I skipped breakfast this morning, so meals are much in my thoughts at the moment. Let's discuss them. First off, the nouns breakfast, lunch, and dinner are завтрак, обед, and ужин respectively. Яичница means fried (or scrambled) eggs, so “I ate fried eggs for breakfast” comes out «На завтрак я ел яичницу». Notice that the meal name goes in the accusative case after the preposition на, which in this case means “for,” and the item to be eaten also appears in the accusative case.

Beginning American students of Russian often write things like «Я ела завтрак» “I ate breakfast.” Technically that's a perfectly grammatical sentence. The trouble is that Russians don't really say it that way very often. Instead they use the verbs to eat breakfast, to eat lunch, and to eat dinner, which are завтракать, обедать, and ужинать respectively. (The perfective of each verb is made by prefixing по- to the imperfective.) Just how big is the difference in usage? I did a non-exhaustive Google search and found the following:

Pretty amazing, huh? The least common past-tense form of завтракать is more common than all the past-tense forms of «есть завтрак» combined. So if you are ever tempted to say «Я ел(а) завтрак», substitute «Я завтракал(а)» and then award yourself a Scooby snack for stylistic savvy.

Another common error is to say «Я завтракал яичницу». NOOOO! You can't say it that way. Oh, sure, the Russians will understand you, but you will sound like a stupid foreigner. Who needs that? It's good to sound like a mysterious and exotic foreigner, or a stylish and well-traveled foreigner, or a wise and devout foreigner, but try not to sound like a stupid one. To avoid that issue, you need to know that the three meal verbs we mentioned before are complemented by the instrumental case of the thing dined upon. Thus we have:

(Note: каша in the next to the last example is actually a much broader word than “oatmeal,” and бисквит is really much broader than “biscotto,” but we'll save those discussions for another day.)

Just for fun let's include this little gem of an example that I came across the other day in a Russian translation of Stephen King's “Pet Sematary”:

The simplest way to discuss breakfast is to simply use the verb быть “to be”:

Notice that in this approach the food item is in the nominative case because it is the subject of the verb, and the verb has to agree with a subject.

In terms of style, phrases like «Мы завтракали» and «На затрак мы ели блины» are perfectly neutral, but if you use the verb завтракать and also mention the food item «Мы завтракали блинами», then you are in a higher stylistic register. It's sort of like the difference between “We ate blintzes for breakfast” and “We breakfasted upon blintzes.”

Finally, at the beginning of a meal one can use the traditional phrase «Приятного аппетита!» “Bon appétit!”

The Russian word for compliment is комплимент. People enjoy expressing their feelings through a compliment whether it is a special holiday such as Valentines Day or any day of the year. When a man wants to compliment a woman about her beauty, he can say «Ты выглядишь очень красиво» “You look very beautiful.” A few variations of this could type of compliment are «Ты выглядишь прекрасно» “You look lovely” or «Ты выглядишь хорошо» “You look well.”

A few years ago, my father’s friend moved into a new home and decided to invite my family and a few other friends for a housewarming party празднование новоселья. When my parents arrived, there were many guests with whom my parents were not acquainted. In particular, my parents noticed a couple with a few small children and decided to introduce themselves. After my family met the couple, they looked at the beautiful children and said «У вас очень очаровательные дети!» “You have very lovely children”. The lady began laughing and said «Это не мои дети. Это мои внуки!» “They are not my children. They are my grandchildren!”. My mother’s eyes seemed to dilate as she said «Удивительно! Вам не дашь ваших лет!» “Amazing! You don’t look your age!”. The lady began lecturing my mother about her extremely healthy lifestyle while I stood smiling and thinking to myself «Какая ложь! У нее просто хорошие гены.» “What a lie! She just has good genes.”

The phrase Olga's mother used to mean “You don't look your age” may seem confusing at first glance. Why are there ты forms and вы forms in the same sentence? It turns out that ты has two uses, just like English “you.” It can mean either the person you are talking to, or it can mean a generic “you,” like in the sentence “No matter where you are in Seattle, within fifty feet you'll find an espresso stand.” The “you” there doesn't really have a specific person in mind in that sentence; rather it catches the idea that anyone in that situation would find espresso easily. Similarly in «Вам не дашь ваших лет», the ты form of the verb catches that generic use of “you,” while the вам and the ваших are actually taking about the young-appearing woman. Thus the sentence in effect says, “No one would attribute to you your actual years.”

The Russian word for family is семья. Family is a very important part of my life and I could not imagine myself without them. When I lived in Russia, we set one day out of each year to be together as a family. Most of my extended family came to my home from different parts of Russia and Ukraine to spend the day feasting, dancing, and talking. When the big family arrived to the gathering, there were many of my aunts тёти, uncles дяди, grandmothers бабушки, grandfathers дедушки, nephews племянники, nieces племянницы, and grandchildren внуки. One of my aunts had a young son сын and daughter дочка who were two of the most energetic children I have ever seen. I felt that sometimes they were so hyper that I could not sit them down to do anything quiet even for a few minutes. During the family dinner, my mother stood up and made a toast «Я очень рада, что сегодня вся наша семья собралась, чтобы провести этот день вместе» “I am very happy that all of our family gathered today to spend time together.” It is always difficult for me when some of my family travel back to their home because I do not get to see them very often, but I always look forward to the day when we will again gather together and spend time bonding and having fun.

The Russian word for orchestra is оркестр. Listening to a live orchestra is a very relaxing and enjoyable activity that many people take part in. It is important to have a good balance of different instruments within the orchestra to obtain the best sound quality. These instruments include the violin скрипка, viola альт, cello виолончель, and bass басовый. During high school, I was involved in the orchestra for four years. During these four years, I became a very good violin player and sometimes, my teacher said «Оля, как ты хорошо играешь на скрипке!» “Olga, how well you play on the violin!”. Because our orchestra consisted of very good players, we were fortunate to travel and compete against other high school orchestras. One day during class, our teacher told us «В конце года мы все поедем на Гавайи, чтобы соревноваться с другими школами!» “At the end of the year, we will all go to Hawaii to compete with other schools!” When I came home that day, I was very excited and began practicing hard to make sure that we get first place at the competition!

Don's additional notes: басовый can mean any of the bass strings. If you specifically want to indicate the double bass (contrabass), then you say контрабас.

When someone is neat or punctual, we say that he or she is аккуратный. I am a person who prefers to have everything organized and stored properly. Even as a child, I kept my room very organized, neat, and clean. My parents often complimented me when my room was neat. «Какая у тебя аккуратная комната!» “What a neat room you have!” My sister on the other hand, was very untidy and disorganized. She always threw clothes on the floor after coming home from school and often found things missing or lost because her room was so messy. My mother constantly nagged her about her room. «Юля, какой бардак! Убери в своей комнате!» “Julie, what a mess! Clean up in your room!”, but regardless of my mother’s lecturing, my sister’s room always stood messy. «Даже сейчас у меня все аккуратно и организованно» “Even now I keep everything neat and organized.”

Don's additional notes: бардак literally means bordello, but in conversational Russian it is used to mean "a mess." The latter usage is so common that I've even met Russians in the US who don't know the original meaning.