Learn the rules for using Russian direct objects in the accusative case
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Eric here. Beginner Series Season 1, Lesson 15 – “You’ve never eaten a Russian salad like this.” Hi, my name is Eric and I'm joined here by… |
| Anna: Anna. Hello everyone and welcome back to RussianPod101.com |
| Eric: With us, you’ll learn to speak Russian like a native. |
| Anna: We also provide you with cultural insights and tips you won’t find in a textbook. |
| Eric: In the previous lesson, we focused on spirits. |
| Anna: Hey, I don’t remember that. |
| Eric: Not the ghostly kind, Anna. |
| Anna: Oh, ok. |
| Eric: Well, the focus of this lesson is using a pronoun in the accusative case. |
| Anna: This conversation takes place at Serghei’s and Tania’s home. |
| Eric: The conversation is between James and Tania. |
| Anna: Oh, thank god. I'm not a man anymore. |
| Eric: But Anna, you were starting to be such a great man. |
| Anna: No way, Eric. |
| Eric: I miss your man voice. Alright, so the speakers are friends here so they’ll be speaking informally. Ok, let’s listen to today’s conversation. |
| Anna: This time, I’ll be playing Tania. |
| Eric: And I’ll still be James. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Anna: [Джеймс, ты любишь салат “оливье”?] |
| Eric: [Я никогда его не ел.] |
| Anna: [Хочешь попробовать?] |
| Eric: [Конечно.] |
| Eric: Once again, slowly. |
| Anna: Еще раз, медленнее. |
| Anna: [Джеймс, ты любишь салат “оливье”?] |
| Eric: [Я никогда его не ел.] |
| Anna: [Хочешь попробовать?] |
| Eric: [Конечно.] |
| Eric: One time, natural native speed with translation. |
| Anna: Еще раз, с переводом. |
| Anna: [Джеймс, ты любишь салат оливье?] |
| Eric: James, do you like the “Оливье” salad? |
| Anna: [Я никогда его не ел.] |
| Eric: I’ve never eaten it. |
| Anna: [Хочешь попробовать?] |
| Eric: Would you like to taste it? |
| Anna: [Конечно.] |
| Eric: Sure. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: Anna, [ты любишь салаты]? Do you love salads? |
| Anna: [Я люблю “селёдку под шубой”] Or roughly translated, herring on the fur coat. |
| Eric: [Я не хочу попробовать] I don’t want to try this one. Salads don’t need fur coats, really. |
| Anna: Oh, Eric, what do you think of Russian people? We use vodka to warm ourselves from inside, but we don’t eat fur coats. |
| Eric: So then please explain what does [“под шубой”] mean. |
| Anna: Ok. We say [под шубой] because the herring is covered with a layer of vegetables and mayonnaise. |
| Eric: Oh, sounds yummy. Vegetables and mayonnaise, a furry coat of veggie and mayo, please. |
| Anna: [Ну что, хочешь попробовать?] |
| Eric: [нет] I don’t think so. |
| Anna: You don’t want to try this one? |
| Eric: No, I’ve seen it and it looks even less appealing than it sounds. |
| Anna: Anyway, I like it. Listeners, don’t believe Eric. It’s really good. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Eric: Ok, let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. Our first word is… |
| Anna: [пробовать] |
| Eric: To taste. |
| Anna: [пробовать] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Anna: [есть] |
| Eric: To eat. |
| Anna: [есть] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Anna: [никогда] |
| Eric: Never. |
| Anna: [никогда] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Anna: [салат] |
| Eric: A salad. |
| Anna: [салат] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Anna: [конечно] |
| Eric: Of course, certainly. |
| Anna: [конечно] |
| 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 word is [салат]. |
| Eric: In Russian, [салат] is a general word for a variety of cold dishes where different ingredients are finely cut and mixed together with some sauce. In most cases it doesn’t contain any lettuce. |
| Anna: Yeah, it’s actually funny is the other meaning of the word [салат] is “lettuce”. |
| Eric: That is interesting. So you call “salad” in Russian [салат]. |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: And you call “lettuce” [салат]. |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: But Russian salads don’t really have lettuce. |
| Anna: Sometimes they do but most often they don’t. |
| Eric: The irony of Russian cooking. Ok, what’s our next word, Anna? |
| Anna: [Никогда], which means “never”. Unlike in English, we always use [не] or “not” with [никогда] in Russian. |
| Eric: So in our dialogue, we have [никогда не ел] “I have never eaten,” right? |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: Ok. So we do use a double negative in Russian. |
| Anna: Yes, that’s true. |
| Eric: For example, [Я никогда не был в Москве]. |
| Anna: Or “I have never been to Moscow”. |
| Eric: Let’s break that down. Anna, can you give the Russian? |
| Anna: [я] |
| Eric: I |
| Anna: [никогда] |
| Eric: Never. |
| Anna: [не был] |
| Eric: Haven’t been. |
