Learn about Russian genders and how to tell if a noun is feminine, masculine, or neutral
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
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.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| Oxana: [Здравствуйте! Меня зовут Оксана.] |
| Eddie: Eddie here. Gengo Russian Season 1, Lesson 1. Where did you learn to speak Russian like that? |
| Oxana: I'm Oxanna and thanks again for being here with us for this Gengo Russian season 1 lesson. |
| Eddie: And today you’re going to meet that very special something. |
| Oxana: Which is Russia. |
| Eddie: Yes. Because you’re interest in Russian, of course, so now’s your chance to make Russia’s acquaintance. |
| Oxana: And learn Russian to help you while you’re at it. |
| Eddie: Yes. This lesson set, making Russian’s acquaintance, is like a field trip - Russian immersion, except not. |
| Oxana: Just enough to teach you lots but not overwhelm you. |
| Eddie: But first, Oxanna, we have a pre-lesson disclaimer. |
| Oxana: Oh. |
| Eddie: Yes. Because if you haven’t done the prerequisite boot camp warm up, you might get some dizziness or heart palpitations if you jump right into this lesson set. |
| Oxana: Yes, we have a series of boot camp lessons that give you some background and foundation to get started in Russian. |
| Eddie: And if the sound of boot camp alone is enough to give you heart palpitations and dizziness, please have no fear. They’re really fun lessons, not scary at all. |
| Oxana: No, but they answer all the questions you might have before you even knew you had them. |
| Eddie: So if you haven’t had a chance to listen to those lessons, please visit them first. |
| Oxana: Yes, there are lessons about the basics. |
| Eddie: Lots of stuff to get you warmed up in Russian. |
| Oxana: Yes. |
| Eddie: Ok, so now how better to make Russia’s acquaintance in Russian than on a 13-lesson trip? A Russia trip. |
| Oxana: Yes. In this lesson set you will come along with us on a Russian adventure. |
| Eddie: You can live vicariously through our friend, John, who boldly ventures into unfamiliar territory. Adventures in too. |
| Oxana: Through these trials and errors, you’ll get prepared for everything from taking taxes to meeting people. |
| Eddie: To dining out and solving little everyday problems. The trip is a little business and a little pleasure, what we all like in a trip. |
| Oxana: And there are lots of both to be had in Russia. |
| Eddie: But first you have to get there. |
| Oxana: Yes, and our Russian learner, John, ringing up his old Russian pal online to let him know that he is going to Russia. |
| Eddie: So let’s hear first how to have a Skype conversation, which is hard enough in itself, but now let’s add to that in Russian. |
| Oxana: Yes, let’s hear how the whole thing plays out. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Таня: Алло! |
| Tanya: Allo! |
| Джон: Привет! Это Джон. |
| John: Privet! Eto Jon. |
| Таня: Привет, Джон. |
| Tanya: Privet, Jon. |
| Джон: Я завтра лечу в Москву. |
| John: Ya zavtra lechu v Moskvu. |
| Таня: Правда? Здорово! Удачного полёта. |
| Tanya: Pravda? Zdorovo! Udachnogo polyota. |
| Джон: Спасибо. |
| John: Spasibo. |
| Таня: Ну, скоро увидимся. |
| Tanya: Nu, skoro uvidimsya. |
| Джон: Пока. |
| John: Poka. |
| John: One more time slowly. |
| Oxana: Еще раз, медленнее |
| Таня: Алло! |
| Tanya: Allo! |
| Джон: Привет! Это Джон. |
| John: Privet! Eto Jon. |
| Таня: Привет, Джон. |
| Tanya:Privet, Jon. |
| Джон: Я завтра лечу в Москву. |
| John: Ya zavtra lechu v Moskvu. |
| Таня: Правда? Здорово! Удачного полёта. |
| Tanya: Pravda? Zdorovo! Udachnogo polyota. |
| Джон: Спасибо. |
| John: Spasibo. |
| Таня: Ну, скоро увидимся. |
| Tanya: Nu, skoro uvidimsya. |
| Джон: Пока. |
| John: Poka. |
| John: One more time, natural native speed with the translation. |
| Oxana: Ещё раз, с переводом. |
| Oxana: Алло! |
| John: Hello. |
| Oxana: Привет! Это Джон. |
| John: Hi, this is John. |
| Oxana: Привет, Джон. |
| John: Hi, John. |
| Oxana: Я завтра лечу в Москву. |
| John: I’m flying to Russia tomorrow. |
| Oxana: Правда? Здорово! Удачного полёта. |
| John: Really? That’s great. Have a nice flight. |
| Oxana: Спасибо. |
| John: Thank you. |
| Oxana: Ну, скоро увидимся. |
| John: Well, see you soon. |
| Oxana: Пока. |
| John: Bye. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| John: So, everybody, hear anything familiar? Any flashbacks to our boot camp series? |
| Oxana: I think they’re a few. |
| John: : Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word is… |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Oxana: [алло] |
| John: “Hello” answering a telephone. |
| Oxana: [алло] |
