Russian Word of the Day

The Russian word for ‘that,’ as in “that car,” “that dog” or “that house” is тот. Grammatically it is a demonstrative adjective, thus it occurs in forms that vary for case, number, and gender, and of course it agrees with the noun it modifies. It declines like this:

Here are some sample sentences:

In English the difference between ‘this’ and ‘that’ is essentially distance. Theoretically the same thing is true in Russian, but somehow the distance factor is not quite the same in these languages. Truth to tell, I haven't come up with a proper explanation of the difference, but here are my current hypotheses:

English

• If something is close to me, I use ‘this.’
• If something is close to you, I use ‘that.’
• If something is far from both of us, I use ‘that.’

Russian

• If something is close to me, I use «этот».
• If something is close to you, I use «этот».
• If something is far from both you and me but I can use a gesture (either hands or a glance) to point it out and we can both clearly see it, I use «этот».
• If something is far from both you and me and it is partially blocked by intervening items, I use «тот».
• If something is far from both of us and not visible but we have spoken about it before, I use «тот».

In other words, there are quite a few contexts where even этот is best translated as ‘that’ in English. For instance, let's say your Russian friend sees you reading a book and wants to know the name of the book, the question will most likely come out like this:

If you and a Russian friend are standing on the sidewalk looking at a building across the street. If your friend points to the building and inquires who lives there, then it's most likely to come out like this:

If you and your Russian friend are talking about a building in the distance that is partially blocked by other buildings, you will most likely use «тот»:

And if you can't see the building but you've discussed it before, «тот» is best:

In short, one cannot mechanically say that этот always corresponds to ‘this,’ and тот always corresponds to ‘that.’ You will need practical experience wth Russian life to start getting a feel for the contexts where each is used.

BTW, I'm actively on the lookout for better explanations of the this/that этот/тот distinction. Please feel free to express disagreements, corrections, or other insights in the comments. We are all here to do a better job at cross-cultural communication, so your input will be appreciated.

Today we will talk about the word замужем, which means ‘married.’ The word is used to refer to women being married. If you look it up in most dictionaries, you will see it is noted as an adverb. I hate that association. What it really is is an indeclinable feminine predicative adjective that is non-specified for number. So why don't dictionaries just label it that way? Because the abbreviation ifpatinfn is ugly. Even lexicographers are slaves to fashion, pointedly ignoring the instructions of grammatical luminaries like myself. It maddens me.

Let's say you have just run into your old friend Angelina, who for some recent work-related reason has learned to speak Russian. You could have this conversation with her.

If you are talking about more than one woman, замужем does not change form:

If the woman you are talking to is one whom you address in вы form, then замужем does not change form:

Of course, once you know the person is married, you will want to know to whom she is married, for which purpose you will could use the preposition за followed by the instrumental case:

With that in mind, theoretically one could have the following conversation:

Although that conversation is perfectly grammatical, it is also a bit odd. Instead of using the на ком construction, most Russians will make it simpler:

The Russian word for number is номер. It is used in much the same way as the American version.

Another meaning for it is trick. In my experience this was more a reference to bad behavior.

Этот номер не пройдёт.
This trick won't work.

However, the translation of номер that applies most to my life as a stewardess is hotel room. Four days out of a week I live in various hotels around the country. You would never use "комната" to refer to a room in the hotel.

Иногда номер в отеле большой.
Sometimes the hotel room is large.

Ключ к моему номеру не подходит.
The key to my hotel room doesn't fit.

Я собираюсь остаться в своем номере.
I am planning to stay in my room.

В нашем отеле в Нью-Йорке очень тесные номера.
Our hotel in New York has very small rooms.

While growing up, it seemed to me that every occasion called for gatherings of numerous people. And all of these wonderful people came to our house. Whether it was family, friends, for a meal, or for a weekend, our house had seen many a guest. The Russian word for guest is гость. Russians are a very welcoming people, always willing to do their best for the guest.

Some examples:

Сегодня я жду много гостей.
I am expecting many guests today.

Катин гость, Миша, из Москвы.
Katie's guest Michael is from Moscow.

Я встретила моего гостя на вокзале.
I met my guest at the train station.

The preposition в plus the prepositional plural of гость has the special meaning “to be a guest” or “to be visiting”:

Она была в гостях у него дома.
She was a guest at his house.

Today we will talk about the word женат, which is a short form adjective that means ‘married.’ The word is used to refer to a man being married or to a couple being married; today we address the former situation. For instance, let's say you've just run into an old friend, Владимир, whom you haven't seen for quite some time. As you catch up, you might say:

In response to the question, you might hear very compact answers:

If the man you are talking to is one whom you address in вы form, then женат must go in the plural:

Of course, once you know the person is married, you will want to know to whom he is married, for which purpose you will use the preposition на followed by the prepositional case:

With that in mind, theoretically one could have the following conversation:

Although that conversation is perfectly grammatical, it is also a bit odd. Instead of using the на ком construction, most Russians will make it simpler:

If you want to talk about a television program, one word you can use is передача. The word literally means transmission, so it can apply to a radio transmission or a satellite transmission, but in the context of TV it can be simply translated as program. It declines like this:

Russian television broadcasts an amazing mix of things. They show American shows and cartoons, old soap operas like ‘Santa Barbara’ and ‘Dynasty.’ They show Soviet era movies and music videos. Mexican soap operas like «Богатые тоже плачут» “The rich cry, too.” You can find pretty well anything you want.

