March 16, 2019

Understanding Spoken Russian – Learn Russian Ep. 16

24 minutes

Full Episode Audio

Exercises Only Audio

Download Full Episode (right click save-as)

Download Exercises

NOTE *

All

phrases intended for translating/listening practice have been

deleted.

Welcome

to Episode 16. Before you started this course, you probably

encountered the phrase: My name is…For ex: My name is Steve.

Меня

зовут Стив. We’ve

used it quite a bit in these podcasts, but I never actually broke

that down for you.

Now,

despite what you may have heard online, меня

зовут does not translate as “My name is…”

Not

even close. Yes, it is the Russian equivalent of that phrase.

It’s indeed a way of telling someone your name. But the word меня

does not mean “my”. And зовут

doesn’t mean “name.”

When

you say: Меня зовут….you’re

literally saying: “Me they call….”

Here’s

the important part…the topic, in fact, of this whole episode:

“calling” someone—as in, they call me Mark—counts as

doing something to someone. So, imagine you’re telling someone the

names of people in your family.

Mom

they call Linda.

Маму

зовут Линда.

See

how Mama changed to Mamu? How might you say: My sister they call

Michele. (We’ll leave off the word “my” because it’s

understood.)

Сестру

зовут Мишель.

Сестра

changed to сестру

you recall how to say ‘dog’ in Russian?

Собака

try to say: The dog is called Fido.

Собаку

зовут Файдо.

Again,

we see that sobaka has changed to sobakU.

far so good? Now here’s something interesting about

Russian…something I’ve gone out of my way to avoid during this

entire course. But we’re ready for it, now: When we do

something to a man his name will change.

For

ex, take the names: Steve, Jeff, Marvin

Стив,

Джеф, Марвин

The

speaker will say: I know Steve. I saw Jeff. I love Marvin.

Listen

to how their names change.

знаю Стива. Я увидела Джефа. Я люблю

Марвина.

Did

you hear those ‘a’s at the end? Стива,

Джефа,

Марвина?

Your

turn. Try to say…”I know Anton.”

знаю Антона.

saw Maxim.

увидел Максима.

She

loves Greg.

Она

любит Грега.

That

doesn’t happen to masculine objects, right? I love your phone: Я

люблю твой телефон.

change. The phone’s not alive. And actually, it goes beyond people.

Any masculine creature that is

animate will change. So, not plants. They’re alive, but don’t move

about on their own.

But

a giraffe is animate…Жираф

saw a giraffe.

увидела жирафа.

Let’s

say you’re in a rock band and before a big gig, the guitarist falls

ill. гитарист is the word for

guitarist. So you say, Hey…I know a guitarist.

знаю гитариста.

So,

jumping back to when we were naming the people in our family. Now we

point to a picture of our brother and say: My brother they call Erik.

(Again, we leave off ‘my’. It’s understood.)

Брата

зовут Эрик.

Брат

becomes брата because

calling him counts as doing something to him.

Let

that sink in as we review some main points from the last episode. Can

you translate the following phrases?

–

– –

got our grammar point out of the way, next up is our official new

word for the lesson.

ждать

So,

you’ve got a train to catch. Meanwhile, your mom says, “Don’t go

yet. Aunt Yana wanted to say goodbye.” But you look at your

watch and shake your head…

Мама…Я

не могу ждать.

you pick up your suitcase and step outside, then Mom tugs your coat

from behind. She’s pointing to Yana’s car pulling up.

Жди,

жди! Видишь? Яна приехала.

So,

he said: Я не могу ждать.

can not wait…as in, I’m unable to wait. So what kind of word is it?

ждать

is a verb infinitive. We hear that T+soft sign.

And what was mom saying as Yana pulled up?

Жди!

is the command form. She was saying, Wait!

Let’s

say you go to a restaurant and they tell you it’ll be an hour before

you get a table. Tell your friend: I don’t want to wait.

не хочу ждать.

Imagine

you’re in a cafe and you still haven’t gotten your food. Listen as

the speaker tells the waitress…Девушка…

I’m

waiting for my salad.

