Archives for: "April 2010"
Класс (часть вторая)
The second meaning of класс is grade in the sense of first grade, second grade, third grade — in other words, the early years of school life. First grade begins at the age of seven for most Russians, and there are ten years of grade school, which… more »
Кипяток
The Russians have a special word for boiled water which is кипяток. It is derived from the verb кипятить “to boil,” so etymologically кипяток means “boiled stuff.” Nowadays we Americans are convinced of the healthful benefits of water. We drink it from… more »
Москва
The Russian word for Moscow is Москва. It's а perfectly regular second declension noun: Я каждое лето летаю в Москву. Every summer I fly to Moscow. В Москве живёт одиннадцать миллионов человек. Eleven million people live in Moscow. Москва — столица… more »
Ломать/сломать & ломаться/сломаться
A little while ago I wrote about words that can have multiple meanings because of their use in Russian slang. The verb «ломать» as well as its reflexive form «ломаться» are also such words. The main meaning of this verb is “to break”. However, someone… more »
Знакомиться/познакомиться
If you want to say that you met someone for the first time in such-and-such a place, then the verb to use is знакомиться/познакомиться, which is conjugated like this: Imperfective Perfective Infinitive знакомиться познакомиться Past знакомился… more »