Hello and welcome to the first lesson of my Russian course for beginners! Before we go any further, please allow to explain some things.
My lessons will differ greatly from mainstream approaches. And then, on occasions, they’ll align with them.
Teaching a language is probably harder than actually learning it, thus any input from those who read these lessons will be appreciated.
The main purpose of these lessons is to start from the beginning and gradually work our way up to an advanced level. There will be many, many lessons. But they won’t all be published at once.
These lessons will continue to undergo constant revision well after they’ve been published on this blog. Because they are still a work in progress. It’s like how with textbooks they release new additions every couple years – the authors revise certain elements and make changes as they see fit.
And with all that out of the way, let’s get started!
Please note that I use underlining to point out stress. Most resources use acute accents.
| I. Personal Pronouns |
We’ll start with something essential in Russian: personal pronouns. How does one express I, you, he, she? Let’s find out!
| я | I |
| ты | you (informal) |
| он | he; it |
| она | she; it |
| оно | it |
| мы | we |
| вы | you (formal and plural) |
| они | they |
They are used in just the same way as they would in English, but there are some pronouns that require a more in-depth explanation.
| The pronouns он and она mean he and she respectively. However, they can also mean it, because, unlike in English, Russian doesn’t really have a separate word for it. |
| The pronoun оно does translate as it, however, it’s used in very limited contexts. In fact, this is probably the personal pronoun you will use least of all. |
| The pronoun вы has two meanings: you [formal] and you [plural regardless of formality]. To make this distinction, it’s often written as Вы when talking to someone formally. If it starts the sentence, however, it’s written with a capital letter either way, and then context will help. |
Now let’s see how these pronouns are used:
| Он американец. He’s American. |
| Она русская. She’s Russian. |
| Вы преподаватель. You’re a teacher. |
| Ты студент. You’re a student. |
You’re probably wondering where the verb to be is in these sentences. We’ll take a look at the next section of this lesson to find out.
| To learn more about the personal pronouns, click here. The post adds on to what we learned in this section. |
| II. быть [to be] |
This is our first verb we’ll tackle in Russian and there’s already great news – this verb isn’t even used! In the present, that is. So, if you want to express, for example, I am a student in Russian, you just say:
| Я студент. I’m a student. [for a man] |
| Я студентка. I’m a student. [for a woman] |
The phrases literally mean I student. That would be so wrong in English, but in Russian, that’s very correct.
Please note that Russian, like many other languages, has gender.
You’ve probably also noted that in the translation there was the indefinite article a. There’s more great news.
| There are no articles in Russian! That means there are no words for an and the. Context is how they’re translated when people translate from Russian into English and vice versa. |
| The verb быть is rarely used in the present tense. Keep this in mind! |
There actually is a conjugation for быть, although it’s extremely rare. In fact, it’s so rare that it’s almost useless for you to know it. I can show you if you’re curious:
| я | есть |
| ты | есть |
| он/она/оно | есть |
| мы | есть |
| вы | есть |
| они | есть |
The conjugation is the same for all subjects (он есть, она есть, мы есть, они есть), but please don’t ever say or write it like this in Russian! Your Russian will sound very unnatural.
Now that you know all of this, how would you translate the following sentence?
Он преподаватель.
Take some time to translate it…
If your translation was He’s a teacher, you were correct. The sentence could have also been translated as He’s the teacher, since there isn’t necessarily enough context to justify one over the other.
| Additional verbs meaning to be exist, but those are more formal and will be explored in later posts. |
| III. Conjunctions и and а |
These words are so frequently used in Russian and also two words that cause a lot of problems, sometimes for even advanced students! This is the reason why I’ve included this grammar topic in the first lesson. Let’s kill a complex issue, by taking it head on from the beginning!
The conjunction и means and, and, strangely enough, the conjunction а also means and. Yet, they are not interchangeable! If you want to make a distinction, use а. Thus, a distinction is made when two statements contrast each other, i.e. they differ: She‘s a teacher and he‘s a student. The distinction of the subjects’ details is key here. For this reason, а can also be translated as but in some cases. Let’s look at some examples so this all makes sense.
| Я студент, а ты преподаватель. I’m a student, and you’re a teacher. |
| Она девушка, а он парень. She’s a female, and he’s a male. |
Do you see here how there is a distinction? I am a student, and you are a teacher. And in the second, she is a female, and he is a male. Also, please note that this conjunction is always preceded by a comma, unless it starts the sentence.
| Я студент. А ты? I’m a student. And you? |
Here I’m saying that I’m a student and then I’m asking you what you are. I make the distinction by using а. I’m a student. And you? So, me, I’m a student? And you, what are you?
| Я студент, а ты не студентка. Ты преподавательница. I’m a student, but you’re not a student. You’re a teacher. |
You should be able to see very clearly the distinction being made in this sentence with the contextual help.
Let’s look at и now. When no distinction is needed, because something is shared, use и.
| Я студент, и ты (тоже) студентка. I’m a student and you’re (also) a student. |
I‘m a student and you‘re a student. We’re both students, we share this thing in common with each other, hence no distinction has to be made.
If you want to list things [bread and milk; milk, eggs, and honey], then you use и. Always!
| Я студент и преподаватель. I’m a student and a teacher. |
There is still a lot more that could be said on the differences between these two words, but this is already enough for the time being.
| The conjunction а, unless starting a sentence, is always preceded by a comma. On the other hand, и is only preceded by a comma if the subjects are different. Russians take great pride in punctuation. Be careful! |
That’s all for lesson one. See you in lesson two!
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