Learn Russian Step by Step

At this point you most likely already know the Russian alphabet by heart. But can you say the same about the Russian handwriting? Do you recognize the Russian letters written by hand? If not, this lesson is for you! Handwritten Russian alphabet In the table below you’ll see the Russian letters along with their handwritten […] The post 158 – Russian handwriting appeared first on Learn Russian Step by Step.

Do you have a Russian girlfriend or boyfriend? Are you preparing to meet the parents of your darling for the first time? If so, this lesson is for you! We’ve selected useful words and phrases that you may need when meeting Russian family of your beloved one. Learn these simple lines by heart, and you […] The post 143 – Meeting your in-laws appeared first on Learn Russian Step by Step.

We’ve already covered Russian personal, demonstrative, and possessive pronouns, as well as reflexive pronoun себя, reflexive possessive pronoun свой, and emphatic definite pronoun сам. So you already know quite a bit about Russian pronouns, but not all yet. Today we start learning the Interrogative pronouns. Interrogative pronouns are used to ask questions. In this lesson […] The post 142 – Russian Interrogative Pronouns: кто, что appeared first on Learn Russian Step by Step.

It’s time to do some work on our vocabulary again. In one of the previous lessons we already covered vocabulary related to health. Today we continue with the health and are going to learn some words and phrases that you could use in a pharmacy. Useful words апте́ка [aptyéka] – pharmacy, drug store лека́рство [leekárstva] […] The post 141 – Useful phrases: pharmacy appeared first on Learn Russian Step by Step.

Today we continue with the superlative degree of adjectives. You can find the first part here. 3. + ейший/айший Simply add the suffix -ейш- and the corresponding to the gender and number ending -ий, -ая, -ое, -ые. си́льный– сильне́йший (strong – the strongest) бога́тый – богате́йший (rich – the richest) If the stem ends in […] The post 140 – The superlative degree of adjectives (2d part) appeared first on Learn Russian Step by Step.

The superlative degree indicates that someone or something has the quality of the adjective to a degree greater than that of anything it is being compared to. In this lesson we are going start learning how to form the superlative degree of Russian adjectives. 1. The standart method Add before the adjective the word самый […] The post 139 – The superlative degree of adjectives (1st part) appeared first on Learn Russian Step by Step.

In the previous lesson we learned how to form the long form of comparative degree of Russian adjectives. Today let’s look at the short form. Formation Drop off the ending of an adjective and add -ее. This form doesn’t change in gemder and number: дли́нный (long) – длинне́е (longer) сла́бый (weak) – слабе́е (weaker) краси́вый […] The post 138 – The comparative degree: the short form appeared first on Learn Russian Step by Step.

Russian adjectives (most of them) have two comparative degrees: the long from and the short form. In today’s lesson we’ll learn how to form the long form. Actually, it is very easy – all you need to do is to add бо́лее (more) or ме́нее (less) to the long form of adjective: Э́та су́мка тяжёлая. […] The post 137 – The comparative degree: the long form appeared first on Learn Russian Step by Step.

Today's lesson we dedicate to developing your skills of asking questions in Russian. Let's learn how to ask in Russian 'what size, color, length, height and so on is something or someone'. You already know how to ask 'What color is something?' in Russian. Let us remind you that to ask that kind of questions Russians start the phrase the the interrogative pronoun какой in the Genitive - "какого?". The noun that goes after какого is in the Genitive as well. Како́го цве́та твоя́ маши́на? - What color is your car? Како́го ро́ста твой оте́ц? - How tall is your father? (What height is your father?) With feminine, neutral and plural nouns the pronoun какого changes accordingly*: masculine: како́й -> како́го feminine: кака́я -> како́й neutral: како́е -> како́го plural: каки́е -> каки́х * See the lesson 126 – Declension of adjectives: adjectives in -гий, -кий, -хий, -гой, -кой, -хой for more information. Examples: Како́й высоты́ э́то де́рево? - What is the height of this tree? высота́ (height) is feminine Како́й ширины́ э́та река́? - What is the width of this river? ширина́ (width) is feminine Како́й глубины́ о́зеро Байка́л? - What is the depth of the Lake Baikal? глубина́ (width) is feminine Како́го э́то разме́ра? - What size is it? разме́р (size) is masculine Каки́х разме́ров бу́дет де́тская в но́вой кварти́ре? - What size will the new children's room in the new apartment? разме́ры (sizes) is plural Practice all examples of this lesson with the audio track. The post 136 – Learn to ask ‘what size, color, length and so on is something?’ appeared first on Learn Russian Step by Step.

