Крыса

by Natasha  

The Russian word крыса means 'rat,' as in the animal. It declines as such:

SgPl
Nomкрысакрысы
Accкрысукрыс
Genкрысыкрыс
Preкрысекрысах
Datкрысекрысам
Insкрысойкрысами

Photo Credit: vadim.tk (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Here are a few sample sentences:

Крыса грызла туфли. The rat gnawed the shoes.
В доме есть крысы! There are rats in the house!
Я был вчера на мусорной свалке и увидел много больших крыс! I was at the dump yesterday, and I saw a lot of big rats!
Меня укусила крыса, пришлось сделать укол от бешенства. A rat bit me, and I had to get a rabies shot.
Мой лучший друг — телепатическая крыса, которая защищает меня от забияк. My best friend is a telepathic rat who protects me from bullies.

That last sentence is the plot to the movie Ben. The movie had a famous theme song which was sung by Michael Jackson... Michael himself had a very odd life with friends few and far between, more comfortable with animals than people. Somehow his singing this song seems oddly fitting.

2 comments

Comment from: Natasha [Member]

Richard,

What an intriguing question! I did some research and talked to a few native speakers, and it appears as though this is not the case for rats in Russian. The word крыса is used for both male and female rats. A small or baby rat would be called крысёнок. Hope this helps! Thanks so much for the comment!

-Natasha

04/07/14 @ 12:48
Comment from: Richard [Visitor]

Natasha,

Since Russian has different words for male and female cats, is this also the case for rats?

03/31/14 @ 16:33


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