Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Eric: Beginner Series Season 2, Lesson 8 - Make new friends on the plane. In this lesson, you’ll learn how to start a conversation up to make new friends.
Anna: This conversation takes place on the plane, right after the landing.
Eric: The conversation is between Masha and Kevin.
Anna: The speakers do not know each other, so they will be speaking formal Russian.
Eric: Ok, let’s listen to the conversation. Here we go.
DIALOGUE
Anna: [Извините, вы в первый раз в Санкт-Петербурге?]
Eric: [Да, это моя первая поездка.]
Anna: [А я часто летаю в Петербург, это мой родной город.]
Eric: [Вам нравится возвращаться?.] One time, slowly.
Anna: [Еще раз, медленнее. Извините, вы в первый раз в Санкт-Петерурге?]
Eric: [Да, это моя первая поездка.]
Anna: [А я часто летаю в Петербург, это мой родной город.]
Eric: [Вам нравится возвращаться?] One time, natural native speed, with the translation.
Anna: Еще раз с переводом. Извините, вы в первый раз в Санкт-Петербурге?]
Eric: Excuse me, is this your first time in Saint Petersburg.
Anna: Да, это моя первая поездка.
Eric: Yes, this is my first trip.
Anna: А я часто летаю в Петербург, это мой родной город.
Eric: I often fly to Saint Petersburg. This is my home city.
Anna: Вам нравится возвращаться?
Eric: Do you enjoy coming back?
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Anna: Eric, have you ever been to [Санкт-Петербург]?
Eric: Actually, I haven’t, but I really want to go someday.
Anna: I haven’t been either, but I really want to go as well.
Eric: Why do you want to go, Anna?
Anna: You know, Eric, that Saint Petersburg is being referred as the cultural capital of Russia. Have you heard about that?
Eric: Yes, I have, Anna, and that’s one of the reasons I want to go. Even though you haven’t been there, what do you know about Saint Petersburg?
Anna: Well, Saint Petersburg is known to the world for its museums, like [эрмитаж]. Have you heard about that?
Eric: I have indeed.
Anna: Yes, of course. That’s one of the biggest museums in the world. And also in the summertime, you can experience [белые ночи].
Eric: White nights?
Anna: Right. Have you heard about that?
Eric: I have heard about these white nights, but I'm not sure if the sun never sets or if there’s only a few hours of darkness?
Anna: Actually the sun sets, but it’s always light.
Eric: So how do people go to sleep?
Anna: Well, that’s the problem for them, I guess.
Eric: Or not. You could have a great summer in Saint Petersburg.
Anna: That’s actually favorite time for most of the young people cause they just stay out for a night, somewhere, you know.
Eric: That sounds great.
Anna: Yeah.
Eric: Anna, one more thing, you mentioned young people - most people that I talked to in Russia, they referred to Saint Petersburg as [Питер].
Anna: Right, yeah.
Eric: It’s kind of like the slang term for it.
Anna: Right. That’s a very slang term so…
Eric: If you’re saying you’re going to [Санкт-Петербург], how would you say in the short way?
Anna: It will depend on whom I'm talking to. For example, if I'm talking to my friends I would say [Я еду в Питер]. Or if I want to make it more polite, I would say [Я еду в Петербург]. [Петербург] is also short version of [Санкт-Петербург].
Eric: Ok, so you have many options. [Санкт-Петербург, Петербург] or…
Anna: And [Питер].
Eric: [Питер], my favorite. Alright, [спасибо], Anna.
Anna: [пожалуйста], Eric.
Eric: Let’s now take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson.
VOCAB LIST
Eric: Our first word is…
Anna: [вы]
Eric: You.
Anna: [вы]
Eric: Next.
Anna: [Санкт-Петербург]
Eric: Saint Petersburg.
Anna: [Санкт-Петербург]
Eric: Next.
Anna: [это]
Eric: This is, that is, it’s.
Anna: [это]
Eric: Next.
Anna: [моя]
Eric: My, mine.
Anna: [моя]
Eric: Next.
Anna: [первая поездка]
Eric: First trip.
Anna: [первая поездка]
Eric: Next.
Anna: [часто]
Eric: Often.
Anna: [часто]
Eric: Next.
Anna: [город]
Eric: A city, a town.
Anna: [город]
Eric: Next.
Anna: [возвращаться]
Eric: To come back.
Anna: [возвращаться]
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
Eric: Ok, let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson.
Anna: The first phrase we’ll look at is [извините].
Eric: Which means “excuse me”, formal or informal, depending on the circumstance. Can we have an example, Anna?
Anna: Sure, Eric. [Извините, можно пройти?]
Eric: Let’s break that down.
Anna: [извините]
Eric: Excuse me.
Anna: [можно]
Eric: Can I.
Anna: [пройти]
Eric: “Pass” or “get by”. So if you are somewhere on the train, the movie theatre, can you use this expression if you want to move in front of someone?
Anna: Yes, that’s exactly something I would use.
Eric: Ok, so [Извините, можно пройти?].
Anna: Right.
Eric: And that’s polite.
Anna: Right.
Eric: Ok. Next we have the phrase…
Anna: [родной город]
Eric: Anna, [Откуда ты?] Where are you from?
Anna: [Я из Ташкента]. I’m from [Ташкент. Ташкент мой родной город].
Eric: Ok, Anna, why don’t we break that down?
Anna: Ok, Eric. [я]
Eric: I.
Anna: [из]
Eric: from
Anna: [Ташкента]
Eric: “Tashkent”. Or “I am from Tashkent”.
Anna: [Ташкент]
Eric: Tashkent.
Anna: [мой]
Eric: My.
Anna: [родной]
Eric: Birth.
Anna: [город]
Eric: “City”. So, literally, “Tashkent my birth city” or “Tashkent is my hometown”.
Anna: Right. Eric, [А откуда ты?] Where are you from?.
Eric: Anna, [Я из Сан-Диего].
Anna: [Это твой родной город.]
Eric: [Да, это мой родной город]. So I'm from San Diego, Anna, and obviously it’s of Spanish origin, but when you say it in Russian, it goes from San Diego to [Сан-Диего].
Anna: Yeah.
Eric: With an A ending, so it’s funny how the names change their pronunciation when you say them in Russian.
Anna: Right.
Eric: So, Anna, since we’re on the topic, why don’t we say a few famous cities around the world in English and then the Russian counterpart?
Anna: Ok, let’s do that.
Eric: Ok. Paris.
Anna: [Париж]
Eric: London.
Anna: [Лондон]
Eric: Athens.
Anna: [Афины]
Eric: Melbourne.
Anna: [Мельбурн]
Eric: Cairo.
Anna: [Каир]
Eric: Montreal.
Anna: [Монреаль]
Eric: Chicago.
Anna: [Чикаго]
Eric: And finally, Saint Petersburg?
Anna: [Санкт-Петербург]
Eric: Ok, I was hoping you’d say [Питер].
Anna: Oh, no.
Eric: Ok, let’s look at today’s grammar.

