The verb pair приносить/принести is usually translated as ‘to bring.’ It conjugates like this:

The bringer appears in the nominative case, and the thing brought appears in the accusative:

When you bring something to a person, the person appears in the dative case.

When you bring something to a place, you usually use в/на + accusative:

For English speakers we must keep in mind a couple caveats about this verb pair. First of fall, since the verb implies taking something somewhere in your own arms, you can't use it to say you brought a person to a place unless the person you bring is a baby. Secondly, if you bring something from another city or country, you should use the verb привозить/привезти, which implies motion by vehicle.

The verb pair приезжать/приехать is usually translated as “to arrive, come,” and it implies movement by vehicle. It conjugates like this:

In English we often use the preposition “at” with the verb “arrive,” so we have to bear in mind that for Russians arrival is a motion; that is, you complement the verb with either в/на + accusative or with к + dative:

One point of translation: in English if you see a vehicle approaching, you may say “Here comes the bus/train/taxi.” In Russian you will never use приезжать/приехать in that context. Instead you most commonly use the verb идти.

M.C. Escher-one of my favorites

Today's word of the day is the verb рисовать. This means to draw. As in a picture, not а lottery. I grew up loving to draw and doodle. So much, that I was often in trouble for drawing during all my classes.

Here are some examples using our word:

Он рисует красивый цветок.
He is drawing a beautiful flower.

Я учусь рисовать.
I am learning to draw.

Я собираюсь наказать всех моих детей. Они рисовали на стене!
I am getting ready to punish all my kids. They drew all over the wall!

Катя, пожалуйста, нарисуй мне что-нибудь.
Katya, please draw me something.

Sometimes in life you're just bummed out about something, and one of the words that expresses that idea in Russian is жаль. Жаль expresses an idea of sadness or regret or irritation; it can form an entire sentence unto itself:

If want to add the “what a” idea to it, you use как:

Very often жаль is followed by a clause beginning with что:

Жаль, что она не пришла.

It's a shame that she didn't come. or

It's a pity that she didn't come.

Жаль, что ты так мало зарабатываешь.

It's a pity that you earn so little. or

It's a shame that you earn so little.

If you want to incorporate the idea of who is experiencing the pity, then the person goes into the dative case. Once the person is added, though, it flows best if you don't use the words pity and shame in Engish translation. Instead other versions sound better:

Мне жаль, что она не пришла.

I'm disappointed that she didn't come. or
I'm sad that she didn't come. or

I'm bummed that she didn't come. or

I feel bad that she didn't come.

Лене жаль, что ты так мало зарабатываешь.

Lena's sad that you earn so little. or
Lena's disappointed that you earn so little. or

Lena's bummed that you earn so little. or

Lena feels bad that you earn so little.

To put the жаль phrase into the past or future tense, use было and будет respectively:

The most common word for three in Russian is три. If три occurs in the nominative case, then it is followed by the genitive singular form of the noun:

However, if you put an adjective between the number and the noun, you don't use the genitive singular. So what form do you use? Well, that depends...

If you are dealing with masculine or neuter nouns, then you have to use an adjectival form that copies the genitive plural:

If you are dealing with feminine nouns, it is usually best to use an adjectival form that copies the nominative plural:

Here are some sample sentences:

¹ You will sometimes also encounter три красивых дочери, аlthough красивые is better style these days.