жду салат.

brother is waiting for his soup.

Мой

брат ждёт суп.

And

you, Darina. You’re waiting for pizza, yes?

ты, Дарина…Ты ждёшь пиццу, да?

Let’s

hear those again: I’m waiting…You’re waiting…He’s waiting…

жду, ты ждёшь, он ждёт

Since

‘waiting for something’ counts as doing something to it, we notice

that the feminine word ‘pizza’ changed to ‘pizzu.’ Whereas things

like soup and salad didn’t change because they’re inanimate masculine

nouns. But how would you say: I’m waiting for Jeff.

жду Джефа.

The

word for a client in Russian is a cognate. Listen: клиент

Ask

your friend: Are you waiting for a client?

Ты

ждёшь клиента?

No.

I’m waiting for Yana.

Нет.

Я жду Яну.

Out

of curiosity…Can you guess what the past tense might be? How would

a guy say:

was waiting and waiting…

ждал и ждал…

How

would a woman say that?

ждала и ждала..

Before

the break…this is just for fun…the name for this pattern is the

Animate Accusative.

You

don’t have to learn it. Heck, forget I even told you. You guys know I

loathe grammar terms.

But

this one’s fun to toss around. So the next time you’re hanging with

some friends and they ask what you’ve been up to, just say…”Eh,

same old stuff. Just getting a handle on Russian’s animate accusative

rule. What about you?” Then look at your watch and say, For me

it’s time…

Мне

пора.

I’m

sure you’ve noticed…since the midterm episode, we’ve been doing

more and more speaking. Compare that to the early episodes, where

almost all we did was listen. It’s because our model through all of

this has been my kids, and the way they so efficiently are learning

three totally different languages. At first, they listened, picking

up the patterns. Like….’Whenever someone says Я

there’s a word that ends either with an L sound, or an U. Я

ждал…or…Я жду. Я

смотрел….or…Я смотрю.

Again, they had little idea what the things meant, but

they were categorizing like crazy. That’s some kind of action.

That’s some kind of location. клиент must

be a person, because it changed to клиента

and so on.

But

then came their first trials at speaking. As I write, William is far

ahead of his sister Sophia who still mostly listens quietly. But

she’s on the verge now. Words are starting to come.

they are with us. So let them flow. Use all the Russian you know.

Please don’t worry about making mistakes. My kids sure don’t. Heck,

I’m a native speaker of English and I make mistakes. We all do. Who

hasn’t said: There’s lot of cars in the garage.

That’s

wrong. It should be: There ARE lots of cars…not There is…

Don’t

let the fear of mistakes stop you from practicing your Russian, okay?

And

if you’re looking for a course that will help you with that…that

will do all the work for you, and turn you into a confident

conversational Russian speaker, then I hope you check out Russian

Accelerator. It’s my premium course…All video, with over a dozen

native speakers. Videos that really clarify the meaning of things.

It’s all there, in ninety lessons. Plus a podcast I made exclusively

for Russian Accelerator members.

You’ve come this far, and we’ve got a few more episodes left. But after that, I hope you’ll join my Accelerator course. I think you’ll love it.

(TIP

OUT)

Alright…let’s

do our Russian Immersion section. So, Irina comes into the mall and

sees me sitting on a bench…

–

– –

today’s tip I mentioned how, as we progress in the language, we

inevitably begin speaking more and more…just as kids do. So for

today’s final, let’s practice some of our recent vocab.

Try

to say the following phrases….

–

– –

you got most of those, you’re doing awesome. Keep up the great work

and I’ll see you in the next episode.

...more

View all episodes

By Understanding Spoken Russian

4.9

4242 ratings

March 16, 2019

Understanding Spoken Russian – Learn Russian Ep. 16

24 minutes

Full Episode Audio

Exercises Only Audio

Download Full Episode (right click save-as)

Download Exercises

NOTE *

All

phrases intended for translating/listening practice have been

deleted.

Welcome

to Episode 16. Before you started this course, you probably

encountered the phrase: My name is…For ex: My name is Steve.

