Category: "Uncategorized"

План

by Don  

One of the words in Russian for a plan, like the plans you have for the evening or the weekend, is план. It's a perfectly regular masculine noun, and when asking someone about their plans, it is usually used in the plural:

Какие у тебя планы на субботу? What plans do you have for Saturday?
Какие у вас планы на завтра? What plans do you have for tomorrow?

The answer to the question will often contain a perfective motion verb in по- to indicate where the person wants to go:

— Какие у тебя планы на выходные?
— Я поеду к бабушке.
“What plans do you have for the weekend?”
“I'm heading to my grandmother's place.”
— Какие у вас планы на вечер?
— Мы пойдём в кино.
“What plans do you have for the evening?”
“We are going to the movies.”
— Какие у тебя планы на сегодня?
— Планов нет.
“What plans do you have for the day?”
“No plans.”
— Какие у вас с женой планы на следующую неделю?
— Мы поедем в Киев на конференцию нудистов.
— Почему ты не можешь ответить нормально на обыкновенный вопрос?
— Ты думаешь, я шучу?
“What plans do you and your wife have for next week?”
“We are going to Kiev for a nudist conference.”
“Why can't you give a simple answer to a simple question?”
“You think I'm kidding?”

Враг

by Bella  

Враг is the Russian word for enemy. Try it out loud, it even sounds tough!

Правда ли, что кошка и собака враги?
Is it true that cats and dogs are enemies?

Вот видишь, они враги.
See? They are enemies.

Both Russian and English have plenty of sayings about enemies. One that comes to my mind is “Man is his own worst enemy.”

There is a similar Russian saying: Тот дурак, кто сам себе враг. How foolish it is to be your own enemy.

Peter Parker was his own enemy in Spiderman 3; the caption reads “Spider Man, the enemy in the reflection”:

A couple of plural uses for our word are:

Вам нужно прощать врагов.
You need to forgive your enemies.

Не трать своё время на врагов.
Don't waste your time on enemies.

As I was looking through pictures with the theme "enemy," I came across this old Russian poster. The slogan reads: "Our cause is just, the enemy will be broken."

Дома

by Don  

There are three words that native speakers of English often confuse at first in their studies of Russian:

  1. The first one of those is дома, which is an adverb that means “at home.” It never changes its endings.
  2. The second is домой, which is an adverb that means “home” in the sense of “homeward/to home.” It never changes its endings.
  3. The third is дом, which is a noun that means “house” or “building” and occurs in the singular and plural of all six cases. The genitive singular of this nouns is дома, which is spelled the same as #1 above, but means something different. The nominative/accusative plural is дома “houses/buildings,” which again is spelled the same as #1 above, but obviously the meanings and stress don't match.

Today we are focusing on дома in the meaning “at home.” As an adverb it cannot be used with a preposition:

— Где ты была?
— Я была дома.
“Where were you?”
“I was at home.”
— Когда я дома, я всегда учу английские глаголы.
— А когда я дома, я всегда смотрю по телевизору «Хаус».
“When I am at home, I always memorize English verbs.”
“And when I am at home, I always watch ‘House’ on TV.”
— Не люблю ужинать в ресторанах.
— Это нормально. Лучше дома.
“I don't like to eat in restaurants.”
“That's normal. It's better at home.”
Я ем кошачье мясо только дома, но не у друзей. I eat cat meat only at home, never at friends' houses.

Дом (часть первая)

by Don  

There are three words that native speakers of English often confuse at first in their studies of Russian:

  1. The first one of those is дома, which is an adverb that means “at home.” It never changes its endings.
  2. The second is домой, which is an adverb that means “home” in the sense of “homeward/to home.” It never changes its endings.
  3. The third is дом, which is a noun that means “house” or “building” and occurs in the singular and plural of all six cases.

Today we are focusing on дом, which means “home/building.” As a noun it occurs in all six cases in the singular and plural:

SgPl
Nomдомдома
Acc
Genдомадомов
Preдомедомах
Datдомудомам
Insдомомдомами

Since it is a noun, it can be used with prepositions:

Такси подъехало к дому в два часа ночи. The taxi drove up to the building/house at two o'clock in the morning.
В этом доме живут человек пятьсот. About five hundred people live in this building.
Рядом с этим домом находится почта. There is a post office next to this building.
У дома находится красивый огород. There is a beautiful garden right next to this building.

Of course, the noun can also be used without prepositions:

Наш дом — одиннадцатиэтажный. Our building is eleven stories high.
В Орехове-Борисове столько высотных домов, и они все похожи друг на друга. In the Orekhovo-Borisovo [region] there are so many tall buildings, and they all look [exactly] like each other.
— Ты видишь тот дом?
— Какой?
— Жёлтый.
— Да, вижу.
“Do you see that building?”
“Which one?”
“The yellow one.”
“Yes, I see it.”
— Какие красивые дома!
— Да, красивые. Они все были построены после войны.
“What beautiful buildings!”
“Yes, they are beautiful. They were all built after the war.”

Свобода

by Bella  

Свобода is the Russian word for freedom or liberty. When my family immigrated to America over 20 years ago, it was in search of exactly that; and when we moved to New York, we got to see one of the biggest symbols dedicated to being free.

Вон она там — Статуя Свободы! There it is, over there, the Statue of Liberty!

The adjectival form of свобода is свободный. It is often used in the sense of “available/free.” When you are asking whether someone is free/avaialable for consultation, you usually use the short forms of the adjective, namely свободен, свободна, свободно and свободны:

Маша свободна по субботам. Masha is free on Saturdays.
Доктор Иванович свободен через час. Doctor Ivanovich is available in an hour.
Есть билеты на этот рейс?
Да, одно место свободно.
Are there any tickets left for this flight?
Yes, there is one open seat.

Just remember that even though the English translation for свободный is "free" it's not to be confused with бесплатно, meaning "free of charge.

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