Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Svetlana: Привет всем!
Yura: Yura here! Intermediate Season 1 , Lesson 7 - Looking for the Perfect Russian Apartment.
Svetlana: Hi, this is Svetlana, thanks for joining us!
Yura: In this lesson, you'll learn how to rent an apartment. The conversation is between 2 friends.
Svetlana: The speakers are friends, therefore the speakers will be speaking informal Russian.
Yura: Ok, so let's get to it!
DIALOGUE
Бен: Привет, ты не знаешь, как мне снять квартиру в Москве?
Катя: Купи газету с объявлениями, там их миллионы. А какую квартиру ты ищешь?
Бен: Я хочу снять двухкомнатную, с хорошим ремонтом, недалеко от центра и возле метро.
Катя: А сколько ты за неё готов платить?
Бен Ну... долларов 400 в месяц.
Катя: В Москве? С ремонтом, в центре и у метро? Тогда только угол комнаты у какой-нибудь бабушки, без туалета и телефона, зато с тараканами и большими проблемами!
Yura: Let’s listen to the conversation one time slowly.
Бен: Привет, ты не знаешь, как мне снять квартиру в Москве?
Катя: Купи газету с объявлениями, там их миллионы. А какую квартиру ты ищешь?
Бен: Я хочу снять двухкомнатную, с хорошим ремонтом, недалеко от центра и возле метро.
Катя: А сколько ты за неё готов платить?
Бен Ну... долларов 400 в месяц.
Катя: В Москве? С ремонтом, в центре и у метро? Тогда только угол комнаты у какой-нибудь бабушки, без туалета и телефона, зато с тараканами и большими проблемами!
Yura: Let’s listen to the conversation with English translation.
Бен: Привет, ты не знаешь, как мне снять квартиру в Москве?
Yura: Hi, do you by chance know how I can rent an apartment in Moscow?
Катя: Купи газету с объявлениями, там их миллионы. А какую квартиру ты ищешь?
Yura: Get a newspaper with ads, there are millions of them there. What kind of apartment are you looking for?
Бен: Я хочу снять двухкомнатную, с хорошим ремонтом, недалеко от центра и возле метро.
Yura: I want to rent a one-bedroom apartment,
remodeled, not far from downtown, and close to the subway.
Катя: А сколько ты за неё готов платить?
Yura: And how much are you willing to pay for it?
Бен: Ну... долларов 400 в месяц.
Yura: Well... About four hundred dollars per month.
Катя: В Москве? С ремонтом, в центре и у метро? Тогда только угол комнаты у какой-нибудь бабушки, без туалета и телефона, зато с тараканами и большими проблемами!
Yura: In Moscow? Remodeled, close to downtown, and the subway? All you can afford for this money is a corner of a room at some grandma's, with no telephone or toilet, but with cockroaches and a lot of problems!
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Yura: Renting, let alone buying an apartment in Moscow is probably more expensive than in most countries nowadays.
Svetlana: Yes, Moscow has become one of the most expensive capitals in the world.
Yura: Luckily, you can always rent a room if you can't afford an apartment. A lot of old people rent out their spare rooms.
Svetlana: The disadvantage of those rooms would be a quite old interior and utilities, as well as cranky old people who live next to you.
Yura: True. Sometimes they also offer you breakfasts for minimal pay, but I wouldn't take them. I've heard a lot of foreigners complain the food was not of the best quality and often made their stomach upset.
Svetlana: I see. Well... it was probably the cheapest and not the healthiest food, all that old people can afford now.
Yura: Ok, let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson
VOCAB LIST
Yura: The first word we shall see is...
Svetlana: снять [natural native speed]
Yura: to rent
Svetlana: снять [slowly - broken down by syllable] снять [natural native speed]
Yura: Next
Svetlana: двухкомнатная [natural native speed]
Yura: two room apartment
Svetlana: двухкомнатная [slowly - broken down by syllable] двухкомнатная [natural native speed]
Yura: Next
Svetlana: Газета [natural native speed]
Yura: newspaper, magazine
Svetlana: Газета [slowly - broken down by syllable] Газета [natural native speed]
Yura: Next
Svetlana:Искать [natural native speed]
Yura: look for
Svetlana: Искать [slowly - broken down by syllable] Искать [natural native speed]
Yura: Next
Svetlana: Недалеко от... [natural native speed]
Yura: not far from
Svetlana: Недалеко от... [slowly - broken down by syllable] Недалеко от... [natural native speed]
Yura: Next
Svetlana: Ремонт [natural native speed]
Yura: remodeling
Svetlana: Ремонт [slowly - broken down by syllable] Ремонт [natural native speed]
Yura: Next
Svetlana: Готов [natural native speed]
Yura: willing to, ready
Svetlana Готов [slowly - broken down by syllable] Готов [natural native speed]
Yura: Next
Svetlana: Угол [natural native speed]
Yura: corner
Svetlana: Угол [slowly - broken down by syllable] Угол [natural native speed]
Yura: Next
Svetlana: Зато [natural native speed]
Yura: but, but then again
Svetlana Зато [slowly - broken down by syllable] Зато [natural native speed]
Yura: Next
Svetlana: таракан [natural native speed]
Yura: cockroach
Svetlana: таракан [slowly - broken down by syllable] таракан [natural native speed]
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
Yura: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson.
Svetlana: The first word we’ll look at is снять.
Yura: It has multiple meanings; one of the most common is “to take off,” as in to take off a coat.
Svetlana: But in today’s context it means “to rent.” Now remember, you can use this word only for apartments, houses, or hotel rooms. If you were talking about renting a car or a cell phone, you would use another word.
Yura: Right. So we have
нять квартиру – “to rent an apartment”
снять номер в отеле – “to rent a hotel room”
снять комнату – “to rent a room”
And it works for other living spaces.
Svetlana: The next word is двухкомнатная, an adjective that means “two-room.” A studio is однокомнатная. And an apartment with two bedrooms but three rooms in total would be трёхкомнатная.
Yura: Right, so it’s the number of rooms plus комната, put into one word and turned into an adjective. Svetlana, какая у тебя квартира?
Svetlana: What kind of apartment do I have? Четырёхкомнатная!
Yura: What an example. OK, the next word is угол.
Svetlana: Literally it means “a corner.” Some time ago, people who couldn’t afford to rent even a room in an apartment would rent only a bed with a nightstand in the corner, separated from the rest of the room by a curtain.
Yura: Very few people still do it; and it’s used more as a joke, like in today’s dialogue.
Svetlana: And the last word to mention is “cockroach,” which in Russian is...
Yura: таракан
Svetlana: And тараканы in the plural, which is useful to know since they usually come in large quantities in old apartments.
Yura: Eww… Let’s stop there and get to the grammar.

