Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Yuriy: Hello and welcome back to RussianPod101.com. This is Lower Intermediate, season 2, lesson 10 - Where Would You Like to Study in Russia? I’m Yuriy.
Elena: С вами Елена. Всем привет.
Yuriy: In this lesson, you'll learn about plural nouns and adjectives in the Instrumental case.
Elena: The conversation takes place at a cafe.
Yuriy: The speakers are friends, so they’ll be using informal Russian. Let’s listen to the conversation.

Lesson conversation

Алекс: Ника, ты уже решила куда будешь поступать?
Ника: Пока думаю. Посмотрим по результатам ЕГЭ.
Алекс: А куда хотела бы?
Ника: Если хорошо сдам экзамены, то подам документы на факультет информатики. Хочу стать веб-дизайнером.
Алекс: Да, у тебя определенно есть талант работать с разными компьютерными программами. Для меня это - темный лес.
Ника: Ну, к тому же это сейчас очень перспективная профессия. Могу и в России работать, и заграницей. Главное, успешно закончить школу.
Yuriy: Now let’s hear it with the English translation.
Алекс: Ника, ты уже решила куда будешь поступать?
Yuriy: Nika, have you already decided where you'll enter?
Ника: Пока думаю. Посмотрим по результатам ЕГЭ.
Yuriy: I'm still thinking. Let's see what the results of the USE will be.
Алекс: А куда хотела бы?
Yuriy: And where would you like to go?
Ника: Если хорошо сдам экзамены, то подам документы на факультет информатики. Хочу стать веб-дизайнером.
Yuriy: If I pass the exams well, then I'll file documents to the Faculty of Informatics. I want to become a web designer.
Алекс: Да, у тебя определенно есть талант работать с разными компьютерными программами. Для меня это - темный лес.
Yuriy: Yes, you definitely have a talent for working with different computer programs. For me it's all Greek.
Ника: Ну, к тому же это сейчас очень перспективная профессия. Могу и в России работать, и заграницей. Главное, успешно закончить школу.
Yuriy: Well, moreover it's a very promising profession. I can work both in Russia and abroad. The main thing is to finish school successfully.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Yuriy: Elena, what's the education system like in Russia?
Elena: Well, we have primary general education that lasts 4 years. In Russian we say, начальное общее образование.
Yuriy: As far as I know, it's from grades 1 to 4.
Elena: That’s right. In Russian we call it "class," класс. So from first to fourth class basically. The next step is basic general education. We call it - основное общее образование. It lasts 5 years, till 9th grade. And the last is complete general education, среднее полное образование, which lasts approximately 2 years, till 11th grade.
Yuriy: I heard that the best school graduates receive silver or golden medals.
Elena: That was true until 2014. Now the best graduates receive a so-called “red diploma” whereas other students receive a light-blue diploma.
Yuriy: Okay, now let’s move on to the vocab.
VOCAB LIST
Yuriy: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson.
: The first word we shall see is:
Elena: поступать [natural native speed]
Yuriy: to enter (educational institution), to act, to treat
Elena: поступать [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Elena: поступать [natural native speed]
: Next:
Elena: результат [natural native speed]
Yuriy: result
Elena: результат [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Elena: результат [natural native speed]
: Next:
Elena: подать [natural native speed]
Yuriy: to submit, to give, to serve
Elena: подать [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Elena: подать [natural native speed]
: Next:
Elena: документ [natural native speed]
Yuriy: document
Elena: документ [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Elena: документ [natural native speed]
: Next:
Elena: факультет [natural native speed]
Yuriy: faculty
Elena: факультет [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Elena: факультет [natural native speed]
: Next:
Elena: определённо [natural native speed]
Yuriy: definitely
Elena: определённо [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Elena: определённо [natural native speed]
: Next:
Elena: ЕГЭ (единый государственный экзамен) [natural native speed]
Yuriy: USE/Unified State Exam
Elena: ЕГЭ (единый государственный экзамен) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Elena: ЕГЭ (единый государственный экзамен) [natural native speed]
: Next:
Elena: тёмный лес (для кого-либо) [natural native speed]
Yuriy: it's Greek (to somebody); somebody is completely in the dark about it
Elena: тёмный лес (для кого-либо) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Elena: тёмный лес (для кого-либо) [natural native speed]
: Next:
Elena: перспективный [natural native speed]
Yuriy: perspective, promising
Elena: перспективный [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Elena: перспективный [natural native speed]
: And Last:
Elena: главное [natural native speed]
Yuriy: the chief/main thing
Elena: главное [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Elena: главное [natural native speed]
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
Yuriy: Let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase in this lesson is…
Elena: the idiomatic expression “тёмный лес”, which can be translated into English as “it's all Greek” or “somebody is completely in the dark about something”.
Yuriy: Elena, let’s break this down.
Elena: Ok. The adjective “тёмный” means “dark” and the masculine noun “лес” means “forest”.
Yuriy: So the phrase literally means “dark forest”.
Elena: Of course it can be used in its direct meaning, but as an idiomatic expression it means that something is difficult, strange, unfamiliar, or even hard to understand.
Yuriy: Let’s give some examples.
Elena: Моя бабушка не умеет пользоваться даже мобильным телефоном, а компьютер для неё вообще тёмный лес.
Yuriy: "My grandmother did not even know how to use a mobile phone, and a computer is all Greek for her." So it means that the grandmother is completely unfamiliar with a PC, and maybe for her it will be hard to understand how it works. Elena, what is "dark forest" for you?
Elena: Hm… Наверное, программирование.
Yuriy: Really? Programming is Greek for you?
Elena: Да. Программирование для меня темный лес.
Yuriy: I see. I hope our listeners understood the meaning of this phrase. What's the next word for this lesson?
Elena: It's the verb “поступать”, which in our dialog was used in the meaning “to enter”.
Yuriy: The first meaning of this verb is to become a participant, a member, or part of, to join or to enroll. It's often used when we talk about educational institutions such as a university or institute. This verb is not used for schools.
Elena: We used it in such expressions as “поступать в университет”
Yuriy: "to enter university"
Elena: поступать в институт
Yuriy: "to enter an institute." Let’s give some sample sentences.
Elena: Я планирую поступать в Московский государственный университет.
Yuriy: "I plan to enter Moscow State University." The second meaning is "to act, to behave in a certain way." For example...
Elena: Я не знаю, ты поступаешь правильно или совершаешь ошибку.
Yuriy: "I don't know whether you're doing the right thing or making a mistake."
Elena: Моё сердце мне подсказывает, что я поступаю правильно.
Yuriy: "My heart tells me that I'm doing the right thing." For more examples and explanations please check the lesson notes. Okay, now on to the grammar.

