Learn the difference between pусский and pоссийский
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| Russian Teachers Answer Your Questions - Lesson #3 - How Is Русский (Russkiy) Different from Российский (Rossiyskiy)? |
Intro |
|---|
| Saodat: How is русский (russkiy) different from российский (rossiyskiy)? |
| Michael: And how are these adjectives used? |
| At RussianPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Ben Lee is planning an overseas trip with his friend, Nikita Ivanov. He asks, |
| "Nikita, do you have a Russian passport?" |
| Бен Ли: Никита, у тебя российский паспорт? (Nikita, u tebya rossiyskiy pasport?) |
| Dialogue |
| Бен Ли: Никита, у тебя российский паспорт? (Ben Li: Nikita, u tebya rossiyskiy pasport?) |
| Никита Иванов: Да, я русский. (Nikita Ivanov: Da, ya russkiy.) |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Бен Ли: Никита, у тебя российский паспорт? (Nikita, u tebya rossiyskiy pasport?) |
| Michael: "Nikita, do you have a Russian passport?" |
| Никита Иванов: Да, я русский. (Da, ya russkiy.) |
| Michael: "Yes, I'm Russian." |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: In Russian, there are multiple adjectives that translate as the word "Russian" in English. However, there are several distinctions made in Russian, such as citizens of Russia compared to native Russian people, etc., that may not be familiar distinctions for speakers of other languages. In the Russian language, these are important distinctions to make. It's important to understand the context of each word so that you use them correctly in conversation. |
| Make sure to use them right and you'll be sure to impress native speakers! |
| [Recall 1] |
| Michael: To understand the context and when to use each of these words, let's take a closer look at the dialogue. |
| Do you remember how Ben Lee says "Nikita, do you have a Russian passport?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Saodat: Никита, у тебя российский паспорт? (Nikita, u tebya rossiyskiy pasport?) |
| Michael: Ben used the word |
| Saodat: российский (rossiyskiy) |
| Michael: to ask if his friend Nikita has a Russian passport. The reason he used this word is because he referred to the modern state of Russia, or |
| Saodat: Россия (Rossiya). |
| Michael: So everything connected to the country, and it's territory will be called |
| Saodat: российские (rossiyskiye). |
| Michael: Let's have a look at some things that would be Russian in a territorial way. The first is |
| Saodat: российская экономика (rossiyskaya ekonomika) |
| Michael: Russian economy, or |
| Saodat: российский флаг (rossiyskiy flag) |
| Michael: meaning "Russian flag," or the last example |
| Saodat: российский президент (rossiyskiy prezident) |
| Michael: "Russian president," |
| [Recall 2] |
| Michael: Now let's take a look at our second sentence. |
| Do you remember how Nikita Ivanov answered "Yes, I'm Russian."? |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Saodat: Да, я русский. (Da, ya russkiy.) |
| Michael: Did you hear that Nikita used a different word to say that he's Russian? He used |
| Saodat: русский (russkiy) |
| Michael: which is a word to describe Russian as an ethnicity. In other words, we would say that something that has a true Russian soul would be referred to as |
| Saodat: русские. (russkiye) |
| Michael: Let's have a look at some examples of when to use this word in Russian. The first is |
| Saodat: русский язык (russkiy yazyk) |
| Michael: meaning "Russian language," |
| Saodat: великий русский поэт (velikiy russkiy poet), |
| Michael: meaning "famous Russian poet" |
| Saodat: русские народные танцы (russkiye narodnyye tantsy) |
| Michael: meaning "Russian folk dances." |
| One thing to mention is that you can use either |
| Saodat: русский (russkiy) |
| Michael: as well as |
| Saodat: российский (rossiyskiy) |
| Michael: to refer to a Russian person. However, since Russia is a big country, gathering around 185 different ethnicities including Tatars, Ukrainians, Bashkirs, Chubashs, Chechens, or Armenians, Russians started to differentiate between people with a Russian citizenship, |
