Archives for: "January 2009"
Звонить/позвонить
The verb pair звонить/позвонить has several meanings, the most important of which is “to call” in the sense of “to call on the phone.” It is a completely regular end-stressed second conjugation verb: to call (on the phone) Imperfective Perfective… more »
Значить, означать
The verbs значить and означать both mean “to mean.” In the following sentences they can be used interchangeably. For instance: — Что значит «table»? — «Table» по-английски значит «стол». “What does table mean?” “Table in English means стол” «Побыстрее»… more »
ЗЫ, винт, смайлик, собака
One of the great things about the internet is that it's really easy to access Russian language materials nowadays. One of the most amazing sites is livejournal.com. I'm not quite sure why, but livejournal quickly became a major center of Russian… more »
Бабочки-вампиры
The word бабочка means butterfly or moth. Вампир is one of several words that means vampire. So the obvious question is how would you say “vampire moths”? That would be «бабочки-вампиры». The even more obvious question is why the heck would you want to… more »
Писать/написать
The verb pair писать/написать means “to write.” Sample sentences: Я стихи пишу, только когда мне грустно. I only write poetry when I'm sad. Вова, не будет мороженого, пока не напишешь бабушке. Vova, you can't have any ice cream until you write to your… more »