| John: And the next word is… |
| Oxana: [привет] |
| John: Hi. |
| Oxana: [привет] |
| John: And the next word is… |
| Oxana: [завтра] |
| John: Tomorrow. |
| Oxana: [завтра] |
| John: And here’s the next one, which is… |
| Oxana: [лечу] |
| John: “Flying” in the future tense. |
| Oxana: [лечу] |
| John: Next. |
| Oxana: [в Москву] |
| John: To Moscow. |
| Oxana: [в Москву] |
| John: Next. |
| Oxana: [правда] |
| John: Really? |
| Oxana: [правда] |
| John: Next. |
| Oxana: [здорово] |
| John: Great. |
| Oxana: [здорово] |
| John: Next. |
| Oxana: [удачного полёта] |
| John: Have a nice flight. |
| Oxana: [удачного полёта] |
| Oxana: Next. |
| Oxana: [ну] |
| John: “Well” as an interjection. |
| Oxana: [ну] |
| John: : Next. |
| Oxana: [скоро увидимся] |
| John: See you soon. |
| Oxana: [скоро увидимся] |
| John: And the last word is… |
| Oxana: [пока] |
| John: Bye. |
| Oxana: [пока] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| John: Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Oxana: The first word we’ll look at is… |
| John: Well, we start out with an iconic Russian line. Anyone who has ever called a Russian home knows this word. |
| Oxana: [Алло] |
| John: Yes, it’s the classic Russian phone greeting. Apparently, it works for online conversations as well. |
| Oxana: Ok, so we hear the phone, “Hello”. But real life “hello” is different. |
| John: Yes. The basics of the basics. The greeting of all greetings – saying “hello”. We heard it in boot camp. Let’s hear it again. Oxanna, give it to us. |
| Oxana: [здравствуйте] but in this lesson we’re using an informal version of [здравствуйте] which is [привет]. |
| John: Literally “hi” or “hey”. |
| Oxana: The word [привет] itself is a shortcut of [приветствовать] which means “to greet”. |
| John: I can’t find a way to cut short the English “to greet” so let it just be “hi”. |
| Oxana: Then his friend says [привет] back to him. |
| John: The next word, which is almost a must in a phone conversation is… |
| Oxana: [это] |
| John: [это] means “this” but as we don’t need the auxiliary words “to be” in Russian, we can also translate it as “this is”. So he’s introducing himself on the phone. “This is John”. Can we use [это] when we introduce other people? |
| Oxana: Sure, why not? Now I am pointing at Eddie and talking to [Это Эдди]. |
| John: Now the next one that is a clincher is the one that tells us about the time that something is occurring, in this case tomorrow. |
| Oxana: Yes, [завтра]. |
| John: The word order is quite flexible in Russian, so you can put [завтра] pretty much anywhere. In the beginning of the sentence, after [я], at the end of the sentence. |
| Oxana: Yes, it depends on what you want to emphasize in your phrase. It’s just a nuance. The word order usually doesn’t change the sense. |
| John: Great. And what about [лечу], “flying”? We didn’t have this word in our boot camp. |
| F1: We didn’t but we won’t have problems with it now. The grammatical structure and usage of this word is identical to English. Yes, it seems like that. It can also mean either “flying” right now or in the future if we add “tomorrow”. Ok. Then we have a small particle indication direction which is “to” in English. |
| Oxana: [в] |
| John: Can you give us some more examples with [в], Оxanna? |
| Oxana: Sure. Listen. [В Россию.] |
| John: To Russia. |
| John: [В Америку.] |
| Oxana: To America. |
| Oxana: [В Австралию.] |
| John: To Australia. |
| Oxana: [В Санкт-Петербург.] |
| John: To St. Petersburg. |
| Oxana: [В Нью-Йорк.] |
| John: “To New York”. Ok, the next word is a very common word to express your surprise. |
| Oxana: [правда] |
| John: Or to emphasize that what you’re talking about is true. |
| Oxana: [правда] |
| John: And literally it means “is it true?” or “it’s true” depending on the intonation. In English, it’s usually translated as “really” and “it’s true. I'm serious”. Then we have a word to show your approval and excitement. |
| Oxana: [здорово] |
| John: Which means “great, cool”. |
| Oxana: Now, naturally, if you were going on a trip, I would want to wish you well, Eddie. |
| John: Yes, just like in English, we want to wish someone a nice, safe flight so here comes the big phrase of the day. |
| Oxana: [удачного полёта] |
| John: [удачного] means “successful” and [полёта] means “flight”. Both words are used in a genitive case, therefore it doesn’t literally mean successful flight. It means “wish you a successful flight”. So good, we’ve wished them well even though we’re secretly jealous. |
| Oxana: Yes, and our John is being polite and saying [спасибо], “thank you”. [спасибо] is the most common way to say “thank you”. It’s suitable in any situation. |
