Understanding Spoken Russian

Understanding Spoken Russian – Learn Russian Ep. 17

Listen Later

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 Ep. 17. Glad you tuned in because I think this episode will prove
to be instrumental to your success in Russian. Yeah, I know…You’re
thinking: Why did he use that particular word, instrumental?
You guys are on to me. Hang around and you’ll see. For now, listen as
our speaker tells you who he was talking with…

Я

говорил…с Владом. / …с Марком. / …с
доктором. / с Толиком.

A

lot of “Oms” there. You catch that? And that ‘C’ by the way
translates as “with”. Anyway, you try it. Say: Mom was
talking with Chris.

Мама

говорила…с Крисом.

You

added that ‘s’ sound before the name, right? S krisom

Say:

Mom was talking with Andrei…with William…

Мама

говорила с Андреем. Мама говорила с
Уильямом.

Now

you might be wondering: Wait…Doesn’t ‘talking with someone’ count
as doing something to them? Why aren’t we saying:
Криса…Андрея…Уильяма

Well,

because we’re not talking at them. We’re talking with
them. In Russian that makes a big difference. Here’re some more
examples…Some female names now…

I’m

talking with Karina….with mom…with Nina.

Я

говорю…с Кариной. / …с мамой. / …с Ниной.
/

Interesting

sound there at the end. That ой sound.
Let’s do more…

I

work with Franklin….with John….with Christina….with Olga.

Я

работаю с Франклином. / …с Джоном. / …с
Кристиной. / …с Ольгой /

I

live with Greg…with a musician….with grandpa…with Yana

Я

живу с Грегом. / …с музыкантом. / …с
дедушкой. / с Яной. /

So

far so good? Now let’s listen to some more complex phrases that use
these new forms. See if you can get the gist…

Я

говорил с официанткой, и сказал что ты
ещё ждёшь омлет.

I

was speaking with the waitress, and said that you are still waiting
for the omelet.

Я

говорила с барменом, и сказала что ты
ещё ждёшь вино.

I

was speaking with the bartender—lit: barman—and said that you are
still waiting for the wine.

Это

моя мама и это мой папа. Сегодня я говорил
с ними через Скайп.

This

is my mom and this is my dad. Today I was talking with them via
Skype.

Это

моя сестра Сара, и мой брат Эрик. Сегодня
я говорила с ними через Фейстайм.

This

is my sister Sara, and my brother Erik. Today I was talking with them
via Facetime.

с

ними…with them One more:

Это

мой друг Чарли и моя подруга Настя. Я
жила с ними в Лондоне.

This

is my friend Charlie, and my female friend Nastya. I was living with
them in London.

You

try it. Say…I lived with them in Moscow.

Я

жил с ними в Москве.

I

worked with them in Epicenter.

Я

работал с ними в Эпицентре.

Next,

let’s listen to our speakers. They’re going to pretend to be my kids.
First, Alex will say:

“Mom,

Andrei hit me with…”

Then

see if you can guess what he was hit with. It’ll be the
last word each time.

Мама!

Андрей ударил меня…телефоном. / …рюкзаком.
/ …магнитом / Вини-пухом

Mom,

Andrei hit me with a telephone…with a rucksack…with a
magnet…with Winnie the Pooh

Same

“om” ending we heard earlier. Like: I was talking with
John. Я говорил с Джоном.

One

more round…

Папа!

София ударила меня…книгой / …игрушкой.
/ …вилкой. /

Dad!

Sophia hit me with a book…with a toy…with a fork

Those

were all feminine objects…книга игрушка
вилка…and they got that ОЙ ending
we heard earlier with feminine names. So, what’s going on here?

Well,

those endings—OM with masculine nouns and ОЙ with
feminine ones—those are “instrument markers.” They tell a
Russian person how something was done.
If English did this, it would sound like this:

What

did Andrei hit you with? – A pillow-om

How’d

you open that rusty door? – A crowbar-om

What’d

you use to smash the glass? – A hammer-om

What’d

you use to wash away the chalk? – SodOI

To

bust out another fancy grammar term, words with these endings are in
their instrumental form. Or the instrumental case. No need to
memorize that, but I wanted to toss it out there.

And

when we say who we did something with…that person’s name
also goes into its instrumental form. That’s what we were doing at
the start of the lesson. In both situations, there’s this idea of
“with.” I broke it with a brick. I was talking with Jim.

Try

to say: I was working with the manager.

Я

работал с менеджером.

I

was working with a client.

Я

работала с клиентом.

I

was playing with grandma.

Я

играл с бабушкой

I

was playing with Maxim.

Я

играла с Максимом.

I

was waiting with Vladimir.

Я

ждал с Владимиром.

I

was waiting with Larrisa.

Я

ждала с Ларисой.

This

stuff is starting to get pretty advanced, so if you’re hanging in
there….that’s really impressive.

So

let’s take a step back and look at the big picture. Specifically, the
different endings of people’s names
that we’ve encountered so far. There’s been a lot. Listen. I wont
translate for now.

Это

Полина.Это Джон.

Я

знаю Полину.Я вижу Джона.

У

Полины есть кошка.У Джона есть собака.

Я

дал книгу Полине.Я дал журнал Джону.

Я

говорил с Полиной.Я играл с Джоном.

In

these last ones, a паук is a spider…

Есть

паук на Полине. Есть паук на Джоне!