Lesson focus

Yura: In this lesson, we’re going to learn how to rent an apartment in Russia, and the Russian prepositions.
Svetlana: What's the expression you were talking about?
Yura: Remember in the dialog we had a phrase “как мне снять квартиру в Москве?”
Svetlana: This phrase is a colloquial version of "как я могу", or to be more exact "как мне можно" (how can I, how is it possible to me), where "можно" is simply dropped.
Yura: Let's compare 3 phrases - как я могу найти Николая? Как мне можно найти Николая? and как мне найти Николая?
Svetlana: All three of them mean "how can I find Nikolai"?
Yura: - the same thing with the only difference being "как мне" is much more common and colloquial way of saying "how can I".
Svetlana: Ok, that is clear I think, now let's talk about the prepositions.
Yura: The good thing about Russian prepositions is that they are always associated with a Grammar Case, which means if you learn what prepositions govern what Case, you won't have problems with modifying nouns.
Svetlana: Right, so let's take a good look into them. In the lesson we came across 6 prepositions which govern different Cases – could you name them for us please?
Yura: Sure. They were-
[Russian - Svetlana / English- Yura]
недалеко от – not far from
возле – close to
без – without
с – with Instr
в – in Prep
у – by, next to, close to
Svetlana: What we meant by a preposition "governing a Case" is that nouns/pronouns that come after these prepositions should come in the grammar case these nouns are associated with.
Yura: Basically, we can say that each preposition belongs to a certain Case.
Svetlana: The prepositions that "belong" to the Genitive Case make the biggest quantity among all. In our dialog we had four prepositions.
недалеко от – not far from
возле – close to
без – without
у – by, next to, close to
Svetlana: When it comes to the prepositions, Genitive is mainly associated with 2 meanings – Closeness and Negation.
Yura: Prepositions that represent closeness in the dialog are недалеко от, возле and у.
Svetlana: And Negation is represented by the preposition без.
Yura: Now that we know that we are dealing with Genitive prepositions, we can build sentences. Could you give us a few examples, please?
Svetlana: Sure. I'll give you a few sentences.
Svetlana: Недалеко от магазина
Yura: not far from the store (магазин – in Genitive)
Svetlana: Возле стоянки
Yura: near parking lot (стоянка – in Genitive)
Svetlana: У моря
Yura: by the sea (море – in Genitive)
Svetlana: Great, I think we are done with the prepositions for today. Of course there are many more of them out there, but today was a good start!
Yura: Okay. That just about does it for today.

Outro

Yura: Attention perfectionists! You're about to learn how to perfect your pronunciation.
Svetlana: Lesson Review Audio Tracks.
Yura: Increase fluency and vocabulary fast with these short, effective audio tracks.
Svetlana: Super simple to use. Listen to the Russian word or phrase...
Yura: then repeat it out loud in a loud clear voice.
Svetlana: You'll speak with confidence knowing that you're speaking Russian like the locals.
Yura: Go to RussianPod101.com, and download the Review Audio Tracks right on the lesson page today. See you next time!
Svetlana: пока пока!

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