Russian Word of the Day

The Russian phrase for the American Holiday Thanksgiving is День благодарения, literally the day of thanking. When wishing someone a Happy Thanksgiving, the Russians use the verb поздравлять/поздравить, which is often translated “to congratulate.” The person to whom the wish is directed is put in the accusative case, and the name of the holiday is put in the instrumental case, preceded by the preposition c. Thus the complete phrase is

The Russians often skip the first part of the sentence, leaving only the prepositional phrase «С Днём благодарения!»

The Russian word for emotions is чувства (singular чувство). Some of the basic emotions are happiness радость, sadness печаль, anger злость, anticipation ожидание, disgust отвращение, fear страх, excitement возбуждённость, disappointment разочарование, and shame стыд.

One day, my friend invited me to her birthday party and I was very happy рада to attend the special occasion. As my friend handed me the invitation, I became engulfed with excitement возбуждённость and ran home to show it to my mother. As my mother saw me running to her with a smile on my face, she began smiling too but to my disappointment разочарование, I saw that her smile quickly faded as she read the invitation and said «Я извиняюсь Оля, но ты не пойдешь, потому что мы уже сделали планы поехать в лес в этот день» “I am sorry Olga, but you can’t go because we have already made plans to go to the forest that day.” Shocked, my jaw dropped and I said «Что? Ты не разрешишь мне пойти?» “What? You’re not going to allow me to go?” Again, my mother began apologizing, and I just stood frozen staring at her. Anger overwhelmed me, and I ran to my room, slamming the door behind me. As my mom knocked on the door, I choked back my tears and said «Уходи!» “Go away!” My mother came in anyway and after a long talk, I felt much better even though I was still mad at her.

The Russian word for umbrella is зонт. Everyone should invest in an umbrella because it can help prevent a person from becoming wet on a rainy day. However, many people also enjoy using an umbrella on a hot day because it helps protect against sun burns. When I was a few years old, for the first time, I discovered that umbrellas are not only used on rainy days. It was a hot and sunny day when me and my mother went shopping. As we were walking, I saw an old lady walk down the street with an umbrella. I found it so odd that I began laughing and ran to the lady asking «Почему вы ходите с зонтом? Сегодня солнце сияет и погода очень жаркая!» “Why are you walking around with an umbrella? Today the sun is shining and the weather is very hot!” The old lady turned to me and with a grin on her face said «Потому что я не хочу получить ожог, дорогая» “Because I don’t want to get a burn, dear.” As I continued walking with my mother to the store, I was confused by what the lady told me and I thought «Как может зонт защитить человека от солнечного загара? » “How can an umbrella protect a person against a sun burn?” It was not until a few years later that I began to understand the reasoning behind this practice.

I skipped breakfast this morning, so meals are much in my thoughts at the moment. Let's discuss them. First off, the nouns breakfast, lunch, and dinner are завтрак, обед, and ужин respectively. Яичница means fried (or scrambled) eggs, so “I ate fried eggs for breakfast” comes out «На завтрак я ел яичницу». Notice that the meal name goes in the accusative case after the preposition на, which in this case means “for,” and the item to be eaten also appears in the accusative case.

Beginning American students of Russian often write things like «Я ела завтрак» “I ate breakfast.” Technically that's a perfectly grammatical sentence. The trouble is that Russians don't really say it that way very often. Instead they use the verbs to eat breakfast, to eat lunch, and to eat dinner, which are завтракать, обедать, and ужинать respectively. (The perfective of each verb is made by prefixing по- to the imperfective.) Just how big is the difference in usage? I did a non-exhaustive Google search and found the following:

Pretty amazing, huh? The least common past-tense form of завтракать is more common than all the past-tense forms of «есть завтрак» combined. So if you are ever tempted to say «Я ел(а) завтрак», substitute «Я завтракал(а)» and then award yourself a Scooby snack for stylistic savvy.

