Learn Russian Step by Step

Do you have a Russian girlfriend or boyfriend? Are you preparing to meet the parents of your darling for the first time? If so, this lesson is for you!

The post 143 – Meeting your in-laws appeared first on Learn Russian Step by Step.

We've already covered many types of Russian pronouns, but not all of them yet. Today we start with the Interrogative pronouns which are used to ask questions.

The post 142 – Russian Interrogative Pronouns: кто, что appeared first on Learn Russian Step by Step.

Today we continue with the health and are going to learn some words and phrases that you could use in a pharmacy.

The post 141 – Useful phrases: pharmacy appeared first on Learn Russian Step by Step.

Today we continue with the superlative degree of adjectives which we started in the previous lesson.

The post 140 – The superlative degree of adjectives (2d part) appeared first on Learn Russian Step by Step.

The superlative degree indicates that someone or something has the quality of the adjective to a degree greater than that of anything it is being compared to. In this lesson we are going start learning how to form the superlative degree of Russian adjectives. 1. The standart method Add before the adjective the word самый […]

The post 139 – The superlative degree of adjectives (1st part) appeared first on Learn Russian Step by Step.

In the previous lesson we learned how to form the long form of comparative degree of Russian adjectives. Today let’s look at the short form. Formation Drop off the ending of an adjective and add -ее. This form doesn’t change in gemder and number: дли́нный (long) – длинне́е (longer) сла́бый (weak) – слабе́е (weaker) краси́вый […]

The post 138 – The comparative degree: the short form appeared first on Learn Russian Step by Step.

Russian adjectives (most of them) have two comparative degrees: the long from and the short form. In today’s lesson we’ll learn how to form the long form. Actually, it is very easy – all you need to do is to add бо́лее (more) or ме́нее (less) to the long form of adjective: Э́та су́мка тяжёлая. […]

The post 137 – The comparative degree: the long form appeared first on Learn Russian Step by Step.

Today's lesson we dedicate to developing your skills of asking questions in Russian. Let's learn how to ask in Russian 'what size, color, length, height and so on is something or someone'.

You already know how to ask 'What color is something?' in Russian. Let us remind you that to ask that kind of questions Russians start the phrase the the interrogative pronoun какой in the Genitive - "какого?". The noun that goes after какого is in the Genitive as well.

Како́го цве́та твоя́ маши́на? - What color is your car?

Како́го ро́ста твой оте́ц? - How tall is your father? (What height is your father?)

With feminine, neutral and plural nouns the pronoun какого changes accordingly*:

masculine: како́й -> како́го
feminine: кака́я -> како́й
neutral: како́е -> како́го
plural: каки́е -> каки́х

* See the lesson 126 – Declension of adjectives: adjectives in -гий, -кий, -хий, -гой, -кой, -хой for more information.

Examples:

Како́й высоты́ э́то де́рево? - What is the height of this tree?
высота́ (height) is feminine

Како́й ширины́ э́та река́? - What is the width of this river?
ширина́ (width) is feminine

Како́й глубины́ о́зеро Байка́л? - What is the depth of the Lake Baikal?
глубина́ (width) is feminine

Како́го э́то разме́ра? - What size is it?
разме́р (size) is masculine

Каки́х разме́ров бу́дет де́тская в но́вой кварти́ре? - What size will the new children's room in the new apartment?
разме́ры (sizes) is plural

Practice all examples of this lesson with the audio track.

The post 136 – Learn to ask ‘what size, color, length and so on is something?’ appeared first on Learn Russian Step by Step.

In this lesson we'll learn one more Russian pronoun. This is the pronoun сам. It's used to emphasize the subject which is performing an action. It can be translated in English as 'myself', 'yourself', 'himslef' and s on.

As many other Russian pronouns, сам changes in gender, number and case. Have a look at the declension on the pronoun сам.

Use of the pronoun сам

Я сама́ зна́ю, что и как де́лать. - I know myself what to do and how.

Он сам пришёл, его́ никто́ не звал. - He came by himself, nobody called him.

Э́та карти́на напи́сана сами́м Леона́рдо да Ви́нчи. - This picture is painted by Leonardo da Vinci.

Сам is very often used with себя:

Помоги́ себе́ сам. - Help yourself.

Э́то говори́т само́ за себя́. - It speaks for itself.

Learn a few useful expressions with the pronoun сам:

Сам винова́т. / Сама́ винова́та.
You asked for it! (lit. - You are guilty yourself!)

Сам не свой. / Сама́ не своя.
Not one's usual self. (lit. - Not oneself)

Само́ собо́й (разумеется).
Of course. / Sure.

Here is an audio file for you to practice all examples of today's lesson:

The post 135 – Russian emphatic definite pronoun “сам” appeared first on Learn Russian Step by Step.