Меня

зовут Стив. We’ve

used it quite a bit in these podcasts, but I never actually broke

that down for you.

Now,

despite what you may have heard online, меня

зовут does not translate as “My name is…”

Not

even close. Yes, it is the Russian equivalent of that phrase.

It’s indeed a way of telling someone your name. But the word меня

does not mean “my”. And зовут

doesn’t mean “name.”

When

you say: Меня зовут….you’re

literally saying: “Me they call….”

Here’s

the important part…the topic, in fact, of this whole episode:

“calling” someone—as in, they call me Mark—counts as

doing something to someone. So, imagine you’re telling someone the

names of people in your family.

Mom

they call Linda.

Маму

зовут Линда.

See

how Mama changed to Mamu? How might you say: My sister they call

Michele. (We’ll leave off the word “my” because it’s

understood.)

Сестру

зовут Мишель.

Сестра

changed to сестру

you recall how to say ‘dog’ in Russian?

Собака

try to say: The dog is called Fido.

Собаку

зовут Файдо.

Again,

we see that sobaka has changed to sobakU.

far so good? Now here’s something interesting about

Russian…something I’ve gone out of my way to avoid during this

entire course. But we’re ready for it, now: When we do

something to a man his name will change.

For

ex, take the names: Steve, Jeff, Marvin

Стив,

Джеф, Марвин

The

speaker will say: I know Steve. I saw Jeff. I love Marvin.

Listen

to how their names change.

знаю Стива. Я увидела Джефа. Я люблю

Марвина.

Did

you hear those ‘a’s at the end? Стива,

Джефа,

Марвина?

Your

turn. Try to say…”I know Anton.”

знаю Антона.

saw Maxim.

увидел Максима.

She

loves Greg.

Она

любит Грега.

That

doesn’t happen to masculine objects, right? I love your phone: Я

люблю твой телефон.

change. The phone’s not alive. And actually, it goes beyond people.

Any masculine creature that is

animate will change. So, not plants. They’re alive, but don’t move

about on their own.

But

a giraffe is animate…Жираф

saw a giraffe.

увидела жирафа.

Let’s

say you’re in a rock band and before a big gig, the guitarist falls

ill. гитарист is the word for

guitarist. So you say, Hey…I know a guitarist.

знаю гитариста.

So,

jumping back to when we were naming the people in our family. Now we

point to a picture of our brother and say: My brother they call Erik.

(Again, we leave off ‘my’. It’s understood.)

Брата

зовут Эрик.

Брат

becomes брата because

calling him counts as doing something to him.

Let

that sink in as we review some main points from the last episode. Can

you translate the following phrases?

–

– –

got our grammar point out of the way, next up is our official new

word for the lesson.

ждать

So,

you’ve got a train to catch. Meanwhile, your mom says, “Don’t go

yet. Aunt Yana wanted to say goodbye.” But you look at your

watch and shake your head…

Мама…Я

не могу ждать.

you pick up your suitcase and step outside, then Mom tugs your coat

from behind. She’s pointing to Yana’s car pulling up.

Жди,

жди! Видишь? Яна приехала.

So,

he said: Я не могу ждать.

can not wait…as in, I’m unable to wait. So what kind of word is it?

ждать

is a verb infinitive. We hear that T+soft sign.

And what was mom saying as Yana pulled up?

Жди!

is the command form. She was saying, Wait!

Let’s

say you go to a restaurant and they tell you it’ll be an hour before

you get a table. Tell your friend: I don’t want to wait.

не хочу ждать.

Imagine

you’re in a cafe and you still haven’t gotten your food. Listen as

the speaker tells the waitress…Девушка…

I’m

waiting for my salad.

жду салат.

brother is waiting for his soup.

Мой

брат ждёт суп.

And

you, Darina. You’re waiting for pizza, yes?

ты, Дарина…Ты ждёшь пиццу, да?