Another common error is to say «Я завтракал яичницу». NOOOO! You can't say it that way. Oh, sure, the Russians will understand you, but you will sound like a stupid foreigner. Who needs that? It's good to sound like a mysterious and exotic foreigner, or a stylish and well-traveled foreigner, or a wise and devout foreigner, but try not to sound like a stupid one. To avoid that issue, you need to know that the three meal verbs we mentioned before are complemented by the instrumental case of the thing dined upon. Thus we have:

(Note: каша in the next to the last example is actually a much broader word than “oatmeal,” and бисквит is really much broader than “biscotto,” but we'll save those discussions for another day.)

Just for fun let's include this little gem of an example that I came across the other day in a Russian translation of Stephen King's “Pet Sematary”:

The simplest way to discuss breakfast is to simply use the verb быть “to be”:

Notice that in this approach the food item is in the nominative case because it is the subject of the verb, and the verb has to agree with a subject.

In terms of style, phrases like «Мы завтракали» and «На затрак мы ели блины» are perfectly neutral, but if you use the verb завтракать and also mention the food item «Мы завтракали блинами», then you are in a higher stylistic register. It's sort of like the difference between “We ate blintzes for breakfast” and “We breakfasted upon blintzes.”

Finally, at the beginning of a meal one can use the traditional phrase «Приятного аппетита!» “Bon appétit!”

The Russian word for compliment is комплимент. People enjoy expressing their feelings through a compliment whether it is a special holiday such as Valentines Day or any day of the year. When a man wants to compliment a woman about her beauty, he can say «Ты выглядишь очень красиво» “You look very beautiful.” A few variations of this could type of compliment are «Ты выглядишь прекрасно» “You look lovely” or «Ты выглядишь хорошо» “You look well.”

A few years ago, my father’s friend moved into a new home and decided to invite my family and a few other friends for a housewarming party празднование новоселья. When my parents arrived, there were many guests with whom my parents were not acquainted. In particular, my parents noticed a couple with a few small children and decided to introduce themselves. After my family met the couple, they looked at the beautiful children and said «У вас очень очаровательные дети!» “You have very lovely children”. The lady began laughing and said «Это не мои дети. Это мои внуки!» “They are not my children. They are my grandchildren!”. My mother’s eyes seemed to dilate as she said «Удивительно! Вам не дашь ваших лет!» “Amazing! You don’t look your age!”. The lady began lecturing my mother about her extremely healthy lifestyle while I stood smiling and thinking to myself «Какая ложь! У нее просто хорошие гены.» “What a lie! She just has good genes.”

The phrase Olga's mother used to mean “You don't look your age” may seem confusing at first glance. Why are there ты forms and вы forms in the same sentence? It turns out that ты has two uses, just like English “you.” It can mean either the person you are talking to, or it can mean a generic “you,” like in the sentence “No matter where you are in Seattle, within fifty feet you'll find an espresso stand.” The “you” there doesn't really have a specific person in mind in that sentence; rather it catches the idea that anyone in that situation would find espresso easily. Similarly in «Вам не дашь ваших лет», the ты form of the verb catches that generic use of “you,” while the вам and the ваших are actually taking about the young-appearing woman. Thus the sentence in effect says, “No one would attribute to you your actual years.”

The Russian word for family is семья. Family is a very important part of my life and I could not imagine myself without them. When I lived in Russia, we set one day out of each year to be together as a family. Most of my extended family came to my home from different parts of Russia and Ukraine to spend the day feasting, dancing, and talking. When the big family arrived to the gathering, there were many of my aunts тёти, uncles дяди, grandmothers бабушки, grandfathers дедушки, nephews племянники, nieces племянницы, and grandchildren внуки. One of my aunts had a young son сын and daughter дочка who were two of the most energetic children I have ever seen. I felt that sometimes they were so hyper that I could not sit them down to do anything quiet even for a few minutes. During the family dinner, my mother stood up and made a toast «Я очень рада, что сегодня вся наша семья собралась, чтобы провести этот день вместе» “I am very happy that all of our family gathered today to spend time together.” It is always difficult for me when some of my family travel back to their home because I do not get to see them very often, but I always look forward to the day when we will again gather together and spend time bonding and having fun.

