Learn how to use conjunctions
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Jo: Hello everyone and welcome to RussianPod101.com. This is the Upper Beginner Series, season 1, lesson 4 “Making a Change for a Healthier Russian Lifestyle.” I’m Jo. |
| Svetlana: And I am Svetlana. Privet. |
| Jo: In this lesson you’re going to learn how to build complex sentences by using conjunctions. And we will also hear the doctor trying to convince Elena to change her lifestyle to a healthier one. |
| Svetlana: The conversation is between Elena and her doctor, and it takes place in the doctor’s examination room. |
| Jo: Elena and the doctor will be using relatively formal Russian. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Doctor: Ну что, будем меняться? |
| Elena: Да, доктор. Я за! хотя я особо на здоровье не жалуюсь. Муж доволен моей фигурой, а дети любят вкусно поесть, поэтому вряд ли я смогу изменить рацион кардинально. |
| Doctor: Вкусно есть можно и здоровую пищу, и то в меру. Вы хотите чтобы вы и ваша семья были здоровы? |
| Elena: Конечно. |
| Doctor: Тогда начните с себя. |
| Doctor: Nu chto, budem menyat 'sya? |
| Elena:Da, doktor. Ya za! hotya ya osobo na zdorov 'ye ne zhaluyus '. Muzh dovolen moyey figuroy, a deti lyubyat vkusno poyest ', poetomu vryad li ya smogu izmenit ' ratsion kardinal 'no. |
| Doctor:Vkusno yest ' mozhno i zdorovuyu pischyu, i to v meru. Vy hotitye chtoby vy i vasha sem 'ya byli zdorovy? |
| Elena:Konyechno. |
| Doctor:Togda nachnite s sebya. |
| Doctor: Okay, are you ready for a change? |
| Elena: Yes, doctor. I'm ready. However, I don't have any complaints about my health. My husband is very happy with my shape and my kids like all the delicious meals I cook for them. So, I don't think I will be able to change my diet dramatically. |
| Doctor: You can enjoy healthy food as well, but of course in moderation. Do you want you and your family to be healthy or not? |
| Elena: Of course. |
| Doctor: Let's start with you then. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Jo: So the doctor is insisting on changing Elena’s lifestyle. That’s even though Elena and her family seem to be quite happy the way they are. |
| Svetlana: I think she still wants to make some changes, otherwise she wouldn’t have gone to the gym in the first place! |
| Jo: Is change generally easy for Russian people to deal with? I know that Russia has been through years of transformation and I think that the people have experienced a lot of changes in their lives, right? |
| Svetlana: Yeah, it’s a very interesting question because the answers might be very contradictory. In general, Russians are very adaptable and flexible. However, you might meet a lot of people who complain about economic and political uncertainty. They don't want any changes at all. |
| Jo: So do you think that the doctor and her trainer will face challenges while trying to change Elena? |
| Svetlana: Probably. There is a well-known expression in Russian “na avos” which means “counting on good luck”. So usually people understand the problem and know that it should be and could be solved. However, they would probably prefer to rely on good luck to help them, unless it was something super urgent. |
| Jo: Oh, so Elena realizes what her problems are but she is very passive about them because her husband and children are happy and have no complaints. |
| Svetlana: Exactly. |
| Jo: I see. Okay. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Jo: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is... |
| Svetlana: хотя [natural native speed] |
| Jo: although |
| Svetlana: хотя [slowly - broken down by syllable] хотя [natural native speed] |
| Jo: Next |
| Svetlana: особо [natural native speed] |
| Jo: particularly |
| Svetlana: особо [slowly - broken down by syllable] особо [natural native speed] |
| Jo: Next |
| Svetlana: жаловаться [natural native speed] |
| Jo: to complain |
| Svetlana: жаловаться [slowly - broken down by syllable] жаловаться [natural native speed] |
| Jo: Next |
| Svetlana: быть довольным [natural native speed] |
| Jo: to be satisfied |
| Svetlana: быть довольным [slowly - broken down by syllable] быть довольным [natural native speed] |
| Jo: Next |
| Svetlana: фигура [natural native speed] |
| Jo: figure |
| Svetlana: фигура [slowly - broken down by syllable] фигура [natural native speed] |
| Jo: Next |
| Svetlana: вряд ли [natural native speed] |
| Jo: unlikely |
| Svetlana: вряд ли [slowly - broken down by syllable] вряд ли [natural native speed] |
| Jo: Next |
| Svetlana: кардинально [natural native speed] |
| Jo: tremendously |
| Svetlana: кардинально [slowly - broken down by syllable] кардинально [natural native speed] |
| Jo: Next |
| Svetlana: есть в меру [natural native speed] |
| Jo: eat in moderation |
| Svetlana: есть в меру [slowly - broken down by syllable] есть в меру [natural native speed] |
| Jo: Next |
| Svetlana: конечно [natural native speed] |
| Jo: certainly |
| Svetlana: конечно [slowly - broken down by syllable] конечно [natural native speed] |
| Jo: And last... |
| Svetlana: тогда [natural native speed] |
| Jo: then |
| Svetlana: тогда [slowly - broken down by syllable] тогда [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Jo: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Svetlana: The first phrase is Я за! |