| Saodat: россияне (rossiyane) |
| Michael: and ethnical Russians, |
| Saodat: русские (russkiye). |
| Michael: To give you examples of how to use these two words, if someone is ethnically Ukrainian, but holds Russian citizenship, he will be referred to as |
| Saodat: россиянин (rossiyanin), |
| Michael: which means a citizen of Russia, while someone born in Russia, even if he moved out and changed citizenship, will always be referred to as |
| Saodat: русский (russkiy). |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: In this lesson, we learned that there are two words for "Russian," and, while one of them refers to Russia as a country, the other is referring to ethnicity. |
| Expansion/Contrast (Optional) |
| Michael: There is an easy way to check if you should use |
| Saodat: русский (russkiy) |
| Michael: or |
| Saodat: российский (rossiyskiy). |
| Michael: Just ask yourself how you would say it in English. If you would say ‘something of Russia' like the hymn of Russia, the citizen of Russia, or the territory of Russia, you'll need to use |
| Saodat: российский (rossiyskiy). |
| Российский гимн (rossiyskiy gimn) |
| Michael: meaning "Russian hymn," |
| Saodat: российский гражданин (rossiyskiy grazhdanin) |
| Michael: meaning "Russian citizen," |
| Saodat: российская территория (rossiyskaya territoriya) |
| Michael: meaning "Russian territory." |
| If you say ‘the folk dance of Russia' or ‘the language of Russia', it will sound strange, right? For these cases, you should use the word |
| Saodat: русский (russkiy) |
| русские народные танцы (russkiye narodnyye tantsy) |
| Michael: meaning "Russian folk dances," or |
| Saodat: русский язык (russkiy yazyk) |
| Michael: "Russian language." |
| The words |
| Saodat: русский и российский (russkiy i rossiyskiy), |
| Michael: as all adjectives, change their form according to the noun. They may have male, female, or neuter gender, and be singular or plural. Adjectives also change by cases. |
| For example: |
| Saodat: Я люблю русскую еду. (Ya lyublyu russkuyu yedu.) |
| Michael: meaning "I like Russian food." |
| Saodat: Хор исполнил российский гимн. (Khor ispolnil rossiyskiy gimn). |
| Michael: The choir sang a Russian hymn. |
| If you are talking about somebody who is ethnically Russian, you can use |
| Saodat: русский (russkiy) |
| Michael: as a noun: |
| Saodat: Все русские сумасшедшие! (Vse russkiye sumasshedshiye!) |
| Michael: meaning "All Russians are crazy!" |
| But, talking about a citizen of Russia, you can't say |
| Saodat: российский (rossiyskiy). |
| Michael: You should use the noun |
| Saodat: россиянин (rossiyanin). |
| Michael: For example, the Russian president always starts his New Year's speech with: |
| Saodat: Дорогие россияне! (Dorogiye rossiyane!) |
| Meaning: Dear Russian citizens! |
| Cultural Insight/Expansion (Optional) |
| Michael: While the word |
| Saodat: российский (rossiyskiy) |
| Michael: comes from the modern name of Russia, or |
| Saodat: Россия (Rossiya), |
| Michael: and the word |
| Saodat: русский (russkiy) |
| Michael: came originally from the name of Rus', the cultural ancestor and the origin of Russia and some other Slavic countries like Ukraine and Belarus. |
| The Kievan Rus', or |
| Saodat: Киевская Русь (Kiyevskaya Rus') |
| Michael: was a federation of East-Slavic and Finnic people. The state was founded in the 9th century, and was led by the Varangians |
| Saodat: Рю́рик (Ryurik) |
| Michael: or Rurik, who ruled the territories around Novgorod and brought peace to those lands. |
| Since modern Russia's heritage goes back to those times, and the territory around Kiev and Novgrod is seen as the origin of Russian culture, Russians refer to this country today, when talking about things and people with a true Russian soul. |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Saodat: Пока! (Poka!) |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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