The Russian word for orchestra is оркестр. Listening to a live orchestra is a very relaxing and enjoyable activity that many people take part in. It is important to have a good balance of different instruments within the orchestra to obtain the best sound quality. These instruments include the violin скрипка, viola альт, cello виолончель, and bass басовый. During high school, I was involved in the orchestra for four years. During these four years, I became a very good violin player and sometimes, my teacher said «Оля, как ты хорошо играешь на скрипке!» “Olga, how well you play on the violin!”. Because our orchestra consisted of very good players, we were fortunate to travel and compete against other high school orchestras. One day during class, our teacher told us «В конце года мы все поедем на Гавайи, чтобы соревноваться с другими школами!» “At the end of the year, we will all go to Hawaii to compete with other schools!” When I came home that day, I was very excited and began practicing hard to make sure that we get first place at the competition!

Don's additional notes: басовый can mean any of the bass strings. If you specifically want to indicate the double bass (contrabass), then you say контрабас.

When someone is neat or punctual, we say that he or she is аккуратный. I am a person who prefers to have everything organized and stored properly. Even as a child, I kept my room very organized, neat, and clean. My parents often complimented me when my room was neat. «Какая у тебя аккуратная комната!» “What a neat room you have!” My sister on the other hand, was very untidy and disorganized. She always threw clothes on the floor after coming home from school and often found things missing or lost because her room was so messy. My mother constantly nagged her about her room. «Юля, какой бардак! Убери в своей комнате!» “Julie, what a mess! Clean up in your room!”, but regardless of my mother’s lecturing, my sister’s room always stood messy. «Даже сейчас у меня все аккуратно и организованно» “Even now I keep everything neat and organized.”

Don's additional notes: бардак literally means bordello, but in conversational Russian it is used to mean "a mess." The latter usage is so common that I've even met Russians in the US who don't know the original meaning.

Warning! This entry discusses a biologically unpleasant verb, and then addresses vulgar versions of that word.

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The Russian word for monkey is обезьяна. Monkeys are very intelligent creatures and are often trained to perform in the Russian circus and can even help individuals with disabilities. Monkeys that are trained to perform at the circus are taught many tricks and are often dressed up in colorful and shiny costumes.

My grandmother told me the story of how her eye glasses were almost stolen once by a circus monkey. On my grandmother’s birthday, she decided to go to the circus with with my grandfather. When the circus show ended, the trainers came out and announced that individuals can buy an extra ticket to play with some of the trained monkeys after the show. My grandmother turned to my grandfather and said «Давай пойдем и поиграем с обезьянами после спектакля!» “Lets go and play with the monkeys after the show!” Once my grandmother walked into the room and saw all the monkeys bouncing off the walls, she said «Какие энэргичные обезьяны!» “What energetic monkeys!”

She approached one of the monkeys and began petting it. All of the sudden the monkey reached for her eye glasses and ran off with them. My grandmother began laughing when the monkey stopped and waved the glasses at her. Everyone around her began laughing loudly when the monkey put the glasses on himself. Everyone said «Какая смешная обезьяна!» “What a funny monkey!” My grandmother began chasing him and calling out «Oтдай мои очки!» “Give me back my eye glasses!” Eventually the monkey gave in and returned her glasses to her.

Don's additional notes: the word обезьяна includes both monkeys and apes, so it's a bit broader than “monkey” in English. I rather suspect that most readers won't know the difference between monkeys and apes. Hm. Now I'm curious. If you read this post, please add a comment to it saying something like, "Yes, I know the difference" or "No, I don't know the difference."

The Russian word for cake is торт. I am the one to prepare all desserts for family gatherings because I love to cook and I always make all my deserts from scratch, making sure to use the freshest ingredients. I find that people generally love my desserts and I feel very lucky and fortunate to have people to cook for.

It was a few days prior to my sister’s birthday and I decided to make her a birthday cake. She absolutely adores chocolate cake шоколадный торт so I decided that would be the best one to make. I was so excited to make this cake for her that I decided to call her and say «Я делаю тебе торт, но я не скажу какой!» “I am making you a cake but I will not tell you what kind!”. My sister became very excited on the phone because she knows that I always make yummy cakes. I worked on the cake for several days and was very excited to present it at the birthday.