| John: Then after John’s “thank you”, Tanya feels a little stuck in the conversation. Asking John about his plans for the trip might be tricky as John is just a beginner in Russian. So Tania has to finish the conversation somehow. Here, she uses an interjection - "well”. |
| Oxana: [ну] |
| John: Showing a little hesitance as well as her intention to finish the conversation. |
| Oxana: [ну, скоро увидимся] |
| John: “Well, see you soon.” [ну] can express uncertainty, for example before making a decision if you say it in a singing way like with three dots at the end. |
| Oxana: [ну...] |
| John: Or it might express your impatience or confidence in finishing a deal or conversation. |
| Oxana: [Ну, пока,] Eddie. |
| John: You really want to leave now. She just said “Well, bye, Eddie” like she’s breaking up with me. Now say it in a way that says you’re going to but don’t really want to. Like you want me to stop you. |
| Oxana: Ok. [Ну, пока, Эдди.] |
| John: Ok, don’t go. We haven’t finished the lesson yet. The next word was… |
| Oxana: [скоро] |
| John: And it literally means “soon”. And [скоро] is followed by… |
| Oxana: [увидимся] |
| John: It can literally be translated as “We’ll see each other”. Yes, all in one word. But in English it can be used just as “see you”. It’s very common in everyday life and can be said instead of goodbye in an informal way. |
| Oxana: [увидимся Эдди] |
| John: Wait a second, we agreed you’re not leaving yet. But yes, that’s what I expect from you when we’re done with this lesson. |
| Oxana: And [скоро увидимся] means “see you soon” just like in English. |
| John: And the last word… |
| Oxana: [пока] |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| John: Which means “bye”. Simple as that. Ok, let’s take a look at some of the grammar we used in today’s lesson. Now, today we’re going to touch on two things in Russian grammar. Person, first and second person, and gender, masculine and feminine. First, let’s talk about [лечу], “flying”. As we’ve mentioned before, it can be used both in present progressive and future tense. The difference is made by the word indicating the time. In our case it’s [завтра], “tomorrow”. So if you say… |
| Oxana: [Я лечу в Москву.] |
| John: It just means “you’re going to Moscow”, most probably right now. |
| Oxana:The thing you should remember is that [лечу] can only be said by the first person, [Я лечу]. |
| John: And if you want to say that “he or she is flying”, how would you say that? |
| Oxana: [Он - he, он летит.] and [Она - she, она летит]. |
| John: Now let’s take a look at the countries and cities names we mentioned before. This is how they sound originally. |
| Oxana:[Россия] |
| John: Russia. |
| Oxana: [Америка] |
| John: America. |
| Oxana: [Австралия] |
| John: Australia. |
| Oxana: [Санкр-Петербург] |
| John: St. Petersburg. |
| Oxana: [Нью-Йорк] |
| John: New York. And now listen again how they sound with the particle [в], “to”. |
| Oxana: [В Россию.] |
| John: To Russia. |
| Oxana: [В америку.] |
| John: To America. |
| Oxana: [В Австралию.] |
| John: To Australia. |
| Oxana: [В Санкт-Петербург.] |
| John: To St. Petersburg. |
| Oxana: [В Нью-Йорк.] |
| John: “To New York.” Is there a reason you change the endings in Russia, America and Australia but left St. Petersburg and New York alone? |
| Oxana: There is. According to Russian grammar, Russia, America and Australia have feminine gender which is easy to detect as most feminine nouns have the endings [а] or [я]. As in [Америка, Россия] and masculine nouns usually end with consonants, like [Санкт-Перебург] and [Нью-Йорк]. Putting these nouns into accusative case, we don’t change masculine nouns, but feminine nouns change their endings. [Россию, Америку, Австралию] |
| John: Viva masculine. Always constant. |
| Oxana: No, Eddie, you just got lucky this time. Enjoy it while it’s so simple. |
Outro |
| John: Thanks. And that’s it for today’s lesson. We hope you feel excited about the upcoming trip. We do. |
| Oxana: Yes, very excited. |
| John: Who knows what adventures are in store in Russia. |
| Oxana: The adventure begins next lesson. |
| John: Yes, stay tuned for the fateful plane ride. That just about does it for today. We’ll see you next time. [Пока!] |
| Oxana: [Скоро увидимся!] See you soon. |
| -- |
| Таня: Алло! |
| Tanya: Allo! |
| Джон: Привет! Это Джон. |
| John: Privet! Eto Jon. |
| Таня: Привет, Джон. |
| Tanya: Privet, Jon. |
| Джон: Я завтра лечу в Москву. |
| John: Ya zavtra lechu v Moskvu. |
| Таня: Правда? Здорово! Удачного полёта. |
| Tanya: Pravda? Zdorovo! Udachnogo polyota. |
| Джон: Спасибо. |
| John: Spasibo. |
| Таня: Ну, скоро увидимся. |
| Tanya: Nu, skoro uvidimsya. |
| Джон: Пока. |
| John: Poka. |
Comments
Hide