In this lesson we'll learn one more Russian pronoun. This is the pronoun сам. It's used to emphasize the subject which is performing an action. It can be translated in English as 'myself', 'yourself', 'himslef' and s on. As many other Russian pronouns, сам changes in gender, number and case. Have a look at the declension on the pronoun сам.   masculine feminine neutral plural Nominative сам сама́ само́ са́ми Genitive самого́ само́й самого́ сами́х Dative самому́ само́й самому́ сами́м Accusative самого́ саму́ самого́ сами́х Instrumental сами́м само́й сами́м сами́ми Prepositional само́м само́й само́м сами́х Use of the pronoun сам Я сама́ зна́ю, что и как де́лать. - I know myself what to do and how. Он сам пришёл, его́ никто́ не звал. - He came by himself, nobody called him. Э́та карти́на напи́сана сами́м Леона́рдо да Ви́нчи. - This picture is painted by Leonardo da Vinci. Сам is very often used with себя: Помоги́ себе́ сам. - Help yourself. Э́то говори́т само́ за себя́. - It speaks for itself. Learn a few useful expressions with the pronoun сам: Сам винова́т. / Сама́ винова́та. You asked for it! (lit. - You are guilty yourself!) Сам не свой. / Сама́ не своя. Not one's usual self. (lit. - Not oneself) Само́ собо́й (разумеется). Of course. / Sure. Here is an audio file for you to practice all examples of today's lesson: The post 135 – Russian emphatic definite pronoun “сам” appeared first on Learn Russian Step by Step.

Today we'll learn one more Russian reflexive pronoun - свой. This is a possessive pronouns and used to refer back to the subject of the sentence. First let's take a look at its declension. The pronoun свой change both in numbers and cases: case masculine feminine neutral plural Nominative свой своя́ своё свои́ Genitive своего́ свое́й своего́ свои́х Dative своему́ свое́й своему́ свои́м Accusative своего́ свою своего́ свои́х Instrumental свои́м свое́й свои́м свои́ми Prepositional своём свое́й своём свои́х Use of the reflexive possessive pronoun свой The pronouns свой is used instead of possessive pronouns when referring back to the subject of the sentence. For example: Он не по́мнит свой а́дрес. - He doesn't remember his address. The use of the pronoun свой depends on the gender and number of the object you are talking about: Я слежу́ за свои́м здоро́вьем. – I (subject) am watching over my health (object). Он следи́т за свои́м здоро́вьем. – He (subject) is watching over his health (object). Мы следи́м за свои́м здоро́вьем. – We (subject) are watching over our health (object). "Следи́ть за здоро́вьем" is an example of the Instrumental. Pay attention: Talking about 3d person use the general possessive pronoun if you refer the other person. Use the pronoun свой if your refer to the subject of the sentence: Она взяла́ свою́ су́мку. – She took her (own) bag. Она́ взяла́ её су́мку. – She took her (someone else’s) bag. Talking about 1st or 2d person you can use or possessive or reflexive pronoun: Дай мне твой но́мер телефо́на. / Дай мне свой но́мер телефо́на. Give me your phone number. Я сде́лала ремо́нт в свое́й ко́мнате. / Я сде́лала ремо́нт в мое́й ко́мнате. I renovated my room. Body parts: Russians usually don't use any pronouns when talking about body parts. Я почи́стила зу́бы. – I brushed my teeth. Ты вы́мыл ру́ки? – Hve you washed your hands? Here is an audio file for you to practice all examples of today's lesson: The post 134 – Russian reflexive possessive pronoun “свой” appeared first on Learn Russian Step by Step.