Just before leaving for my sister’s birthday party, I carefully placed the beautiful creation in a protective dome and set it flat inside the vehicle. As I was driving, the car in front of me came to a quick stop and I slammed on my brakes. I immediately turned to see if my cake was okay and to my disappointment, I saw that the beautiful design on the side of the cake had been smashed during the impact. The cake was damaged and I was crushed inside even more than the cake. I felt my body temperature rising as I began yelling at the guy in front of me «Ты идиот! Ты испортил мой торт! Смотри, куда ты едешь!» “You idiot! You ruined my cake! Watch where you’re going!”. I wanted everything to be perfect for my sister and now I had to present her with a broken cake. I was so upset that tears just started to run down my face and I wanted to get out of my car and hit ударить the guy who had ruined my sister’s birthday cake. When I arrived, I showed my sister the ruined cake and to my surprise, she began laughing and saying «Не волнуйся! Этот торт удивительный!» “Don’t worry! This cake is wonderful!”. "I truly have a wonderful sister!" «У меня действительно удивительная сестра».

The Russian word for turkey is индюк. Even though Thanksgiving is not a holiday that is celebrated in Russia, Russians still like to eat turkey all throughout the year and many Russian recipes include this tasty meat.

Last Thanksgiving, I was planning on making a large turkey for my family and friends. There were going to be approximately fifteen people at this dinner and I wanted to make sure that the turkey was going to be one of the tastiest dishes that day! I went to the grocery store and picked out the biggest turkey I could find. At home, I was about to start on my recipe when my little sister approached me and asked «Можно я помогу тебе приготовить индюка?» “Can I help you cook the turkey?” She looked so cute when she was asking me, and gladly I allowed her to help me stir the stuffing ingredients together.

I had fun making the stuffing with my sister and was very excited about the big Thanksgiving dinner because the stuffing was turning out delicious! After I assembled the turkey, I set it into the oven to bake. A few hours went by and the turkey still looked raw despite what the instructions indicated. I panicked and said «Что происходит? Я не понимаю, почему индюк еще сырой!» “What's happening? I do not understand why the turkey is still raw!” Suddenly I felt like this was going to be a Thanksgiving disaster, but luckily my mother came and told me that I simply needed to be patient and wait a bit longer. Thankfully my mother was correct and I finished the turkey just before the big dinner.

Don's additional notes: the word индюк can be used to indicate a male turkey, or when cooking the word can be used generically to refer to an entire bird without really specifying the gender of the bird. Индейка is an even more generic word for the animal, but can also mean the meat of the animal, or it can mean a dish prepared from that flesh. Индюшка can mean the same thing as индейка; that is, it means either the animal generically or the meat of the animal. Индюшатина means the meat of the animal or a dish prepared from the meat. Finally, when Russians in Russia discuss the American Thanksgiving celebration, they usually use the stock phrase «готовят индейку» “they cook turkey” to describe it.

Although Olga is correct that Russians in America may eat turkey and that Russian recipes may use turkey, in Russia itself turkey is not a particularly popular meat.

The Russian word for shoes is туфли. Many women enjoy owning many pairs of shoes because they like to have a wide range of choices when picking an outfit. I find that it is important for me to own a few nice and comfortable shoes instead hundreds of shoes that I may never wear. The word обувь is also another word for shoes and is used interchangeably by Russian people.

One day, as I was driving to the airport, I realized I was late and could possibly miss the flight. I rushed through the security lines as fast as I could so that I would have a better chance of making my flight. The security guard told me «Пожалуйста, снимите ваши туфли» “Please take off your shoes.” I quickly took them off and placed them through the scanner. I was so focused on getting through that last security check point that I quickly put my shoes back on without even tying the shoelaces шнурки. As I was running, I tripped over the dangling laces and fell hard on the floor. I scraped my knee, and a police officer ran up to me and asked «С вами всё в порядке?» “Are you okay?” I said «Да, я просто упала, потому что я забыла завязать шнурки» “Yes, I just fell because I forgot to tie the laces.” I got up and made the flight just in time, but I learned that when leaving for a flight, it is better to leave earlier to avoid chaos.

The Russian noun for “a smile” is улыбка, and the verb is улыбаться/улыбнуться.