You ever get so busy that you forget what day of the week it is? I do. With work and school to take up most of my attention, I find myself suddenly realizing that I have no idea what day of the week it is! It's a good thing my phone has a Календарь on it. Yep, in Russian the word for calendar sounds almost identical to its English counterpart. They both originate from the Latin word "kalendae" which means "first day of the month."

Some examples:

Я часто пользуюсь календарём.
I often use a calendar.

Моя мама не может обойтись без календаря под рукой.
My mom is lost without a calendar handy.

У каждого студента должен быть календарь.
Every student must have a calendar.

Андрей, по твоему календарю, когда будет следующий праздник?
Andrew, according to your calendar, when is the next holiday?

Many American students visiting Russia for the first time also eat foods that they have never eaten before, and among those foods are свёкла beets. That is not to say that no one eats beets in the US, but you mostly find them eaten by families whose ancestors came from Eastern Europe or by families in farming communities. You will find them in salad bars, of course, but if you watch carefully you will notice that people eat them in very small quantities. Here's how the word declines:

You will note that there is a plural form of the word, but in fact the Russians mostly use the word in the singular where English speakers would use it in the plural.

Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

Why do Russians eat so many beets? Probably because it's a hardy plant that grows well in cold regions. Among the most popular Russian beet dishes are винегрет, a salad made of boiled beets and other vegetables, and борщ, the world-famous beet soup. Sugar is also extracted from the sugar beet.

Today's word is one that I personally haven't come across that often, but I like how it is formed. Words and their roots fascinate me, so it's nice to see a word that makes such sense. Рукопись means manuscript. It refers to text written by hand. In fact, it is the combination of: рука(hand) and писать(to write). It can’t be any more straightforward than that! It can also mean a draft one would send to a publisher.

Я отправила рукопись редактору.
I sent the manuscript to the editor.

Он не интерестуется рукописями о президентах.
He is not interested in manuscripts about presidents.

Профессор yслышал о древних рукописях.
The professor heard about the ancient manuscripts.

Я занимаюсь переводом арабской рукописи.
I am busy with the translation of the Arabic manuscript.

The verb pair переводить/перевести means ‘to translate’ and is conjugated like this:

This is a typical transitive verb; that is, it has a do-er (grammatical subject) that occurs in the nominative case, and a done-to (grammatical direct object) that occurs in the accusative case:

The language you are translating from appears in the genitive case after the preposition с and the language you are translating to appears in the accusative case after the preposition на:

So how would you say in Russian “How do you translate ‘обезьяна’ into English?” A beginning Russian student named Hiram with good study habits would probably say “Как ты переводишь «обезьяна» на английский?” That's a perfectly grammatical translation. The Russians would understand the translation. But it's not the way they would normally say it. For those kind of generic questions the Russians usually use either indefinite personal constructions, that is, verbs in the present tense они form, or infinitive constructions. So theoretically one could say:

That is a perfectly grammatical construction, and it's definitely better than Hiram's original translation, but the infinitive constructions are better yet:

Even better are phrases that don't use ‘to translate’ at all:

How do you say ‘обезьяна’ in English?

Как сказать по-английски «обезьяна»?
Как по-анлглийски будет «обезьяна»?
Как по-анлглийски «обезьяна»?

And when you combine that with the answer, you get short dialogs like this:

One spice that Russians really like is хрен horseradish. Many American families never buy horseradish; I don't think my mother ever had it in our household, so it's worth pointing out that the horseradish root looks like this:

The root is then ground into a paste, and it is used as spice or a condiment on the side:

I've never encountered the word in the plural, only the singular:

Horseradish is used with a variety of dishes:

Although хрен is a perfectly good word, completely acceptable in polite company, it has another use, too...

Warning! The following paragraphs contain Russian and English vulgarity.

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When you want to say ‘to meet’ in the sense of ‘to get together’ with someone, then you can use the reflexive verb встречаться/встретиться. It is conjugated like this:

Of course, the place you meet at is expressed as a location phrase, i.e., using forms like в + prepositional case, на + prepositional case, or у + genitive case. Adverbs of location work as well.

Sometimes you are walking down the street and suddenly come across someone you haven't expexted. To describe that situation in Russian you can use the verb встречать/встретить, which means ‘to meet.’ It is conjugated like this:

The verb actually has several meanings, and the first one is ‘to meet’ in the sense of ‘to spot’ someone somewhere, ‘to come across’ someone somewhere:

The verb also means ‘to meet’ in the sense of ‘to make contact’ with someone at their point of arrival:

One mistake English speakers often make is to use this verb when asking when Russians first met their wives, husbands, etc. In that context it's better to use the verb знакомиться/познакомиться ‘to become acquainted’:

There is nothing Americans like to do more than make fun of the French. It's not just because their language sounds as if it is being spoken by geese with headcolds. It's not just because they make so much mediocre pastry. It's not just because they like to go on strike for recreational purposes. It's not just because they once gave us a huge statue in a shapeless dress as if we couldn't handle designer clothing. It's because... they are French. So today's Russian word of the day is Франция France. There is only one France, thank heavens, so we usually decline it only in the singular:

Note that when it comes immediately after the preposition в, the в becomes во:

Here are a couple more sample sentences with Франция in other cases: