Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

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.
Anna: Premium members, don’t forget to access the Premium Feed.
Eric: The Premium Feed is a powerful web 2.0 technology which allows you to get all of our content through iTunes with just the click of a button.
Anna: That includes the PDFs, conversation-only tracks, review tracks.
Eric: Yep, everything.
Anna: To access the Premium Feed or to find out more…
Eric: Visit RussianPod101.com and on the lessons page there’s a ‘Subscribe to New Basic or Premium Feeds Today’ graphic. Click on that, scroll down…
Anna: And click ‘Premium Feed’.
Eric: It’s that easy. There’s also a basic feed and sample feed so you can test things out.
Anna: Alright, that really does it for today.
Eric: Until next time.
Anna: [До встречи]

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