Learn how to form conditional sentences with the conjunction если
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Gina: Hello everyone and welcome to RussianPod101.com. This is the Upper Beginner Series, Season 1, Lesson 17, An Impossible Mission in Russia. I’m Gina. |
| Svetlana: And I’m Svetlana. Privet. In this lesson we’re going to learn how to make conditional sentences with the conjunction если. |
| Gina: And we’ll also listen to Elena getting excited about a BBQ and beer party. |
| Svetlana: The conversation is between Elena and her trainer and it takes place in the gym. |
| Gina: The speakers have a professional relationship, so they’ll be using formal Russian. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Trainer: Чтобы убедить мужа заняться спортом, начните с лёгких прогулок в парке. Думаю он будет не против составить вам компанию. |
| Elena:Думаю, это реально сделать. Но его абсолютно нереально оторвать от телевизора по вечерам. Он даже от встречи с друзьями отказывается, если по телевизору идёт футбольный матч. |
| Trainer:Тогда купите ему футбольный мяч и организуйте мини состязание на свежем воздухе. |
| Elena:Отличная идея!!! Купим пива и сделаем шашлыки!!! |
| Trainer: Неееет. Вы же на диете?! |
| Trainer: Chtoby ubedit' muzha zanyat'sya sportom, nachnite s lyogkikh progulok v parke. Dumayu on budet ne protiv sostavit' vam kompaniyu. |
| Elena: Dumayu, eto real'no sdelat'. No yego absolyutno nereal'no otorvat' ot televizora po vecheram. On dazhe ot vstrechi s druz'yami otkazyvayetsya, yesli po televizoru idyot futbol'nyy match. |
| Trainer: Togda kupite yemu futbol'nyy myach i organizuyte mini sostyazaniye na svezhem vozdukhe. |
| Elena:Otlichnaya ideya!!! Kupim piva i sdelayem shashlyki!!! |
| Trainer: Neyeeyet. Vy zhe na diyete?! |
| Trainer: In order to convince your husband to exercise, you can start with short walks in the park. I'm sure he'll be happy to accompany you. |
| Elena: I think I can do it. But it is almost impossible to drag him from TV in the evenings. He even cancels on his friends if there is a soccer game on TV. |
| Trainer: Well, try to buy a ball and organize a soccer mini game outside. |
| Elena: I think it is a great idea! We can buy beer and make shashlyk! |
| Trainer: No! you are on a diet! Don't forget! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Gina: Elena is so funny. She wants to get fit so badly but at the same time she got so excited to have a BBQ and drink beer with her friends. |
| Svetlana: Yeah. A Russian BBQ or шашлык is more than a meal. It’s a social event when family, friends, and colleagues get together. |
| Gina: Just like in the US, people like having BBQs and they call all of their friends to come along. Unfortunately it’s a seasonal event, but I assume it’s the same in Russia as well? |
| Svetlana: Yeah, you know how long winters are in Russia. So when the warm season comes, people want to enjoy every sunny day, get together and cook some шашлык, and throw some parties outside. |
| Gina: Yeah, although there are plenty of winter activities that Russians enjoy, summer is always nice to spend outdoors. Especially when summer is as short as it is in Russia. |
| Svetlana: Exactly! |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Gina: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is... |
| Svetlana: убедить [natural native speed] |
| Gina: to convince |
| Svetlana: убедить [slowly - broken down by syllable] убедить [natural native speed] |
| Gina: Next |
| Svetlana: прогулка [natural native speed] |
| Gina: walk |
| Svetlana: прогулка [slowly - broken down by syllable] прогулка [natural native speed] |
| Gina: Next |
| Svetlana: быть против [natural native speed] |
| Gina: to be against, to disagree |
| Svetlana: быть против [slowly - broken down by syllable] быть против [natural native speed] |
| Gina: Next |
| Svetlana: составить компанию [natural native speed] |
| Gina: to accompany |
| Svetlana: составить компанию [slowly - broken down by syllable] составить компанию [natural native speed] |
| Gina: Next |
| Svetlana: нереальный [natural native speed] |
| Gina: unrealistic, impossible |
| Svetlana: нереальный [slowly - broken down by syllable] нереальный [natural native speed] |
| Gina: Next |
| Svetlana: футбольный матч [natural native speed] |
| Gina: soccer match |
| Svetlana: футбольный матч [slowly - broken down by syllable] футбольный матч [natural native speed] |
| Gina: Next |
| Svetlana: отказаться [natural native speed] |
| Gina: to refuse |
| Svetlana: отказаться [slowly - broken down by syllable] отказаться [natural native speed] |
