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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Eric: Beginner Series Season 2, Lesson 7 - I just wanted to send an SMS.
Anna: Hello, everyone, and welcome back to RussianPod101.com.
Eric: [Все хорошо, Анна?]
Anna: [Все отлично. Как у тебя, Эрик?]
Eric: [Также хорошо.] Alright. In this lesson, you will learn about the instrumental case.
Anna: This conversation takes place on the plane.
Eric: And the conversation is between unlucky Kevin and a flight attendant.
Anna: The speakers don’t know each other, therefore they will be speaking formal Russian.
Eric: So I’ll be playing unlucky Kevin.
Anna: And I'm a flight attendant.
Eric: Let’s listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
Anna: [Прошу прощения, но в самолете нельзя пользоваться мобильником.]
Eric: [Я только хотел послать смс.]
Anna: [Выключите мобильник, пожалуйста.]
--
Eric: Once again, slowly.
Anna: Еще раз, медленнее.
Anna: [Прошу прощения, но в самолете нельзя пользоваться мобильником.]
Eric: [Я только хотел послать смс.]
Anna: [Выключите мобильник, пожалуйста.]
--
Eric: One time, natural native speed with translation.
Anna: Еще раз, с переводом.
Anna: [Прошу прощения, но в самолете нельзя пользоваться мобильником.]
Eric: I’m sorry but you can’t use a cellphone on the plane.
Anna: [Я только хотел послать смс.]
Eric: I just wanted to send an SMS.
Anna: [Выключите мобильник, пожалуйста.]
Eric: Turn off your cell phone, please.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Eric: So, Anna, I thought that “cellphone” is [мобильный] in Russian. But in our conversation we used a slightly different word. [мобильник], why is that?
Anna: Well, these two words mean exactly the same thing, “a cellphone”. [Мобильник] though is a very conversational form of [мобильный телефон] or [мобильный].
Eric: Oh, that’s right. But I also heard people saying [сотка] referring to their cellphones as well.
Anna: Yeah, that’s what I use, actually. [Сотка] is the conversational form from [сотовый телефон] or just [сотовый].
Eric: So what’s the difference between [мобильник] and [сотка]?
Anna: If you translate this in English, it would be [мобильный] is “mobile phone” and [сотка or сотовый] is “cellphone”.
Eric: Is there one term that’s more common than the other?
Anna: I think it just depends on the person, so we can use either one.
Eric: Ok. So if I want you to call my mobile, should I say [Позвони мне на мобильник]?
Anna: Right. Or you can say [позвони мне на сотку] which means the same.
Eric: Let’s break that down real quick.
Anna: [позвони]
Eric: Call.
Anna: [мне]
Eric: Me.
Anna: [на]
Eric: On.
Anna: [мобильник]
Eric: “Mobile”. “Call me on my mobile telephone.”
Anna: Or [сотку].
Eric: Or “Call my cellphone”.
Anna: Right.
Eric: Ok, great. Now let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson.
VOCAB LIST
Eric: Our first phrase is…
Anna: [прошу прощения]
Eric: I’m sorry, my apologies.
Anna: [прошу прощения]
Eric: Next.
Anna: [нельзя]
Eric: You can’t, you mustn’t, it’s forbidden.
Anna: [нельзя]
Eric: Next.
Anna: [пользоваться]
Eric: To use.
Anna: [пользоваться]
Eric: Next.
Anna: [мобильник]
Eric: Mobile phone.
Anna: [мобильник]
Eric: Next.
Anna: [только]
Eric: Only, just.
Anna: [только]
Eric: Next.
Anna: [хотеть]
Eric: To want.
Anna: [хотеть]
Eric: Next.
Anna: [послать]
Eric: To send.
Anna: [послать]
Eric: Next.
Anna: [выключить]
Eric: To turn off.
Anna: [выключить]
Eric: Next.
Anna: [смс]
Eric: SMS or text message.
Anna: [смс]
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
Eric: Ok, let’s have a closer look at the usage at some of the words and phrases from this lesson.
Anna: The first phrase we’ll look at is [прошу прощения].
Eric: Which means “excuse me, I'm sorry”. So can I just say [извините] or “excuse me” or do I have to use this tongue twister of a phrase, [прошу прощения]?
Anna: Of course you can say [извините, прошу прощения] is just a different way to say it. It’s very polite and quite formal. You wouldn’t normally use it with your friends.
