Магазин уже закрылся.

The store was already closed.

All three sentences are grammatically correct and communicate essentially the same idea, but they are syntactically very different. Sentence 1 is a passive sentence where магазин is the subject and закрыт is a short-form past passive participle. Word for word it could be represented as “Store already was closed.”

In sentence 2 магазин is in the accusative case as the direct object of the verb закрыли. The verb is in the plural past tense with an implied “they” as the subject. Word for word it can be represented as “Store already (they) had closed.” Sentences with an unexpressed “they” are very common in Russian, and they are called indefinite personal sentences. They are used when they actual doer of the sentence is not particularly important in the context in which the sentence is uttered.

In sentence 3 магазин is in the nominative case as the subject of the reflexive verb закрылся. We call this use of a reflexive verb the medio-passive meaning, where the subject of the verb undergoes a change of state but the people who cause the change are not significant to the context. Word for word the sentence can be represented as “Store already had closed.”

The medio-passive use of the reflexive is common in other verbs like октрываться-открыться, начинаться-начаться, заканчиваться-закончиться, and пролжаться-продолжиться. We will discuss the medio-passive use of закрываться/закрыться in the near future.

One way to say “to wear” in Russian in the sense of “to wear clothing” is носить/поносить. Note the consonant mutation in the я form:

	Imperfective	Perfective
Infinitive	носить	поносить
Past	носил носила носило носили	поносил поносила поносило поносили
Present	ношу носишь носит носим носите носят	No such thing as perfective present in Russian.
Future	буду носить будешь носить будет носить будем носить будете носить будут носить	поношу поносишь поносит поносим поносите поносят
Imperative	носи(те)	поноси(те)

The imperfective verb can mean either “to wear regularly” or “to wear over a long period of time”; it is not usually used to ask about what someone is wearing today or at the moment.

— Почему она каждый день носит синюю юбку и белую блузку? — Тише, не огорчай её. У неё почти нет денег, и таким образом она всегда аккуратненько выглядит. За это её надо уважать.	“Why does she always wear the blue skirt and white blouse?” “Hush, don't embarrass her. She hardly has any money and this way she always looks sharp. You've got to respect her for that.”
Какая она угрюмая! Каждый день она носит только чёрное.	She is so gloomy. Every day she wears nothing but black.

The perfective verb means “to wear something for a while”:

Синюю кофту бери, а зеленую я еще поношу… ¹	You take this navy blue blouse, but I'm going to keep on wearing the green one for a while…
Брат дал мне поносить шерстяной свитер.	My brother let me wear his wool sweater for a while.

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¹ From Иностранка by Sergei Dovlatov. I love Dovlatov. He was one of the few writers of the Soviet era who wrote with humor. I actually wrote a paper about him once—not a very good one—and delivered it at a conference which he was attending. He stuck his head in the door… but he left when he realized I was speaking in English. We chatted afterwards for a few minutes. Alas, he died before I had another opportunity to get to know him better.

The word против in Russian means “against” in the sense of being for or against an idea. It can be used adverbially, without an object:

— Мы решили поехать кататься на лыжах. Ты не против? — Нет, совсем не против. Я с удовольствием поеду.

“We decided to go on a ski trip. Are you okay with that?” “I'm not at all against it. I'll be happy to go.”

In the above dialog the phrase that is translated “Are you okay with that?” literally means “You aren't against?” This is one of those places where a word for word translation would get the tone of the dialog wrong; instead a good translator will select a phrase in English that matches the emotional content of the original. Another example:

В июне девяносто шестого года Лужкова выбрали мэром Москвы. Девяносто пять процентов населения проголосовало за него, и только пять процентов против.

In June of ninety-six Luzhkov was elected mayor of Moscow. Ninety-five percent of the population voted for him, and a mere five percent against.

The word против can also be used as a preposition that governs the genitive case:

Кто не с нами, тот против нас.	Whoever is not with us is against us.
Во второй мировой войне русский народ сражался против нацистов.	In the second world work the Russian people struggled against the Nazis.

Hm... what other things have the Russians battled against? Ah, yes, here's a glorious reminder of one of the lesser known battles of World War II:

Can you read the sign? That's right: STALIN VERSUS THE MARTIANS! What, dear reader? You didn't know that Stalin saved the planet from evil aliens while also fighting the Nazis? That is because you have an American education and can't tell the pax romana from the chicken pox. This vital battle is commemorated in an RTS game by BWF/DreamLore/N-Game. In short, it's an übersimplified version of Blitzkrieg II (review here). Do you want to know more? Do you want to see Stalin dancing like a raver kid strung out on Ecstasy? Then you need to view this trailer:

Attentive students will notice that Stalin's Russian is not so great. That's because he was an ethnic Georgian who never really perfected the language. Russians love to poke fun at people what can't talk right.