Let’s

hear those again: I’m waiting…You’re waiting…He’s waiting…

жду, ты ждёшь, он ждёт

Since

‘waiting for something’ counts as doing something to it, we notice

that the feminine word ‘pizza’ changed to ‘pizzu.’ Whereas things

like soup and salad didn’t change because they’re inanimate masculine

nouns. But how would you say: I’m waiting for Jeff.

жду Джефа.

The

word for a client in Russian is a cognate. Listen: клиент

Ask

your friend: Are you waiting for a client?

Ты

ждёшь клиента?

No.

I’m waiting for Yana.

Нет.

Я жду Яну.

Out

of curiosity…Can you guess what the past tense might be? How would

a guy say:

was waiting and waiting…

ждал и ждал…

How

would a woman say that?

ждала и ждала..

Before

the break…this is just for fun…the name for this pattern is the

Animate Accusative.

You

don’t have to learn it. Heck, forget I even told you. You guys know I

loathe grammar terms.

But

this one’s fun to toss around. So the next time you’re hanging with

some friends and they ask what you’ve been up to, just say…”Eh,

same old stuff. Just getting a handle on Russian’s animate accusative

rule. What about you?” Then look at your watch and say, For me

it’s time…

Мне

пора.

I’m

sure you’ve noticed…since the midterm episode, we’ve been doing

more and more speaking. Compare that to the early episodes, where

almost all we did was listen. It’s because our model through all of

this has been my kids, and the way they so efficiently are learning

three totally different languages. At first, they listened, picking

up the patterns. Like….’Whenever someone says Я

there’s a word that ends either with an L sound, or an U. Я

ждал…or…Я жду. Я

смотрел….or…Я смотрю.

Again, they had little idea what the things meant, but

they were categorizing like crazy. That’s some kind of action.

That’s some kind of location. клиент must

be a person, because it changed to клиента

and so on.

But

then came their first trials at speaking. As I write, William is far

ahead of his sister Sophia who still mostly listens quietly. But

she’s on the verge now. Words are starting to come.

they are with us. So let them flow. Use all the Russian you know.

Please don’t worry about making mistakes. My kids sure don’t. Heck,

I’m a native speaker of English and I make mistakes. We all do. Who

hasn’t said: There’s lot of cars in the garage.

That’s

wrong. It should be: There ARE lots of cars…not There is…

Don’t

let the fear of mistakes stop you from practicing your Russian, okay?

And

if you’re looking for a course that will help you with that…that

will do all the work for you, and turn you into a confident

conversational Russian speaker, then I hope you check out Russian

Accelerator. It’s my premium course…All video, with over a dozen

native speakers. Videos that really clarify the meaning of things.

It’s all there, in ninety lessons. Plus a podcast I made exclusively

for Russian Accelerator members.

You’ve come this far, and we’ve got a few more episodes left. But after that, I hope you’ll join my Accelerator course. I think you’ll love it.

(TIP

OUT)

Alright…let’s

do our Russian Immersion section. So, Irina comes into the mall and

sees me sitting on a bench…

–

– –

today’s tip I mentioned how, as we progress in the language, we

inevitably begin speaking more and more…just as kids do. So for

today’s final, let’s practice some of our recent vocab.

Try

to say the following phrases….

–

– –

you got most of those, you’re doing awesome. Keep up the great work

and I’ll see you in the next episode.

...more

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Understanding Spoken Russian – Learn Russian Ep. 16

Understanding Spoken Russian – Learn Russian Ep. 16

More shows like Understanding Spoken Russian

Speaking Russian

Learn Russian | RussianPod101.com

Very Much Russian - Learn Russian as Russians speak it!

Slow Russian

Russian Made Easy: Learn Russian Quickly and Easily

TPRS Russian – Effortless Russian

Comprehensible Russian Podcast | Learn Russian with Max

Что это было?

Learn Russian! Russian with Sasha

Learn Russian with Dasha

Russian podcast for beginners!

Learning Russian through Stories

Be Fluent in Russian Podcast

Russian you can understand💡

Easy Russian: Learn Russian with native speakers | Учим русский с носителями языка