Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Yuriy: Hello and welcome back to RussianPod101.com. This is Lower Beginner season 1, lesson 17 - Buying the Perfect Present in Russia. I’m Yuriy.
Elena: А я Елена. Привет. Hello, I’m Elena.
Yuriy: In this lesson, you'll learn how to use the Dative case in Russian.
Elena: The conversation takes place in a store.
Yuriy: The speakers are friends, so they’ll be using informal Russian. Okay! Let’s listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
Алекс: Лера, мне нужен твой совет. Завтра у моего коллеги день рождения, а я еще не решил, что ему купить.
Лера: А какие у тебя есть идеи?
Алекс: Я выбрал ему часы.
Лера: Хм..Ты знаешь, что дарить часы это плохая примета? Может лучше купить ему хороший портсигар или дорогую фирменную ручку? Например, Паркер.
Алекс: О! Идея! Он давно хотел визитницу, куплю её.
Aleks: Lera, mne nuzhen tvoy sovet. Zavtra u moyego kollegi den' rozhdeniya, a ya yeshche ne reshil, chto yemu kupit'.
Lera: A kakiye u tebya yest' idei?
Aleks: Ya vybral yemu chasy.
Lera: Khm..Ty znayesh', chto darit' chasy eto plokhaya primeta? Mozhet luchshe kupit' yemu khoroshiy portsigar ili doroguyu firmennuyu ruchku? Naprimer, Parker.
Aleks: O! Ideya! On davno khotel vizitnitsu, kuplyu yeyo.
Алекс: Лера, мне нужен твой совет. Завтра у моего коллеги день рождения, а я еще не решил, что ему купить.
Yuriy: Lera, I need your advice. Tomorrow is my colleague's birthday, and I haven't decided yet what to buy him.
Лера: А какие у тебя есть идеи?
Yuriy: And what ideas do you have?
Алекс: Я выбрал ему часы.
Yuriy: I've thought about getting him a watch.
Лера: Хм..Ты знаешь, что дарить часы это плохая примета? Может лучше купить ему хороший портсигар или дорогую фирменную ручку? Например, Паркер.
Yuriy: Hmm...Do you know that giving a watch is considered to be a bad sign? Maybe it's better to buy a good cigar case or an expensive, branded pen. For example, Parker.
Алекс: О! Идея! Он давно хотел визитницу, куплю её.
Yuriy: Oh! I've got an idea! He's wanted a business card holder for a long time. I'll buy one.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Yuriy: So Elena, would you say Russians are superstitious people?
Elena: Hmm, I’d say we’re like many other cultures.
Yuriy: What are the most common bad omens?
Elena: For example, you should avoid giving someone a handkerchief as a gift.
Yuriy: That’s because, since ancient times, handkerchiefs have been associated with tears. So presenting one is the same as giving tears as a present. Or for example, many people think that it's also a bad sign to present knives or other sharp things, because it can lead to numerous quarrels in the family. But what was the problem with giving a watch?
Elena: A watch is not a good present between lovers. It's believed that if one person in a couple gives a watch to their partner, they will break up soon. The clock is a symbol of time, such as the time running out for them being together.
Yuriy: Those are some good tips, listeners! Okay, now let’s take a look at the vocab.
VOCAB LIST
Elena совет [natural native speed]
Yuriy advice
Elena совет [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Elena совет [natural native speed]
Elena завтра [natural native speed]
Yuriy tomorrow
Elena завтра [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Elena завтра [natural native speed]
Elena коллега [natural native speed]
Yuriy coworker, colleague
Elena коллега [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Elena коллега [natural native speed]
Elena день рождения [natural native speed]
Yuriy birthday
Elena день рождения [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Elena день рождения [natural native speed]
Elena решить [natural native speed]
Yuriy to decide, to solve
Elena решить [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Elena решить [natural native speed]
Elena дарить [natural native speed]
Yuriy to give, to present
Elena дарить [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Elena дарить [natural native speed]
Elena примета [natural native speed]
Yuriy omen, sign, token, belief
Elena примета [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Elena примета [natural native speed]
Elena портсигар [natural native speed]
Yuriy cigarette case
Elena портсигар [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Elena портсигар [natural native speed]
Elena часы [natural native speed]
Yuriy watch, clock
Elena часы [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Elena часы [natural native speed]
Elena фирменный [natural native speed]
Yuriy branded
Elena фирменный [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Elena фирменный [natural native speed]
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
Yuriy: Let’s take a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. First up is...
Elena: ...a verb, решить, which can be translated as “to decide” or “to solve”.
Yuriy: As you can guess, the first meaning of this verb is “to decide." That means coming to a conclusion after thinking over a problem or some question for a time. For example...
Elena: Я решил поступить в университет.
Yuriy: "I decided to enter the university." OK, another example, please.
Elena: Мы подумали и решили поехать в Тайланд вместо Турции.
Yuriy: "We thought it over, and decided to go to Thailand instead of Turkey."
Elena: The next meaning of решить is “to solve."
Yuriy: It can be used in two cases—to find the correct answer for a task and to find a way out from a hard situation. For example...
Elena: Ученик неправильно решил задачу.
Yuriy: "The pupil solved the task incorrectly." What’s the next word?
Elena: коллега, which can be translated as “colleague” or “co-worker”.
Yuriy: Is it a masculine or feminine noun?
Elena: That's a good question. The word коллега is considered to be a noun of common gender.
Yuriy: In other words, it can refer to a man or to a woman depending on the situation. Let’s use it in an example.
Elena: Рядом со мной сидит симпатичная коллега. Надо с ней познакомиться.
Yuriy: “A pretty colleague is sitting next to me. I should get acquainted with her." How about another example.
Elena: Вечером мне позвонил мой коллега и попросил сегодня пораньше прийти на работу.
Yuriy: "In the evening, I received a call from my colleague, who asked me to come to work earlier today." Okay, now onto the grammar.