Eric: Ok, good, so I’ll stick to [извините] then.
Anna: Well, Eric, I don’t blame you.
Eric: So, Anna, if you really messed up, then this would be the phrase to use, right?
Anna: Right.
Eric: Cause [извините] may be not enough.
Anna: Well, maybe.
Eric: I guess depending on what you did.
Anna: Yeah, yeah.
Eric: The next word is…
Anna: [нельзя]. We use it to say “We mustn’t do something” or that “it’s forbidden”. For example, [здесь нельзя курить].
Eric: Let’s break that down.
Anna: [здесь]
Eric: Here.
Anna: [нельзя]
Eric: Can’t.
Anna: [курить].
Eric: “Smoke”. So “You can’t smoke here.”
Anna: Right.
Eric: Actually, you can just say [нельзя], right?
Anna: Yes.
Eric: In Russian, it’s common just to hear [нельзя!], but maybe in a different context. It’s like “No, you can’t do that.”
Anna: Right, if you’re talking to your child, yeah. But sometimes we use [нельзя] as a general rule. For example, you can see a sign saying [нельзя курить здесь] or [нельзя бросать мусор].
Eric: You can’t litter.
Anna: Right.
Eric: In these phrases [здесь нельзя курить] there’s no “you”, “you can’t”.
Anna: That’s right, because it’s a general rule. If you’re talking about rules, you can just start a phrase with [нельзя]. However, if you need to stress that only this particular person can do something, you should use “you”.
Eric: Anna, for example, if you’re talking to your brother and he’s sick, what would you say for him not to do?
Anna: Probably I would say [Тебе нельзя пить холодную воду].
Eric: Ok, let’s break that down.
Anna: [тебе]
Eric: You.
Anna: [нельзя]
Eric: Can’t.
Anna: [пить]
Eric: Drink.
Anna: [холодную]
Eric: Cold.
Anna: [воду]
Eric: “Water”. Ok. And this is something that my host family said to me, actually. [Тебе нельзя! Тебе нельзя пить холодную воду!]
Anna: Yes.
Eric: And I said, “Why? It’s no problem. Cause we don’t have this, at least where I'm from, in California, I never heard “You can’t drink cold water”, but my host family was very…
Anna: Really?
Eric: … that no, you should only have tea or other hot liquids.
Anna: That’s interesting, Eric, cause this is very common in Russia.
Eric: So one more question about that sentence - why is it [тебе] and not [ты]?
Anna: Because we use the dative case with [нельзя].
Eric: So if I want to say that I can’t drink cold water, I would say what, Anna?
Anna: You would say [Мне нельзя пить холодную воду].
Eric: So the next word we’ll look at is…
Anna: [выключить]
Eric: Which means “to turn off”.
Anna: That’s right.
Eric: Right. And the verb “to turn on” is quite similar to “turn off”, right?
Anna: Yeah.
Eric: Anna, could we have a side by side comparison?
Anna: Sure.
Eric: Ok. So the first word, “to turn off”...
Anna: Is [выключить].
Eric: To turn on?
Anna: [включить]
Eric: [включить]
Anna: [выключить, включить]
Eric: Ok. So we’re talking about appliances here, right?
Anna: Yes.
Eric: Ok. Just to make that clear. This has nothing to do with people being turned on or off, right?
Anna: No. We don’t use it in Russian.
Eric: So, Anna, also the stress is a bit different for both of the words.
Anna: That’s right. For “turn on” the stress is on the last syllable - [включить]
Eric: [включить]
Anna: Yes. And for “turn off” it’s on the first syllable - [выключить]
Eric: [выключить]
Anna: Yes.
Eric: Ok, so [включить] last syllable, that’s “turn on”, and [выключить].
Anna: Yes.
Eric: Turn off.
Anna: Right.
Eric: Anna, could we just have a quick example with “Turn off the television” and “Turn on the television”?
Anna: [Выключи телевизор.]
Eric: That is “Turn off the television”.
Anna: Yes.
Eric: And how do you say “Turn on the tele?”
Anna: [Включи телевизор.]
Eric: Ok. For turn off it’s the same [вы] as in “you”, formal, [выключить, вы], right?
Anna: Yes, that’s right.
Eric: So maybe if you’re talking with somebody and they’re talking a lot and you just want to turn them off like an appliance. “Stop talking”. You can remember the “you”, “you stop talking or turn off”, [вы] as in [выключить].