| Jo: “I am in” or “ I agree”. This phrase is used to express your solid agreement on something, or your enthusiasm about taking part in something. |
| Svetlana: Right. You can also replace the pronoun “I” and say, for example, “She is on board!” |
| Она за! or you can ask a question. Ты за? |
| Jo: “Are you in?” It is a very casual phrase. |
| Svetlana: The preposition ЗА makes it an idiomatic phrase expressing agreement. |
| Jo: Yes, in fact when using it to make a sentence, you don't even need to use the verb “to agree” because it is implied. Svetlana, can you give us an example sentence with that preposition? |
| Svetlana: Of course. For example, “Я за провести Новый год на Гавайях.”, which is short for “Я голосую за то, чтобы провести новый год на Гавайях.” |
| Jo: “I vote for spending New Year’s vacation in Hawaii.” |
| Okay, let’s move to our next phrase. |
| Svetlana: The next phrase is изменить кардинально. |
| Jo: “To change something completely”. |
| Svetlana: The verb изменить means “to change”, the adverb кардинально means “completely, drastically, tremendously, etc.” |
| Jo: The adverb and the verb in that phrase are usually used together, and the adverb emphasises a pivotal change. For example, |
| Svetlana: Я кардинально сменил род занятий. |
| Jo: “I changed my occupation completely.” |
| Svetlana: Она кардинально изменила точку зрения. |
| Jo: “She completely changed her mind.” Alright. What is the last key phrase for this lesson? |
| Svetlana: есть в меру |
| Jo: “Eat in moderation”. It’s very good advice but let’s break it down to understand the meaning of each of the words. |
| Svetlana: The verb есть means “to eat”. The preposition B means “in” and the noun Меру means “measure”. So the literal meaning would be “Eat in measure”. |
| Jo: Nice. ‘Eat in measure, drink with pleasure.!’ |
| Svetlana: Haha, exactly. And it might be a good idea to spend your money “in measure” as well. тратить деньги в меру |
| Jo: “Spend your money in moderation” |
| Svetlana: There is a very useful proverb in Russian. Всё - хорощо в меру. |
| Jo: “Moderation is key.” It’s so true! |
| Okay, let’s now move on to the grammar. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Jo: In this lesson, we’re going to learn how to build complex sentences by using conjunctives. Conjunctives are commonly used in Russian. Even in our short dialogue we saw a lot of them, right? |
| Svetlana: Correct. They are хотя, а, поэтому, and и. The conjunctive Хотя means “although”. It also can be substituted with the conjunctions Но or Хоть. For example, Хотя сегодня холодно, снега нет. |
| Jo: “Although today is cold, there is no snow.” |
| Svetlana: Снега нет, хоть сегодня и холодно. |
| Jo: “There is no snow. It is cold today though. ” |
| Svetlana: Сегодня холодно, но снега нет. |
| Jo: “Today is cold but there is no snow.” We used this conjunctive already in our dialogue. |
| Svetlana: Xотя я особо на здоровье не жалуюсь. |
| Jo: “Although, I don’t have any complaints about my health.” Okay what is the next conjunction for this lesson? |
| Svetlana: The conjunction A, which means “and” also has its synonyms И and Да. For example, |
| Муж доволен, и дети счастливы. |
| Муж доволен, а дети счастливы. |
| Муж доволен, да и дети счастливы. |
| Jo: All three sentences are translated in the exact same way. “My husband is satisfied and my children are happy.” Okay, moving to the next conjunction. |
| Svetlana: The next one is Поэтому which identifies the reason and means “that’s why”. Here is an example from our dialogue |
| Муж доволен моей фигурой, а дети любят вкусно поесть, поэтому вряд ли я смогу изменить рацион кардинально. |
| Jo: “My husband is quite happy with my figure and my kids like all of the delicious meals I cook for them. So, I don’t think I will be able to change my diet dramatically.” Be careful not to mistake it for another conjunction which also indicates the reason and is translated as “because of”. |
| Svetlana: Right. It sounds kind of similar as well. “Because of” is “Потому что”. Let’s compare them in two different sentences. Я жил в Лондоне целый год, поэтому я говорю по английский. |
| Jo: “I lived in London for a year and that’s why I can speak English.” |
| Svetlana: Я говорю по английски, потому что я жил в Лондоне целый год. |
| Jo: “I can speak English because I lived in London for a year. ” See the difference? It is a bit complicated. So go ahead and check our lesson notes for more examples and information. |
| MARKETING PIECE |
| Svetlana: Listeners, can you understand Russian TV shows, movies or songs? |
| Jo: How about friends and loved ones? conversations in Russian? |
| Svetlana: If you want to know what's going on, we have a tool to help. |
| Jo: Line-by-line audio. |
| Svetlana: Listen to the lesson conversations Line-By-Line, and learn to understand natural Russian fast! |
| Jo: It's simple really. |
| Svetlana: With a click of a button, listen to each line of the conversation. |
| Jo: Listen again and again, and tune your ear to natural Russian. |
| Svetlana: Rapidly understand natural Russian with this powerful tool. |
| Jo: Find this feature on the lesson page under Premium Member resources at RussianPod101.com. |
Outro |
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| Jo: Okay, that’s it for this lesson. See you next time. |
| Svetlana: Pokapoka |
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