Нога

by Don  

The Russian word for leg is нога. Just as рука means both hand and arm in Russian, so also нога means both leg and foot. Interestingly enough, it's stress pattern is identical to that of рука:

SgPl
Nomноганоги
Accногуноги
Genногиног
Preногеногах
Datногеногам
Insногойногами

My favorite idiom with this word is (с)делать ноги, which means to flee, run away, haul ass. Well, no, it's not as vulgar as “haul ass,” but you get the idea. Examples:

Я бы на его месте делал ноги, пока не поздно. (source) In his place I'd get out of there before it's too late.
Говорят, что каждого нового ухажёра Наоми быстро начинала звать своим "мужем", строить планы на будущее, говорить о детях… И вскоре после этого мужчина обычно делал ноги. (source) They say that Naomi [Campbell] would quickly start calling each new suitor her “husband” and start planning for the future, talking about children… And right after that the man would take to his heels.
Недавно жили две мышки домашние в клетке. Одна умерла, а вторая сделала ноги куда-то к соседям. Теперь я совсем одинокая :( . (source) Not long ago [I had] two pet mice living in a cage. One died, and the other ran off to some neighbors' house. Now I'm all alone.
Сама же Германия с конца 1944 года лишь делала ноги, панически отступая от Красной Армии. (source) Germany itself began to flee at the end of 1944, retreating before the Red Army in a panic.

Лучше

by Don  

Лучше means better. It can be used either as an adverb or as a short-form adjective.

Я плохо говорю по-немецки, но хочу говорить лучше. I speak German poorly, but I want to speak it better.
Обещаю тебе, мама, я буду лучше учиться! I promise you, Mom, I'll study harder! (Lit. “better”)
У тебя красивая машина, но моя — лучше. You have a pretty car, but mine is better.

If you want to include a “than” in the sentence, then the word you want is чем:

Таня говорит по-французски лучше, чем я. Tanya speaks French better than I.
Моя сестра пишет лучше, чем она поёт. My sister writes better than she sings.

Interestingly enough, if the чем is followed by a noun or pronoun in the nominative case, you can make an equivalent construction by dropping the чем and using the genitive of the noun/pronoun:

Мой брат старше, чем я. My brother is older than I.
Мой брат старше меня.
Твой муж играет в теннис лучше, чем моя жена. Your husband plays tennis better than my wife.
Твой муж играет в теннис лучше моей жены.

Лучше is also often used with future tense verbs or imperative verbs to express the idea of “it would be better”:

— Можно я переночую у тебя?
— Лучше ты пойдёшь домой.
“May I spend the night at your place?”
“It would be better if you went home.”
— Я спрошу папу, где ключи от машины.
— Лучше ты спроси у брата. Они только что были у него.
“I'll ask Dad where the car keys are.”
“You had better ask your brother instead. He just had them.”

Last but not least, here we have a standard mother-in-law joke that uses the word:

Жена разговаривает по телефону, потом кладёт трубку.
Муж (читая газету):
A woman is talking on the phone. She hangs up. The husband, reading the paper, asks:
- Это кто был? “Who was that?”
- Да мама. Она, по-моему, уже наполовину сумасшедшая. “It was Mom. I think she is half crazy.”
- А-а-а… Значит, получше стало. “Hmmm… sounds like things are getting better.”

Килограмм, кило

by Don  

Not too surprisingly, the Russian word for kilogram is килограмм. Note the double м. The genitive plural is килограммов, but after numbers you often find a zero-ending form. That is, you will encounter both пять килограммов and пять килограмм in the meaning of “five kilos.” The zero-ending form is more common among people who constantly deal with large weights. Once in a blue moon you will encounter a Russian who thinks that only the form in -ов is correct in that context. There is also an indeclinable short form кило. Thus these are all possible sentences:

Дайте килограмм мяса.
Дайте кило мяса.
Give me a kilo of meat.
Дайте два килограмма морковки.
Дайте два кило морковки.
Give me two kilos of carrots.
Дайте пять килограммов картошки.
Дайте пять килограмм картошки.
Дайте пять кило картошки.
Give me five kilos of potatoes.