| Anna: [в Москве] |
| Eric: “To Moscow”. Well, I'm going to go over it again. So literally it translates as “I never haven’t been to Moscow”. Ok, let’s talk about our next verb which is [есть]. |
| Anna: Or “to eat”. It’s a bit more formal than [кушать]. |
| Eric: So I can say [я хочу есть] instead of [я хочу кушать]? |
| Anna: Yes, exactly. And either is fine. |
| Eric: They both mean the same thing? |
| Anna: Right. You remember you can also say [я голоден]. |
| Eric: That’s right. So now we have three ways to say “I’m hungry”. |
| Anna: Yep. |
| Eric: It seems like our vocabulary is getting richer and richer every lesson, Anna. |
| Anna: Yeah, that’s really nice. Ok, so what’s up next, Eric? |
| Eric: [попробовать] which means “to taste” but also “to try”. |
| Anna: Nice, Eric. And our final phrase is [конечно]. It can be used alone and also at the beginning or in the middle of the sentence. |
| Eric: This is a pretty common word in Russian, isn’t it? |
| Anna: [конечно] |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Eric: Ok, time for grammar. So basically for every out there, just to recap, the accusative case is used for direct objects. In other words, nouns or pronouns that go directly after a verb without a preposition. For example, Anna? |
| Anna: [Ты любишь салат] |
| Eric: “Do you like salad?” So for example, [салат] or “salad” is the noun that goes directly after the verb [любишь] or “you love”. And [салат] is in the accusative case. |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: And for masculine nouns, we don’t change anything in the accusative case. |
| Anna: Eric, can I give another example? |
| Eric: [пожалуйста, Анна] |
| Anna: [Я никогда его не ел] |
| Eric: “I have never eaten it.” Let’s break that down. |
| Anna: Ok. [я] |
| Eric: I. |
| Anna: [никогда] |
| Eric: Never. |
| Anna: [его] |
| Eric: Here’s the pronoun. That’s in the accusative case, “it”. |
| Anna: [не ел] |
| Eric: “Not ate.” So literally it’s “I never it not ate.” |
| Anna: It’s too complicated. |
| Eric: So it sounds jumbled, but it means “I have never eaten it” and [его] is the pronoun that we use in the accusative case, right? |
| Anna: Right. In Russian, there is no equivalent of “it”. If an inanimate noun, which refers to all the nouns except for people and animals, is masculine or neutral, you replace it with [его]. |
| Eric: So if I said [Я люблю молоко]. |
| Anna: Instead you can say [Я люблю его]. |
| Eric: Ok. So “I like it”, “I like milk”. How would I say the accusative pronoun if I said [Я люблю чай]? |
| Anna: [Я люблю его] |
| Eric: Same? |
| Anna: Same. |
| Eric: Ok, “I love it”, “I love tea”. |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: Great. |
| Anna: But in case a feminine noun, you replace the noun with the pronoun [её]. |
| Eric: Anna, for example? |
| Anna: For example, [Я люблю колбасу] “I like sausage”. |
| Eric: So here I would say [Я её люблю], right? “I like it”? |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: Ok, so what about if it’s a plural noun? |
| Anna: If the noun is plural, we substitute with [их]. |
| Eric: [их] |
| Anna: For example, [Я люблю апельсины]. |
| Eric: “I love oranges”, “I really like oranges”. |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: Ok. “I love them”. Ok, Anna, could you break that down? |
| Anna: Ok. [я] |
| Eric: I. |
| Anna: [их] |
| Eric: them |
| Anna: [люблю] |
| Eric: “Love.” Ok. Anna, let’s have an example of a masculine noun and a feminine noun, and a plural noun. |
| Anna: Ok. Masculine one. |
| Eric: Ok. |
| Anna: [Я люблю салат] |
| Eric: I love salad. |
| Anna: [Я его люблю] |
| Eric: “I it love” – literally – or “I love it”. So you notice the change in position. “I it love”, you can say [Я его люблю] in Russian, but you can’t say, obviously, “I it love” in English. |
| Anna: Ok. |
| Eric: How about a feminine noun? |
| Anna: Ok. [Я люблю колбасу] |
| Eric: I love sausage. |
| Anna: [Я её люблю] |
| Eric: “I it love” – literally – or “I love it”. And we use [её] for feminine. |
| Anna: Perfect. |
| Eric: Ok. And how about our last example with a plural noun? |
| Anna: Ok. [Я люблю апельсины] |
| Eric: I love oranges. |
| Anna: [Я их люблю] |
| Eric: “I them love” – literally – or the English translation would be “I love them”. |
| Anna: Right, Eric. |
| Eric: Great. Great examples, Anna. Thank you. |
| Anna: Thank you, Eric. |
Outro |
| Eric: So for all you listeners out there who would like to see this written, please check out the PDF file for this lesson. There’s a table to help you learn these pronouns. Ok, Anna, that was a long lesson. I think our listeners are probably ready for a break. |
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| Anna: Alright, that really does it for today. |
| Eric: Until next time. |
| Anna: [До встречи] |
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