Learn how to use the Russian verb "to be"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Eric here. Beginner Series Season 1, Lesson 4 – “And just where in Russia have you been?” |
| Anna: 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 talked about how to say where you’re from. |
| Anna: The focus of this lesson is the verb “to be” in the past, in prepositional case. |
| Eric: This conversation takes place on a flight from New York to Moscow. |
| Anna: The conversation is between James and Natasha. |
| Eric: I’ll be playing James and Anna will be playing Natasha. Ok, let’s have a listen to today’s conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Anna: Джеймс, вы уже были в Санкт-Петербурге? |
| Eric: Да, я был там в прошлом году. |
| Anna: Вам понравилось? |
| Eric: Да, очень. |
| Eric: One time, slowly. |
| Anna: Еще раз, медленнее. |
| Anna: Джеймс, вы уже были в Санкт-Петербурге? |
| Eric: Да, я был там в прошлом году. |
| Anna: Вам понравилось? |
| Eric: Да, очень. |
| Eric: One time, natural native speed with translation. |
| Anna: Еще раз, с английским переводом. |
| Anna: [Джеймс, вы уже были в Санкт-Петербурге?] |
| Eric: James, have you already been to Saint Petersburg? |
| Anna: [Да, я был там в прошлом году.] |
| Eric: Yes, I was there last year. |
| Anna: [Вам понравилось?] |
| Eric: Did you like it? |
| Anna: [Да, очень.] |
| Eric: Yes, a lot. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Anna: Eric, [А ты был в Санкт-Петербурге?]? |
| Eric: Have I been to Saint Petersburg? No, unfortunately not, but I definitely would like to go there. Anna, [А ты была в Санкт-Петербурге]? |
| Anna: [Нет] but this is my must do plan for the summer. I’ll be sure to show you the pictures. |
| Eric: Oh, you’re teasing me again, Anna. [А ты была в Москве]? |
| Anna: Yes, this winter. And I saw no snow there. Can you believe that? |
| Eric: I guess it’s quite rare for Moscow, but since I’ve never been I'm able to imagine just about anything you tell me. Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Anna: [был] |
| Eric: Was. |
| Anna: [был] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Anna: [уже] |
| Eric: Already, yet. |
| Anna: [уже] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Anna: [там] |
| Eric: There. |
| Anna: [там] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Anna: [в прошлом году] |
| Eric: Last year. |
| Anna: [в прошлом году] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Anna: [в] |
| Eric: In, at, to. |
| Anna: [в] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Anna: [Вам понравилось?] |
| Eric: Did you like it? |
| Anna: [Вам понравилось?] |
| 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: And the first word or phrase we’ll look at is Russian verb [быть] or “to be”. |
| Eric: It has several different forms depending on the tense and the gender of the noun it’s used with. |
| Anna: This verb isn’t generally used in the present, just in the past and in the future. |
| Eric: So, in English, we have to always use “to be” in the present tense. For example, “I’m Anna and you are Eric.” |
| Anna: Eric, again. |
| Eric: Oh, boy. |
| Anna: Ok, in Russian I would say. [Я Анна, а ты Ерик] Oh, no, no, no. [Я Эрик, а ты Анна] |
| Eric: There it is. Beautiful Russian girl… so that literally means “I Anna, you Eric”. Alright, it’s a good thing that Russian is simpler than English in this respect. |
| Anna: Hold on Eric! The verb has 4 forms in the past. |
| Eric: Anna, I knew it was too good to be true. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| So let’s go right into the grammar since we’re talking about the verb “to be” in Russian. |
| Anna: The verb “to be” is not usually used in the present, just in the past and in the future. And the verb has four forms in the past. |
| Eric: For example, if I say [Сергей был в Италии] which means “Serghei has been to Italy”. Serghei is a man, of course, so we use the masculine form of [быть] in the past tense. |
| Anna: [Марина была в Москве в прошлом году] “Marine was in Moscow last year.” Marine is a woman, so we use the feminine form of [быть]. |
| Eric: So just to recap quickly, if I say [Я был в Санкт-Петербурге], that would mean… |
| Anna: It would mean that you’re a man. |
| Eric: Ok, it’s good that Russian reaffirms that every time. And [Анна, ты была в Санкт-Петербурге?]… |
| Anna: [Я не была] |
| Eric: [Ты не была?] |
| Anna: [Нет, я не была] |
| Eric: [ещё не была] |
| Anna: [ещё не была] |
| Eric: You haven’t been yet. Ok. So you said [была] which is the feminine form of “to be” in the past, right? |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: So Anna, would you ever hear on the radio something like this: [Утро было холодное]. “It was a cold morning.” |
| Anna: Are you kidding me, Eric? It sounds very weird. Where did you hear that? |
| Eric: I didn’t hear it, actually I just made that up. |
| Anna: Ok, as usual. |
| Eric: As usual. So they wouldn’t say that because everybody knows it’s cold, right? |
| Anna: Yeah, that’s true. It’s always cold in the morning in Russia or in Kirghizstan, whatever. |
| Eric: So [утро] which means “morning” is neutral, so we the neutral form of [был] which is [было]. So even though this form sounds like the feminine [была], it’s actually spelled with an O instead of an A. So Anna, could you give us a side by side comparison of the neutral and feminine forms of “to be” in the past? |
| Anna: Ok, Eric. For feminine it will [была, Я была]. |
| Eric: [была], so there’s kind of an accent on the A. |
| Anna: So the accent is on the second syllable. |
| Eric: So it would be [была]. |
| Anna: [была], right. And for the neutral, we say [была]. |
| Eric: [было] |
| Anna: [было] |
| Eric: So it’s on the first syllable. |
| Anna: True. |
| Eric: So for feminine it’s [была] and neutral, [было]. |
| Anna: Perfect, Eric. |
| Eric: Wow, I’m learning. I didn’t know that. So I always wondered what the difference was. Now I know. Thank you, Anna. [Спасибо] |
| Anna: Ok, Eric, can I give another example? |
| Eric: [Пожалуйста, Анна] |
| Anna: [Они не были там] which means “They haven’t been there”. [Они] is plural, so we use the plural form of [быть] which is… |
| Eric: [были] |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: The accent would be [были]? |
| Anna: [были] |
| Eric: Ok, so not [были]. |
| Anna: Not [были]. |
| Eric: [были], ok. I’m sorry, it’s[были]. |
| Anna: [были] |
Outro |
| Eric: Ok, there we go. If you’d like to know more, please check out the PDF for a detailed explanation of this verb. In addition, we have lots of examples of the prepositional case in the PDF so please check that out. Ok, Anna, I think that does it for today. |
| Anna: Don’t forget to stop by and leave us a comment on today’s lesson. |
| Eric: Anna, are you ordering our listeners to leave comments? |
| Anna: Eric, stop it. You finish the lesson, right? Stop teasing me. |
| Eric: Ok, ok. Now you’re ordering me. Alright, that will definitely do it for this lesson. We’ll see you next time. |
| Anna: [До встречи] |
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