Another meaning of через is “in” in the sense of “time period at the end of which something will happen.” In this sense it also takes the accusative case.

This use of the word can also happen in the past tense, in which case it is best translated “later”:

Another basic meaning of the word через is “across.” Again it is complemented by the accusative case:

¹ From “Verbs of motion in Russian” by L. Muravyova, Russky Yazyk Publishers, Moscow, 1995, p. 155. This is still my favorite reference textbook on Russian verbs of motion.

The most basic meaning of the word через is “through” in the sense of physically going through something. It is a preposition that is complemented by the accusative case:

In English we say a man is handsome and a woman is pretty. Russians roll both concepts up in the single word красивый. It is completely regular in its declension, including its comparative form красивее:

Sample sentences:

(Note that when «донельзя» is used to mean “very,” it is written as a single word and the stressoccurs not on the last syllable, but on the penultimate syllable. You could also say «до невозможности» in that context.)

The basic verb that means “to take” in Russian is брать/взять. Notice that for both verbs the past/infinitive stem differs from the present/future/imperative stem. Note also the ь that appears in the middle of the future/imperative forms of взять.

The simplest meaning of the verb is “to grasp/pick up something with the hands”:

The verb pair can also mean “to remove from its previous position”:

Very often the verb is used in the context where Americans would use “to get”:

Sometimes the verb is essentially the same as “to buy,” at least when the context is clear:

Although we won't go over them here, it's a good idea to remember that брать/взять has quite a few other meanings as well, just as “to take” does in English. Among them are:

• to rent (a car, etc.)
• to accept someone into a group
• to take control of
• to make a sound
• to go in a particular direction

As a beginning language student, it is always good to remember that if a word doesn't seem to make sense in a particular context, it may well have other meanings in addition to those you already know. Always have a good paper dictionary which you can consult when the internet is down. And always know two or three online dictionaries that you can consult. Actually, what dictionaries to use is a good topic of discussion as well, but we'll save that for another day.