In Russia smiling is not required to be polite. A store clerk can walk up to you, look you in the eye, and not say a thing. If you ask her for something and she gives it to you without a word, then she has been perfectly polite: you got what you wanted without a hassle. This lack of smiling creates a very bad impression on Americans who go to Russia; they come away with the feeling that everyone in the country is rude. They are wrong. It's simply a different social standard. Russians smile when they are happy, and I don't mean happy in the sense of "Oh, here comes my 78th customer of the day, what a joy, I'll smile because I'm really interested in him as a human being!" That's an American delusion. Russians smile when they are actually happy. A Russian man smiles when he hasn't seen his girlfriend in three weeks and she shows up at the door, flings herself into his arms and offers to make dinner. A Russian woman smiles when she finds three hundred dollars on the ground and no one else is around so she gets to keep it. That's what smiling is about in Russia: actual specific happiness. It's never smiling just to be polite.

The Russians label the American smile as «дежурная улыбка» “a business smile,” the kind of smile you put on your face just because that's what Americans are in the habit of doing. That kind of smiling creates an impression of insincerity and falsehood in the Russian mind and makes people wonder, "What the heck is so-and-so up to?” There's a story of an American business coach teaching the employees of a Russian company to constantly smile at each other and say, “Have a nice day.” Three weeks after the consultant left, everyone in the office thought everyone else was out to get them. The American smiles caused mutual suspicion, a sense of falsehood; it was completely the wrong thing to teach a company in a Russian environment.

It's funny: we Americans tend to think that our smiles are a spontaneous expression that springs simply from emotion. Not so. A smile is a learned behavior which is used to mean different things in different places. I remember back in the 2001 World Series there was a game where Byung-Hyun Kim made a series of bad pitches that could have lost the game. He stood in the middle of the field staring at the ground and grinning like an idiot. The American audience totally misunderstood his smile. Some thought he was being overconfident. Some thought he was thinking it just didn't matter. But Koreans may use a smile to mask negative feelings, and in this case the feeling was shame. The guy wasn't overconfident. He wasn't making light of the situation. He was feeling like a complete failure and was thinking about how his wife and all his friends and countrymen would be ashamed of him.

The lesson to draw is this: when we first go to Russia, our American intuition will tell us that the Russians are always being rude. That intuition is false. You will have to train yourself to remember that those intuitions you have are based on American expectations of body language. Russian body language is different. Use your mind to teach your emotions how to reinterpret things.

You can find an interesting article about Russian and American smiles here. The section contrasting how Russians and Americans smile at children and pets strikes me as being slightly exagerrated, but on the whole I think there is some truth there.

PS. On October 21st, 2008 Russian singing duo «Тату» (t.A.T.u. in English releases) released a new album called «Весёлые улыбки» "Happy Smiles."

Квас is a very popular Russian drink. It is a mildly fermented alcoholic beverage made from rye bread or berries and yeast. Because this drink has very low alcohol content (1%), it is considered acceptable for children to drink. It is often flavored with fruits фрукты and herbs травы such as strawberries клубника and mint мята. This drink can be bought at the store or made at home. As a child, I loved drinking квас and my mother was a professional at making this drink.

I remember an unfortunate day when I tried to help my mom make квас. I wanted my mom to see that I could be a very good helper so I decided to prove this. I came up to my mom and asked her «Mама, можно я помогу тебе сделать квас?» “Mama, can I help you make квас?” My mother smiled at me and said «Конечно, моя дорогая!» “Of course, my dear!” I tried to show my mom that I was a big girl and could handle carrying one of the large jars of liquid to the table. While my mother left the kitchen, I quickly tried to move the heavy jar and to my surprise, the jar slipped out of my hands and fell to the floor. I was shocked and scared so I ran to my mother in a panic and as I ran, I saw her frantically run towards me! She said, «Что случилось?» “What happened?” In a panicked voice I answered «Я хотела передвинуть банку с квасом, но она упала и разбилась!» “I wanted to move the jar of квас, but it fell and shattered!”. My mom was upset with me for the rest of that day, but from then on I understood that I should not take on tasks that I can not handle.

