Archives for: "June 2011"
Же
The word же is an emphatic particle, by which we mean it puts emphasis on the preceding word. My first-year college Russian instructor first suggested translating it into English with the phrase ‘in the world.’ I still like that approach after question… more »
Приглашать/пригласить
The verb pair приглашать/пригласить means ‘to invite.’ Note the с~ш alternation in the perfective: Imperfective Perfective Infinitive приглашать пригласить Past приглашал приглашала приглашало приглашали пригласил пригласила пригласило пригласили… more »
Вы
Most human languages have separate words for you-singular and you-plural. Russian is no exception. The plural you in Russian is вы, which declines like this: Pl Nom вы Acc вас Gen Pre Dat вам Ins вами Any time you address more than one person in… more »
Перец (часть вторая)
On Monday I depart for Russia. I love spicy food, so usually when I travel I take a bottle of Tabasco Sauce with me. This year, though, I'm taking a jar of ground chipotles with me: Чипотле — это копчёный перец «халапеньо» A chipotle is a smoked… more »
«Зарулила я в бутик»
Over a year ago I posted an entry on the words блузка/кофта that included a translation contest. Then I headed to Russia and lost track of it. Finally here are the results. The original and somewhat vulgar poem is posted here. The best translation was… more »