Lesson focus

Yuriy: In this lesson, you’ll learn about the Dative case. The Dative case is not so hard, because it doesn't have too many rules of usage that you have to remember.
Elena: The main function of the Dative case is to point out the indirect object.
Yuriy: In other words, to indicate the recipient or receiver of the action.
Elena: That’s right.
Yuriy: The main questions of the Dative case are...
Elena: “Кому?” and “Чему?”
Yuriy: Which can be translated as “to whom?,” “for whom?,” “to what?,” or “For what?” Now let’s take a sentence to demonstrate what the indirect object is. “Ivan presented flowers to Masha”. “Ivan” is the subject, a person who is performing an action. “Flowers” is the object acted on by Ivan, and this is put in the Accusative case,. Finally, “to Masha” is the indirect object. “Masha” is the receiver of Ivan’s action, therefore in Russian we put the word “Masha” in Dative case instead of saying “to Masha.”
Elena: There are several rules as to how you can form the Dative case.
Yuriy: The first is for masculine nouns. If it’s in singular form and the stem ends in a consonant, you need to add the ending [у] to that consonant. For example...
Elena: банк
Yuriy: “bank” becomes
Elena: банку
Yuriy: “to the bank”. If it’s in singular form, the noun ends in [й] or [ь]. All you need to do is change the ending to [ю]. For example…
Elena: музей
Yuriy: “museum” becomes
Elena: музею
Yuriy: “to the museum”. And the last rule for masculine nouns is that nouns ending in [ий] change to the ending [ию]. Some examples please.
Elena: планетарий
Yuriy: “planetarium” becomes...
Elena: пранетарию.
Yuriy: “to the planetarium”.
Yuriy: What about feminine nouns?
Elena: Feminine nouns ending in [a] and [я] will change their endings to [е].
Yuriy: How about some examples?
Elena: книга
Yuriy: “book” changes to
Elena: книге
Yuriy: “to the book” Another example...
Elena: семья
Yuriy: “family” becomes...
Elena: семье
Yuriy: “to the family”. But feminine nouns ending in [ь] and [ия] will change their endings to [и] and [ии], respectively. For example...
Elena: площадь
Yuriy: “square” changes to...
Elena: площади
Yuriy: “to the square” How about another.
Elena: Италия
Yuriy: “Italy” becomes...
Elena: Италии
Yuriy: “to Italy”. Neuter nouns will change their ending [о] to [у]. For example...
Elena: окно
Yuriy: “window” changes to...
Elena: окну
Yuriy: “to the window.” Neuter nouns ending in [е] and [ие] will change to [ю] and [ию] respectively. For example...
Elena: море
Yuriy: “sea” becomes...
Elena: морю
Yuriy: “to the sea.” OK, one last example...
Elena: здание
Yuriy: "building" changes to...
Elena: зданию
Yuriy: “to the building”.

Outro

Yuriy: All right, that’s all for this lesson.
Elena: For more examples and information, please check the lesson notes.
Yuriy: Thanks for listening everyone, and we’ll see you in our next lesson.
Elena: До скорого встречи!

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