| Gina: Next |
| Svetlana: состязание [natural native speed] |
| Gina: competition, contest |
| Svetlana: состязание [slowly - broken down by syllable] состязание [natural native speed] |
| Gina: Next |
| Svetlana: свежий [natural native speed] |
| Gina: fresh |
| Svetlana: свежий [slowly - broken down by syllable] свежий [natural native speed] |
| Gina: And last... |
| Svetlana: шашлык [natural native speed] |
| Gina: Russian kebab |
| Svetlana: шашлык [slowly - broken down by syllable] шашлык [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Gina: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Svetlana: The first keyword is a verb, убедить. |
| Gina: “to convince” or “to persuade”. In most cases, it’s used in the sense of forcing somebody to believe in something or “to assure”. For example, |
| Svetlana: Его было не сложно убедить в неправильности его высказывания. |
| Gina: “It wasn’t very difficult to convince him that his statement was incorrect.” |
| Svetlana: This verb is usually used with the preposition B, or “in”, and a noun in the prepositional case. For example, Постребовалось 2 часа, чтобы убедить их в необходимости покинуть дома, всвязи со штормовым предупреждением. |
| Gina: “It took two hours to convince them to leave their apartments because of the storm warning.” Okay, what’s the next key phrase? |
| Svetlana: The next phrase is оторвать от... |
| Gina: “to drag away from something”. It’s used in the figurative meaning. But let’s break the phrase down to understand the meaning of each word. |
| Svetlana: This phrase consists of the verb оторвать and the preposition от. The literal translation of the verb оторвать is “to tear off” or “to separate”. The preposition от means “from”. |
| Gina: So the literal meaning of this phrase would be “to separate from”? |
| Svetlana: Correct. Let me give you an example - Её не возможно было оторвать от чтения этой книги. |
| Gina: “It was impossible to drag her away from reading that book.” or literally, “It was impossible to separate her from that book.” Okay, what’s the last key phrase for this lesson? |
| Svetlana: It’s составить компанию |
| Gina: It can be used to mean “to accompany”, but the literal meaning of this phrase is “to make up company” or “to form company”. |
| Svetlana: Right. It consists of two words, the verb составить meaning “to make up” or “to form”, and the noun компания meaning “company” but put in the accusative case компанию. Let me give you an example. Он не может найти никого, кто бы составил ему компанию для поездки в горы. |
| Gina: “He couldn’t find anybody who would accompany him for a trip to the mountains.” |
| Okay, now let’s move on to the grammar. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Svetlana: In this lesson, you’ll learn about conditional sentences with the conjunction если, which means “if”. Do you remember the sentence in our dialogue with this conjunction? |
| Он даже от встречи с друзьями отказывается, если по телевизору идёт футбольный матч. |
| Gina: “He even cancels on his friends if there’s a soccer game on TV.” Okay! Since this is the upper beginner level, we’re going to learn how to build complex sentences now, and the conjunction “if” is going to help us. This conjunction is only used in conditional sentences, and the conditional clause will always answer the question “In what condition?” For example, |
| Svetlana: Если вы поедите в Токио, позвоните мне. |
| Gina: “If you go to Tokyo, give me a call.” There are frequently used grammatical expressions that this conjunction is used in. |
| Svetlana: Right. I’ll give you two of the most common ones. The first one is если... то... |
| Gina: “if... then... ” It’s used to explain the outcome of a particular condition. For example, |
| Svetlana: Если пойдёт дождь, по придётся отложить поездку на море. |
| Gina: “If it rains, then we’ll have to postpone the trip to the sea.“ |
| Svetlana: And the second expression is если... тогда. |
| Gina: “if...then... ” This is used in the same way as the previous grammatical expression. Let’s listen to the example. |
| Svetlana: Если они меня лично приглашат на мерроприятие, тогда я возможно составлю вам компанию. |
| Gina: “If they send me a personal invitation to this event, then I might accompany you.” Please check the lesson notes for more explanations and examples and to learn other conjunctions used in conditional sentences. |
Outro |
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| Gina: That’s it for this lesson, everyone! See you next time. |
| Svetlana: Пока пока |
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