Incredible,

isn’t it? All those forms of the same name? And what’s even more
incredible is, now you understand them. You understand what
each version means, and how it functions. I say incredible, because
it’s so foreign to how we think in English. And yet you’re getting
it.

Of

course, now it’s your turn. I’ll prompt you to say those same
phrases. Ready?

This

is Polina. This is John. I know Polina. I see John. Polina has a cat.
John has a dog.

I

gave the book to Polina. I gave the magazine to John. I was talking
with Polina.

I

was playing with John. There’s a spider on Polina. There’s a spider
on John.

<>

Today’s

tip is simple, yet challenging. Try to run other names through all
the forms that we just covered. And here’s a tip: A lot of names
won’t work,especially non-Russian girls names.

Jennifer,

Sally, Michele…pretty much any female name that doesn’t end with an
‘a’ sound won’t change. And guy’s names that end, for ex, with an
O….Pablo…also wont change. Or an ‘E’ sound, like Harry. But
still, give it a try. Start with Darina and James.

In

fact, one second…Andrei, иди сюда. Say
hi everyone.

ANDREI:

Hi, everyone.

How

would you say in Russian…This is Yana. Say: I know Yana. Yana has a
son. I said to Yana Hi! There’s a spider on Yana!

Ok…now

it’s your turn, guys…

(END

TIP)

Time

for our Russian Immersion section.

–

– –

What

do you think С кем means?

C….translates

as ‘with’

кем

is ‘who’…(in its instrumental form.)

Ask

me: Mark, who were you talking with?

Марк,

с кем ты говорил?

Ok…sorry

for the interruption. Back to our immersion…

–

– –

Чай

с лимоном…What does that mean? Tea s lemon-om.

Tea…with…lemon.

So

what’s the basic form of the word lemon? Take your time on that one.
It must be just: лимон

But

that little word ‘C’…with…forced it into which form? Its
instrumental form. If you got that, you’re doing awesome. Ok, one
more….

–

– –

So,

that word кукуруза…What is it? I
actually did define it for you way back in Episode 11, but I never
tested you on it, so I’m guessing you don’t know what it means. But
here’s a really important point…Perhaps the most important thing I
can convey to you in this whole course. In language, meaning isn’t
all or nothing. What I mean is, It’s not like you either know what
the word means or you don’t. That’s not how language works, and
that’s not how the brain organizes information.

Tell

me. Is кукуруза the word for
“fuzzy”? It’s not? I thought you didn’t know what the word
meant. Is it the word for ‘winter’? No? How about ‘clock’? How do you
know?

You

know it’s none of those things because in the last conversation, Mom
made tort with kukuruzoi.

So

you know it’s some kind of food. And so, you know a whole lot more
about kukuruza than “absolutely nothing.” Right? Because
meaning is a continuum. From having zero clue what a word might mean,
to knowing it so precisely, you could draw a picture of it.

For

so many words—even in our native language, okay—meaning is hazy.
We kind of know what certain words mean. And not knowing them
precisely…it’s no big deal. Can you precisely define the word
capitulate? Like, The other side capitulated. I’m not saying it’s not
useful to know the definition. Of course it is. But it doesn’t stop
us from speaking English, right?

So,

what’s кукуруза? I’ll give you a
hint:
It’s the most important crop in Nebraska. And you usually eat it on
the cob.

Here,

translate this phrase: Я
люблю кукурузу.

I

love…..corn.

Want

a way to remember the word? You’d have to be cuckoo
not to love corn. Maybe that’ll help you remember it.

Alright,

you ready for our final exam? As always, there will be words here we
haven’t covered. Just try to get the gist.

–

– –

Alright…how’d

you do? Hopefully you’re still doing great. So keep it up and I’ll
see you in the next episode.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store
Understanding Spoken RussianBy Understanding Spoken Russian
  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9

4.9

42 ratings

More shows like Understanding Spoken Russian

View all
Coffee Break French by Coffee Break Languages

Coffee Break French

4,078 Listeners

Stuff You Should Know by iHeartPodcasts

Stuff You Should Know

77,316 Listeners

Very Much Russian - Learn Russian as Russians speak it! by Very Much Russian - Learn Russian as Russians speak it!

Very Much Russian - Learn Russian as Russians speak it!

70 Listeners

Russian Made Easy: Learn Russian Quickly and Easily by Russian Made Easy: Learn Russian Quickly and Easily

Russian Made Easy: Learn Russian Quickly and Easily

241 Listeners

Comprehensible Russian Podcast | Learn Russian with Max by Russian With Max

Comprehensible Russian Podcast | Learn Russian with Max

303 Listeners

Learn Russian Pronunciation by Learn Russian Pronunciation

Learn Russian Pronunciation

7 Listeners

Learn Russian! Russian with Sasha by Sasha Tausneva

Learn Russian! Russian with Sasha

41 Listeners

Be Fluent in Russian Podcast by BeFluent

Be Fluent in Russian Podcast

69 Listeners

Russian you can understand💡 by Darya Danilova

Russian you can understand💡

11 Listeners

Easy Russian: Learn Russian with native speakers | Учим русский с носителями языка by Marina & Nikita

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

23 Listeners

Russian Learning Accelerator by Language Learning Accelerator

Russian Learning Accelerator

1 Listeners