As we said before in Russian there are a few form of adjectives. You are already familiar with the most used one - the long form. Today we are going to learn another one - the short form. Use of the short form of adjectives: 1. While the long form describes a permanent or intrinsic conditions, the short form is linked to the sunbject as it's temporal condition or limited quality. Compare these examples: Он о́чень занято́й челове́к. - He is a very busy man. (in general, the long form) Он о́чень за́нят. - He is very busy. (right now, the short form) Ты счастли́вый челове́к? - Are you a happy man? (in general, the long form) Тепе́рь ты сча́стлив? - Are you happy now? (in this moment, the short form) Э́тот го́род краси́вый. - This city is beautiful. (in general, the long form) Э́тот го́род краси́в зимо́й. - This city is beautiful in winter. (a limited quality, the short form) 2. If any additional description goes with the adjective, the short form is used: The glass is full. - Стака́н по́лный. / Стака́н по́лон. (long or short form) The glass is full of water. - Стака́н по́лон воды́. (only the short form) This man is famous. - Э́тот челове́к знамени́тый. / Э́тот челове́к знамени́т. (long or short form) This man is famous for his fortune. - Э́тот челове́к знамени́т свои́м состоя́нием. (only the short form) 3. Some adjectives change their meaning being used in the short form: Он о́чень живо́й и позити́вный челове́к. - He is very lively and positive man. Он ещё жив? - Is he still alive? Она́ о́чень хоро́шая и до́брая де́вушка. - She is very good and kind girl. Она́ о́чень хороша́ собо́й. - She is very good-looking girl. 4. Some adjectives have no short form. THese are adjectives that describe time, place, material, substance, "animal" adjectives and adjectives with -ск-. зи́мний - of winter техни́ческий - technical ме́стный - local коша́чий - cat's желе́зный - of iron Listen to the audio track and practice the examples of today's lesson. The post 131 – The short form of Russian adjectives appeared first on Learn Russian Step by Step.

In this lesson we’ll be practicing to use Russian adjectives in different cases. Read the examples and try to understand what case is it and why the endings of the words look this way. We’ll give you right answers in the end of the lesson. Let’s begin: 1. Э́то о́чень интере́сная кни́га. – This is […] The post 130 – Practice Russian adjectives in different cases appeared first on Learn Russian Step by Step.

You already know that generally the long form of Russian adjectives goes before the word it describes and agrees with the noun or pronoun in gender, number and case. In this lesson we’ll look at some more examples of its use. 1. While making a statement (in the predicative function) the adjective goes after the […] The post 129 – Use of the long form of Russian adjectives appeared first on Learn Russian Step by Step.

In today's lesson we'll expand your vocabulary with the names of colors (цвета́). Some of them you already know, and some of them will be new for you. бе́лый - white жёлтый - yellow ора́нжевый - orange кра́сный - red ро́зовый - pink зелёный - green си́ний - dark blue голубо́й - blue фиоле́товый - purple кори́чневый - brown чёрный - black All these words are adjectives, and as you already know adjectives take the gender, number and case of the subject they describe. Let's practice to use the names of colors with different nouns. Я люблю́ бе́лые ро́зы. - I love white roses. (plural, Accusative) У него́ се́рые глаза́. - He has gray eyes. (plural, Accusative) К до́му подъе́хала кра́сная маши́на. - A red car drove up to the house. (feminine, Nominative) Э́тот кот - бе́лый. - This cat is white. (masculine, Nominative) К э́тому пла́тью подойду́т чёрные ту́фли. - With this dress black shoes will suit. (plural, Nominative) In order to ask 'What color is anything?' start your phrase with "Како́го цве́та ...?". Pay attention that the word 'цвет' (color) is used in the Genitive - 'цве́та', so the names of colors that come along with it must be used in the Genitive as well. Како́го цве́та её пла́тье? - Оно́ кра́сное. Её пла́тье кра́сного цве́та. What color is her dress? - It's red. Her dress is red (of red color). Како́го цве́та у неё глаза́? - Они́ зелёные. Её глаза́ зелёного цве́та. What color are her eyes? - Thet are green. Her eyes are green (of green color). Како́го цве́та не́бо? - Голубо́го. Не́бо голубо́е. What color is the sky? - Blue. The sky is blue. Practice all today's examples with the audio track. The post 128 – Colors appeared first on Learn Russian Step by Step.