Anna: Yeah.
Eric: Right. That may be a different between [включить], “turn on”, [выключить] “You stop, turn off”.
Anna: Maybe, it could be a nice way to memorize it.
Eric: Ok.

Lesson focus
Eric: Ok, now let’s look at the grammar for this lesson.
Anna: Today we’ll learn about the instrumental case.
Eric: Yay, another case!
Anna: Well, this one is really easy.
Eric: You say that about all of them, Anna.
Anna: Well, this one is easy. Let’s have another look at the conversation. The flight attendant says [В самолете нельзя пользоваться мобильником].
Eric: “In the plane, you can’t use cellphones or mobile phones.”
Anna: Right.
Eric: So in this example, we use the instrumental case after [пользоваться] or “to use”. So, Anna, which word in the sentence is in the instrumental case?
Anna: [мобильником]
Eric: So [мобильник] or “mobile phone” becomes…
Anna: [мобильником]
Eric: [мобильником]. Ok. What are some other examples?
Anna: We need the instrumental case when we use something as a tool. For example, [Я ем ложкой].
Eric: “I eat with a spoon.” How is “spoon” normally?
Anna: [ложка] In instrumental case, it becomes [ложкой].
Eric: [ложка, spoon] becomes…
Anna: [ложкой]
Eric: [ложкой], in the instrumental case.
Anna: Yes.
Eric: “I eat with a spoon.”
Anna: [Я ем ложкой]
Eric: Ok.
Anna: And another example could be [Он пишет карандашом].
Eric: “He writes with a pencil.” So the key word is “with” for the instrumental case, right?
Anna: Yes, but we don’t translate it into Russian, actually.
Eric: So the case hold the “with”. [ложкой] is “with a spoon”.
Anna: Yes.
Eric: In this example, [я ем], “I eat”, [ложкой], “with a spoon”.
Anna: Yes. So we cannot say [Я ем с ложкой].
Eric: Ok, good. And [Он пишет карандашом], also no [с]. It’s in the case, [карандашом], “with a pencil”.
Anna: So, Eric, just to recap - when we use something as a tool, we just need the verb and a noun in the instrumental case.
Eric: Thanks, Anna. So is this the only time when we use the instrumental case?
Anna: No, not Eric. The instrumental case is also commonly used to talk about your job. For example, [Она работает врачом].
Eric: “She works as a doctor.” And how do you say “doctor”?
Anna: [врач]
Eric: [врач]. Here it becomes…
Anna: [доктором]
Eric: [доктором] or…
Anna: [врачом]
Eric: [врачом]
Anna: [Она работает врачом.]
Eric: “She works doctor” or “as a doctor”. Ok.
Anna: We also use instrumental case after the preposition [с] or “with”. [Я живу с мамой.]
Eric: “I live with my mother.” Let’s break that down.
Anna: [я]
Eric: I.
Anna: [живу]
Eric: Live.
Anna: [с]
Eric: With.
Anna: [мамой]
Eric: “My mother”. And “mom” normally is how?
Anna: [мама]
Eric: And in the instrumental case it becomes…
Anna: [мамой]
Eric: [мамой]. Ok. Great. So that leads me to the endings in the instrumental case. I’ve noticed that sometimes it’s [ом] and sometimes it’s [ей].
Anna: Yeah, that’s right. It depends on the gender of the noun. The endings for masculine nouns in the instrumental case are [ом] or [ем].
Eric: So, for example, “pencil”, [карандаш].
Anna: It becomes [карандашом].
Eric: Because it’s a masculine noun.
Anna: In instrumental case.
Eric: Ok.
Anna: It is [ем] if noun ends in [ь] or [й] and it is [ом] for all other masculine nouns.
Eric: Ok, so what about feminine nouns?
Anna: The endings for feminine nouns are [ой] or [ей].
Eric: So just like in our example, “I live with my mother”.
Anna: [Я живу с мамой.]
Eric: [мамой]
Anna: [мамой] is feminine noun, so in instrumental case it becomes [с мамой].

Outro
Eric: Perfect, Anna, thank you.
Anna: Thank you, Eric.
Eric: And that will do it for today’s lesson.
Anna: Stop by and leave us a comment.
Eric: We’d love to hear from you.
Anna: [Спасибо и до встречи!]
Eric: See you next time.

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