Vocabulary (Review)

Learn New Words FAST with this Lesson’s Vocab Review List

Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.

Lesson Notes

Unlock In-Depth Explanations & Exclusive Takeaways with Printable Lesson Notes

Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.

Lesson Transcript

Let's take a closer look at the conversation.
Do you remember how Sergey Svalov asks,
"Where are you from?"
Вы откуда? (Vy otkuda?)
First is вы (vy), “you,” when using formal Russian. Вы. Вы.
Note, Вы (vy), "you," refers to the plural, as in "you all," but it's also a formal way to address a single person, as is the case here, where Sergey is addressing Mark.
Вы (vy) is from Вы есть (vy est'), "you are," plural, as in "you all are," but есть (est') is omitted.
Есть is from the verb быть, meaning "to be," быть.
Next is откуда (otkuda), meaning "where from?" Откуда. Откуда.
Together, Вы откуда? (Vy otkuda?) literally means "You where from," but translates as "Where are you from?"
Вы откуда?
Remember this question. You’ll hear it again later in this lesson.
Let’s take a closer look at the response.
Do you remember how Mark Lee says,
"I am from New York."
Я из Нью-Йорка. (Ya iz N'yu-Yorka.)
First is Я (Ya). "I [am]." Я. Я.
Note, Я is from Я есть (Ya est’) "I am," where есть (est’) "am" is omitted.
Есть is from the verb быть, meaning “to be.” быть
Next is из (iz), "from." Из. Из.
Last is the city, Нью-Йорка (N'yu-Yorka). "New York." Нью-Йорка. Нью-Йорка.
Нью-Йорка (N'yu-Yorka) is the genitive form of Нью-Йорк (N'yu-York). "New York." Нью-Йорк.
Because Нью-Йорк (N'yu-York) follows из (iz), it must be placed in the genitive case, Нью-Йорка (N'yu-Yorka).
Let’s look at how the genitive was formed:
In Russian, all nouns have grammatical gender and are either singular or plural.
Нью-Йорк (N'yu-York) is masculine singular.
To form the genitive of masculine nouns ending in a consonant, simply add an -а (-a) to the end of the noun.
Нью-Йорк (N'yu-York) becomes Нью-Йоркa (N'yu-Yorka).
All together, Я из Нью-Йорка. (Ya iz N'yu-Yorka.) Literally "I from New York," but it translates as "I’m from New York."
Я из Нью-Йорка.
The pattern is
Я из LOCATION. (Ya iz {LOCATION}).
"I am from LOCATION.”
Я из LOCATION.
To use this pattern, simply replace the LOCATION placeholder with the name of your hometown city.
Note: this pattern requires the proper noun of a location, and this location name must be placed in the genitive.
Imagine you’re from Sydney. In Russian, Сидней (Sidney). Сидней.
Сидней is masculine singular.
To form the genitive of masculine nouns ending in -й (-y), replace it with -я (-ya).
Сидней becomes Сиднея.
Say
"I am from Sydney."
Ready?
Я из Сиднея. (Ya iz Sidneya.)
"I am from Sydney."
Я из Сиднея. (Ya iz Sidneya.)
When talking about where you are from, the pattern Я из (Ya iz) requires the proper noun of a location, and this location name must be placed in the genitive.
There are some simple rules that will help you create the genitive case based on the ending of the noun.
For masculine nouns,
if the noun ends in a consonant, add an -а (-a) at the end:
Нью-Йорк (N'yu-York). "New York," becomes Нью-Йорка (N'yu-Yorka).
If the noun ends in a -й (-y) or ь (-ʼ), replace the ending with -я (-ya):
Сидней, "Sydney," becomes Сиднея. (Sidneya.)
Версаль (Versal'). "Palace of Versailles," becomes Версаля (Versalya).
A good rule of thumb, masculine nouns often end in a consonant or й.
For feminine nouns,
if the noun ends in an -а (-a), replace it with -ы (-y):
Москва (Moskva). "Moscow," becomes Москвы (Moskvy).
If the noun ends in a я or ь, replace it with an и:
Россия (Rossiya). "Russia," becomes России (Rossii).
And as for neuter nouns, if the noun ends in an о, replace it with an а.
Cело (selo). "Village," becomes села (sela).
If the noun ends in an е, replace it with a я.
Уречье (Urech'ye). "Urechye," becomes Уречья (Urech'ya).

Comments

Hide