The Russian word for candy is конфеты. Russians love to serve candy with tea when guests come over, and many candies are wrapped in very beautiful wrappers that make the table cheerful. A common ingredient in Russian candy is chocolate шоколад and waffles вафли, but of course a wide range of other candy ingredients also exists in Russia.

Each year here in the States my little sister enjoys collecting candy on Halloween and tries to break the record each year by collecting more candy than last year. «В этом году я насобираю больше конфет, чем в прошлом году!» “This year I will collect more candy than last year!” I enjoy walking around with her and looking at all the decorated houses. This year after we came home, my sister counted all of her candy and said «Класс! В этом году я насобирала тысячу двести три конфеты!» “Cool! This year I collected one thousand two hundred and three pieces of candy.”

Don's additional notes: the singular of конфеты is конфета “a piece of candy.” One type of candy in Russia is called ириска, which is a caramel that resembles one of the mini Tootsie Rolls one hands out at Halloween. Which reminds me of a joke:

(Source of joke: "Russian Stage Two: Welcome Back!" (textbook) © 2001 by American Council of Teachers of Russian)

The Russian word for ship is корабль. When I was a little girl, I always wanted to take a ride on a ship because I loved the ocean. My dream finally came true when my uncle rented a ship and we went sailing in the Black Sea. My mom surprised me when she said «На следующей неделе мы все поедем кататься на корабле!» “Next week all of us will go for a ride on а ship!” All week I worked hard on packing my bags though we were only going for one day. I brought everything with me even though my mom constantly told me «Оля, ты слишком много берешь вещей» “Olga, you are bringing too many things.”

Next week, we woke up early in the morning to get ready for the exciting day. I remember that it was very windy that day and my excitement grew even more because I knew there would be big waves. Once we were sailing on the ship, I pulled out my chair and sat down with a blanket and a cup of tea. With the cool breeze running through my hair, I said «Сегодня море очень красивое, потому что волны большие» “Today the ocean is very beautiful because the waves are big.” As I sat, I thought I noticed a dolphin and I jumped out of my seat and yelled «Смотрите! Я вижу дельфина!» “Look! I see a dolphin.” It turned out that what I thought was a dolphin was actually just a large fish. I was disappointed, but I still had a relaxing time while I watched the beautiful waves.

The Russian word for doll is кукла, as in «Куклы лежат на кровати» “The dolls are lying on the bed.” Many small Russian girls enjoy collecting dolls and placing them out on their beds as decorations. Both I and my sister had a collection of dolls that we enjoyed playing with while we lived in Russia. Each year on our birthday my parents bought a new doll for us. «У меня было восемь кукол, а у моей сестры было двенадцать» “I had eight dolls and my sister had twelve.” Of course once we received our new dolls, we took them with us to the park and showed them off to all the other children. At the park I always thought that my doll was the most beautiful of all so I said «Моя кукла красивей твоей!» “My doll is prettier than yours!” The other girls tried to prove the same.

I remember meeting a very mean girl at the park. When I began arguing with her about whose doll was prettier, she yanked my doll out of my hands and tore its head off. I was so upset that I grabbed her by the hair and started fighting with her while screaming «Дура! Ты убила мою куклу!» “Stupid! You killed my doll!” My mom ran over to us and yelled «Перeстаньте драться!» “Stop fighting!” as she tried to pull us apart from each other. I went home and cried all day because my new birthday dolly was broken. Luckily my parents were able to repair it and the next day, they came to me and said «Сюрприз! Мы отремонтировали твою куклу!» “Surprise! We fixed your doll!”

Don's additional notes: красивей is an alternative form for the more common красивее.

The Russian word for Hawaii is Гавайи, and when you decline it, it has only plural endings, no singular:

Those are the forms to use if you are discussing the Big Island itself. If you are talking about the whole state or the whole chain of islands, then it's best to call them Гавайские острова The Hawaiian Islands. (Notice that in Russian we capitalize the first word but not the second.)

Because we are dealing with an island, we use the prepositions на and с to mean to/at and from:

The ending -йи is not typical for a Russian noun in the nominative, so the Russians are still slightly unsure of how to deal with it. Some people and references treat Гавайи as an indeclinable noun, but the current advice of style guides is to decline it.