This brings to mind a classic joke: What weighs more, a pound of feathers or a pound of gold? An American experiences this joke in two phases.

Phase 1, grade school: Your buddy poses the question, and you look around yourself dumbfounded and answer “a pound of gold” because obviously everyone knows that gold is heavier than feathers. And then your buddy points out that he said “a pound” of each, so obviously they weigh the same, and you are a complete doofus for not understanding something that simple. You begin to re-evaluate your choice of buddies.

Phase 2, high school: In chemistry class you learn that feathers are weighed using Avoirdupois ounces, whereas gold is weighed in Troy ounces, so in fact a pound of gold weighs less than a pound of feathers (detailed explanation). You realize that not only were you wrong back in fourth grade, but you had it exactly backwards, and your buddy was also a doofus.

The Russians have a similar joke, but with a much clearer set of consequences:

Два студента с военной кафедры решили подколоть прапора: Two students from a military school decided to have some fun with the warrant officer.
- Товарищ прапорщик, а что тяжелее: килограмм ваты или килограмм железа? “Comrade Warrant Officer, what's heavier, a kilo of cotton or a kilo of iron?”
- Килограмм железа! “A kilo of iron!”
- А вот и неправильно, одинаково! “Wrong, they're the same!”
- А я вот щас дам тебе по голове сначала килограммом ваты, а потом килограммом железа, а там посмотрим! Here, I'll hit you in the head with a kilo of cotton and then with a kilo of iron, then we'll see [who is right]!

See the difference between Russian and American culture? Americans get lost in the picky details, and the Russians go right for the most relevant result!


Note: вата is actually cotton wool or cotton wadding like the stuff you would use in dressing a wound. When you translate a joke, though, you want to express it in a short punchy way that gets a laugh from the target audience, so it's okay to take some liberties instead of going for a straight word-for-word translation.

Садиться/сесть, часть третья

by Don  

When a plane or flying animal lands, the landing can be expressed by the verb садиться/сесть. There is a subtlety in the use of the prepositions with this idea. First off, if you land on something, then that is often expressed by motion phrases with the accusative case:

Почему, когда птицы садятся на провода, их не бьёт током? Why does the current not kill them when birds land on wires?
Утки часто садятся на воду. Ducks often land on water.
Частный немецкий самолёт сел на Красную площадь. A private German plane landed on Red Square.
В 1963-ем году советский самолёт сел на реку Нева. In 1963 a Soviet airplane landed on the Neva.
Во Флориде самолёт сел на одну из самых оживлённых магистралей. (source) In Florida an airplane landed on one of the busiest highways.
Из-за неисправности шасси самолёт сел "на брюхо" в Подгорице. (source) Due to a landing gear failure an airplane landed on its belly in Podgoritsa.
Вертолёт сел на крышу небоскрёба. The helicopter landed on the roof of a skyscraper.

But the location where the craft lands (not the the thing it lands on) is expressed with location phrases:

Грузинские самолёты еще садятся в Москве. (source) Georgian planes are still landing in Moscow.
Частный российский самолёт сел в Бресте без разрешения. (source) A private Russian plane landed in Brest without permission.
Самолёт сел на брюхо в Новосибирске. (source) An airplane landed on its belly in Novosibirsk.
Испанский военный самолёт сел в Греции. (source) A Spanish military plane landed in Greece.

1963 — Neva River

Садиться/сесть, часть вторая

by Don  

The verb садиться/сесть is also used to express the idea of boarding a bus, train, plane, or car:

Маша села в такси и поехала в аэропорт. Mary got in the taxi and went to the airport.
Сядь во сто одиннадцатый автобус и поезжай на Красную площадь. Get on bus #111 and go to Red Square.
В Москве каждый день в метро садятся миллионы москвичей. In Moscow millions of Muscovites get on the subway every day.
Каждые две недели летом мы садимся в электричку и отправляемся в Тулу. In the summertime we get on the local train and head to Tula every two weeks.

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