Lesson focus

Eric: So, Anna, for this lesson I’d like to focus on one of the questions from the dialogue. [Извините, вы в первый раз в Санкт-Петербурге?]. So here we have the preposition [в].
Anna: Right.
Eric: And then we have [Санкт-Петербург] but you have a the [е] on the end.
Anna: Yes.
Eric: So we’ve covered the prepositional case before in other lessons, but I think this would be a good time to review the case.
Anna: Good idea, Eric. So just to review the prepositional case, when you have the preposition [в] and then the name of the place, you would change the ending of the noun.
Eric: So, Anna, how would masculine, feminine and neutral nouns change in the prepositional case?
Anna: Ok, let’s use some examples. So let’s start from masculine nouns. Let’s take [Санкт-Петербург] as an example. So when you use the prepositional case you would say [в Санкт-Петербурге], so you just add the ending [е] to the noun.
Eric: Ok, so you don’t change the noun itself, you just add the [е] on the end.
Anna: Right. This is for masculine nouns.
Eric: Ok.
Anna: For feminine, let’s look at [Москва], Moscow. You would say [в Москве] so you will change the ending [а] to ending [е].
Eric: Ok, so here you do change the noun ending.
Anna: Right.
Eric: So, Anna, how about neutral place names, like Tokyo? Is that neutral because it ends in an O?
Anna: Oh, actually, Eric, even though it ends in O it’s not a neutral noun. It’s a masculine noun, but please be careful, you cannot change the names of towns if they ends in O, like Tokyo. You wouldn’t say [в Токие], you would always say [в Токио] or [в Чикаго].
Eric: How about Rio de Janeiro?
Anna: [в Рио-де-Жанейро]. So you don’t change the ending.
Eric: Ok, so let’s just recap - for feminine nouns like [Москва], Moscow, you would change…
Anna: [в Москве]
Eric: Ok, [в Москве], and how about [Санкт-Петербург]?
Anna: [в Санкт-Петербурге]
Eric: So you add the [е] on the end to masculine. And most place names are not neutral, they are either masculine or feminine, right?
Anna: Right.
Eric: Ok, so for example you had Rio de Janeiro, it would not change, right?
Anna: No, because it ends in O.
Eric: Ok, Anna, let’s talk about what this means. What does it mean [я в Санкт-Петербурге]?
Anna: Preposition [в] is translated as “at” or “in”, so it indicates the location.
Eric: Ok. So if I call you on the phone and I say [Анна,где ты?], “Where are you?” How could you answer you’re in Cairo?
Anna: [Я в Каире]
Eric: Ok, how would you answer that you’re in New York?
Anna: [Я в Нью- Йорке]
Eric: [в Нью-Йорке]
Anna: Right.
Eric: Because it’s masculine, so you add the [е].
Anna: Right.
Eric: So how about if you’re in Riga?
Anna: Right, I would say [Я в Риге].
Eric: [в Риге] so the A ending changes to [е].
Anna: Right.
Eric: And that means… what does [я в Риге] mean?
Anna: I’m in Riga now.
Eric: Ok, great. Ok, great, Anna. And now I think we’re at the end of the lesson.
Anna: [В конце урока], Eric, right?
Eric: Right. Can we just break that down real quick?
Anna: [в конце]
Eric: At the end.
Anna: [урока]
Eric: Of the lesson.

Outro

Anna: Right. So you can use the prepositional case, not only with places but also with other places as well.
Eric: Ok. [Спасибо] Anna.
Anna: [Спасибо тебе, Эрик. До встречи!]
Eric: See you next time.

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