Dialogues: Grammar:

A: Hi! How's it going? B: What's up? Informal vs. Formal Forms of Address (Introduction) No Verb To Be in the Present Tense Russian to English: Fixed Expressions

Note: The English transcription given in square brackets below the Russian text is a very rough guide that will be used until the entire alphabet is presented. Listen carefully to your instructor and the recordings for the exact pronunciation.

A.
Vra Msha Vra Msha Vra
5 4 3 2 1

Dialogues
! ?
, ! e? [Msha, privt! Kak del?] . e? [Khorosh. A u teby?] e. [Tk seb.] , e . . [Izvin, mne nkogda. Pok.] , , . ( walks away) ! [Nu, ldno, do svidniya. (Misha walks away) Nakhl!]
Well, OK, see you later. (Misha walks away) Jerk! Sorry, Im in a hurry. Later. So-so.

Hi! Hows it going?

.
Yra Nna Yra Nna Yra
10 9 8 7 6

?
, ! ? [Nna, privt! Chto slshno?] e . e? [Ne sprshivay. A u teby?] e. [Nichev.] , e . . [Izvin, mne nkogda. Pok.]

Whats up?
Nina, hi! Whats up?

Dont ask. And with you?

Nothing. (Everything is pretty much OK.)

Sorry, Im in a hurry. Later.

, , . ( walks away) ! [Nu, ldno, do svidniya. (Nina walks away) Nakhlka!]

Well, all right, see you later. (Nina walks away) Jerk!

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Vocabulary
[privt] [kak del?] two words one stress [khorosh] [a u teby?] [tk sebe] two words one stress [izvin] [mne nkogda] [pok] [nu] [ldno] [do svidniya] two words one stress [nakhl] [chto slshno? ] [ne sprshivay] two words one stress [nichev] [nakhlka] hi (used only with friends and family) hows it going? how are things? good; well and you? (lit: and by you?) so-so (this is somewhat negative) excuse (me); pardon (me); sorry Im in a hurry; I have to run (lit: to me there is no time) (see you) later well... OK, all right (sign of agreement) good-bye; see you later rude person who does not think of others; jerk (male) whats up?; whats new? (lit.: what is audible?) dont ask nothing ( also has an adverbial meaning not bad, OK.) female version of

e? e? e e ? e

2 2 3

4 4 4 5 5 5

5 6 7

8 10

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(Numbers following words and phrases below refer to lines in dialogue)

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Informal vs. Formal Forms of Address (Introduction)

uses hi, an informal greeting, with her friend . Russian, like many languages, distinguishes between formal and informal forms of address. Saying to your professor would roughly be the same as saying Hey, man, whats up?, (not too advisable). We will see an example of a formal form of address in Lesson 3. Until then, speak Russian only to your friends.

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Russian Has No Verb To Be in the Present Tense

Note that in e?, the Russian equivalent of the question Hows it going?, there is no verb; the sentence consists of just = how and e = things; matters. In Russian the present tense of the verb be (am, are, is) is not expressed. Some other examples: how What Misha 1 Are Is Is ? things? ? audible (Whats new?) . (a) jerk.

This explains why you may hear Russian speaking English say, I teacher. My husband engineer.

The (zero) symbol will be used throughout this book to indicate the absence of a word or ending.

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1.

Russian to English: Fixed Expressions

The dialogues and texts in this book contain numerous fixed expressions. In some cases the meaning of the phrase can be predicted more or less from the sum of the parts, e.g., = until + = meeting (which is similar to the French au revoir). In other cases no such addition is possible, e.g., = so; thus + e = to oneself, yet together means so-so, not great. Below are expressions from the dialogues roughly in order of predictability of meaning: Predictable Somewhat predictable Not predictable
what

+ + + + +

?
audible

= = = = =

whats up? good-bye with you? Im in a hurry so-so

until

meeting

by

?
you

to me

there is no time

so

self

Just be aware that (obviously!) learning Russian is not simply a matter of translating English words into Russian words and vice versa. Actually, Russian is not that different from English, and in many cases a literal word for word translation will result in a grammatical sentence but not always. We will be sure to alert you in such cases.

NOTE ON CHAPTER ONE: DONT PANIC! Within the next two weeks you will be presented with no small amount of material. But here are some things to bear in mind during this time: The main goal of Chapter One is to master the Russian alphabet and sound system. The test for Chapter One will be almost exclusively on this. Practice everything you hear out loud in order to get accustomed to the sounds and intonation of the Russian language. By doing this, all the rules on spelling and sounds, which need to be memorized at the beginning, will soon become second nature. We also wanted to include some useful words and expressions (like asking how things are going or saying that someone is a jerk) and at least some basic grammatical concepts just to get you started. If theres anything you dont understand about grammar, rest assured that it will be reviewed and practiced thoroughly in later chapters. Dont give up! If you can get past Chapter One, you can accomplish anything in this class and in life.

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