Lesson focus

Yuriy: In this lesson, you’ll learn about the formation of plural nouns and adjectives in the Instrumental case.
Elena: Plural nouns put in the Instrumental case can have the following endings, [-ами], [-ями], [-иями], and [-ьями]. The ending [-ами] has masculine, feminine, and neuter nouns which in Nominative case singular form have the following endings...
Yuriy: Masculine nouns with a stem ending in a [consonant];
Feminine and masculine nouns ending in [-а];
Neuter nouns ending in [-o];
Neuter nouns ending in [-е] but with a stem ending in [-ц] For example...
Elena: Let’s take the noun “стол” meaning "table". This is a masculine noun ending in a consonant. All we need to do is to add the ending [-ами]: So стол becomes столами.
Yuriy: What are some more examples?
Elena: книга meaning "book", which is a feminine noun, will be книгами. So we replaced the ending [а] with [-ами].
Yuriy: The ending [-ями] has masculine, feminine, and neuter nouns which in Nominative case singular form have the following endings:
Elena: Masculine nouns ending in [-ь], [-й], [-я];
Feminine nouns ending in [-я], [-ь];
Neuter nouns ending in [-e]
Yuriy: For example...
Elena: кровать meaning "bed" will be кроватями. Поле, meaning "field" will become полями, and рубль, meaning "ruble," will become рублями.
Yuriy: Great! Moving on, the ending [-иями] has masculine, feminine, and neuter nouns which in Nominative case singular form have the following endings…
Elena: Masculine nouns ending in [-ий];
Feminine nouns ending in [-ия];
Neuter nouns ending in [-иe].
Yuriy: For example...
Elena: станция meaning "station," will become - станциями, and планетарий meaning "planetarium" will become планетариями.
Yuriy: A few nouns have a [-ьями] ending. You can check them out in the lesson notes. Now, let's move on to adjectives. The plural adjectives in Instrumental case have the endings...
Elena: [-ыми] and [-ими]. The rule is very simple.
Yuriy: To get the plural form of adjectives in Instrumental case, please use the ending [-ыми].
Elena: молодой meaning "young" is молодыми; старый meaning "old" is старыми
Yuriy: As you can see, we just replace the endings of the nominative case with the ending [-ыми] .
Elena: That’s right. Let's take the word “вежливый” meaning “polite”. The ending is [ый] вежлив - ый, вежливый. Plural instrumental is вежлив -ыми, вежливыми.
Yuriy: The next rule is that if an adjective has a stem ending in a soft consonant or [г], [к], [х], [ж], [ч], [ш], or [щ], the ending will be [-ими]. For example...
Elena: Плохой becomes плохими. The adjective “плохой” has a stem ending in [-х] , плох, that's why we use the ending [-ими] instead of [-ыми]. Хороший meaning "good" is хорошими, and искренний meaning "sincere" is искренними.
Yuriy: For more information about this, please read the lesson notes.

Outro

Yuriy: Well, that’s all for this lesson. We hope you enjoyed it!
Elena: Thanks for listening everyone!
Yuriy: And we’ll see you in the next lesson. До скорой встречи!
Elena: Пока -пока

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