Learn how to ask what a word is in Russian
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| Let's take a closer look at the conversation. |
| Do you remember how Ben asks, |
| "What’s ‘book’ in Russian?" |
| Как будет "book" на русском? (Kak budet "book" na russkom?) |
| The standard way to ask for the meaning of a word in Russian follows a simple pattern. |
| First is как (kak), “how,” but translating as "what" in this context. Как. Как. |
| Next is будет (budet), “will be.” Будет. |
| Будет is from the verb быть (byt’), “to be”. |
| Together, Как будет (Kak budet), “how will be,” but translates as, “What is” in this context. Как будет. |
| After this is the English word, "book." |
| Last is the phrase, на русском (na russkom), meaning "in Russian." На русском. |
| First is, на (na), literally “on,” but it translates as "in" in this context. На. На. |
| After this is русском, "Russian," as in "the Russian language." Русском. Русском. |
| Русском (Russkom) is from русский (russkiy) “Russian.” Here, Русском (Russkom) is in this form as it follows the preposition “на” (na). |
| The grammatical term for this is the prepositional case. |
| Together на русском (na russkom), literally "on Russian," but translates as "in Russian." на русском (na russkom). |
| All together, Как будет "book" на русском? (Kak budet "book" na russkom?) literally means something like, "How will be ‘book’ in Russian?" but translates as "What’s ‘book’ in Russian?" |
| Note the rising intonation of the sentence to mark that it's a question. |
| Как будет "book" на русском? (Kak budet "book" na russkom?) |
| Let's take a closer look at the response. |
| Do you remember how Natalia Ivanova says, |
| “Book.” |
| Книга. (Kniga.) |
| "Book." Книга (Kniga). Книга (Kniga). |
| Книга. (Kniga.) |
| The pattern is: |
| Как будет "ENGLISH" на русском? |
| What’s "ENGLISH" in Russian? |
| Kak budet "ENGLISH" na Russkom? |
| To use this pattern, simply replace the ENGLISH placeholder with the word you want to know. |
| Imagine you want to know the Russian word for "pen." |
| Ask |
| "What’s ‘pen’ in Russian?" |
| Ready? |
| Как будет "pen" на русском? (Kak budet "pen" na russkom?) |
| “What’s ‘pen’ in Russian?" |
| Как будет "pen" на русском? (Kak budet "pen" na russkom?) |
| During your Russian language journey, you may hear the phrase "Как будет "object" по-русски? (Kak zkazat’ ‘object’ po-russki?). “What’s ‘object’ in Russian?” "Как будет "object" по-русски? (Kak zkazat’ ‘object’ po-russki?). |
| It means the same as Как будет “book” на русском? (Kak budet “book” na russkom?) |
| However, по-русски is used in place of на русском. |
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