RL102 - 4/1 Basic Russian grammar lesson 4 part one

[ChechenBlackWolf]

hi all who is learning russian i can help you, i know english enough to speak, and i just want to communicate with foreigners, i'm 22 from Russia with love)

[Thony1980]

I hope none of foreigners studies Russian through this guy's courses otherwise I pity them, and I'm not talking about the guy's pronunciation but about the silly mistakes he makes. Go to 2.56 where he made two mistakes in a row (Слово "мало переводится как "little/few" (в зависимости от существительного) и оно негативное, "учитель" же перевел мало как "not very much" и "a little", что означает "не так много" и "немного", и это уже положительное слово, обозначающее наличие чего-либо).

[usenetposts]

@Thony1980 Pointless criticism. In any event more "of foreigners" have learned Russian from my course, which by the way is humour and entertainment, a fact which has flown over your Aspergers-riddled head, than have learned it from yours. So get your ass out of my comments sections.

[baiNEKO]

@usenetposts -- Hey! Don't insult "Asperger's" types by calling this guy one! He's more likely suffering from some kind of perverse nationalist sentiment, plus general immaturity and a low level of contemplative thought. (If he wanted to help students of Russian, he might have pointed out the errors in a constructive and organized manner -- and if he were capable and interested enough in the issue, he might bless us with some quality vids by a native speaker...).

[usenetposts]

@baiNEKO Well, I was trying to allow some excuse for him, rather than insult any other people. People simply don't realise that doing a course like this needs quite a bit of time and energy, and it isn't as easy as they think it is. If it were I'd have done about 400 of them and not just about 40.

[baiNEKO]

@Thony1980 -- Hi, can you point those errors out in a constructive way, that will help us students? How can we learn from them, and how about some examples of how to use the terms properly in native-constructed sentences? Can I check my example sentences with you? Thanks

[usenetposts]

@baiNEKO Heh heh. I can just see him doing that.

[scordatur]

I have the impression I'am living now in Russia! Merci, Monsieur Huliganov d'offrir ce beau voyage!

[aldimaster1]

Батенька , поработайте с английским произношением , а то уши в трубу сворачиваются от такого крейзи инглишь.

[usenetposts]

@aldimaster1 Please work on having any English at all. Or any films at all, for that matter. Then come and criticise me.

[BobRoberts]

I wrote you a few months ago to thank you for your contribution. Now I'm in Russia and only speaking Angleeskee. Thanks again for your work. Victor Huliganov is a champ in my book.

[Rymdsaft]

I suppose this is as much a question about English as it is about Russian: would you say that гулять translates as "promenade"? I believe these to be the same concept. Also, thanks for the series. I have used your videos to cheer up a friend who was feeling a bit under the weather - anyone who doesn't look as sad as you should feel happy!

[usenetposts]

@Rymdsaft In French you would maybe say "faire une promenade" for "gulyat'". Thanks for your sub, and kind comments.

[Bmystyle]

is the word for talking/conversing разговарывать or разговаривать? im confused!

[usenetposts]

@Bmystyle Oops! Did I say the latter? The former is correct. You know why it's a free course, now. Who'd charge for something with all these mistakes in it? (Well, some do, actually, but it doesn't detract from the fact that my course is a bit crappy in places)

[usenetposts]

@Bmystyle The latter. There are some mistakes which is why you have to read the comments and not just watch the vids in this course. That's how crap it is.

[wvb93]

at 7:24 do you pronounce слабо, slava or slaba? should i learn it slava instead of slaba?

[usenetposts]

@wvb93 You should learn it "слабо", which is why I wrote it that way on the screen, incidentally. And you should also learn that "b" is not aspirated and therefore sounds a little different to an English b, which often sounds like a "p" to Russian ears. And you should learn on top of that that the unstressed "o" won't have the full value of an o. It will sound more like an 'a'. That's what I said way back in 101-2.

[wvb93]

@usenetposts well yes i knew that. i was just wondering how you would explain the pronunciation of слабо to a native english speaker. i make flash cards and i put the russian word and the pronunciation in english letters on one side and then i write the english meaning on the other. would a native russian speaker recognize (slá-ba) or (slá-va) better as слабо?

[usenetposts]

@wvb93 Where do I ever suggest in this course making flash cards with English letters on, for Russian? If you want a Slavic language which uses Latin Letters, I suggest you look at Polish or Czech. If you want a language where b and v are used interchangeably, I suggest you look at Castilian Spanish. If you want a language where the word for "weak" is the same as the word for "glory", I suggest you produce your own constructed one.

[drsexybro]

You are a fantastic teacher. I hope your career has brought you much success! This is the BEST online teaching I have had, and it's free!!

[usenetposts]

@drsexybro Thanks for your compliment. I cannot complain about my career, although it has nothing to do with this stuff in actual fact. I am an auditor in East Europe. If you know anyone doing business in East Europe, and you can refer me, that would be greatly appreciated. That's the only donation I ever ask for, and only from people who happen to be in a position to do it.

[chadsummerlin]

I love his subtle humor :)

[Gargolian1]

hello,

can someone tell me the meanings of the words 'гулять' and 'загорать'?

I can't quite understand what he's saying.

Thanks a lot!

[usenetposts]

@Gargolian1 gulyat' sounds like goolies, and your goolies sweat if you walk too much, so gulyat means to walk. Zagorat is to sunbathe, and if you see sunbathing beauties, you might say 'Gor blimey! look at za'!' so za-gor-at' means to sunbathe. Understand now?

[Gargolian1]

@usenetposts Yes, thank you very much. but I figured it out later on the video :-)

thanks for the quick response anyway!

[hesham20077]

that really helped

um having an exam tommorrow

[tamtam8108]

merci beaucoup pour ces supers cours de russe

i really appreciate a lot how you explain all

best regards

tam (switzerland)

[BentTemple]

thank you so much for all off this!! I signed up for the group and am awaiting acceptence...however that works..but...get active again...this isnt nearly as easy as Spanish and I am teaching myself.....Dr. Huliganov....HELP!!!!

[usenetposts]

@BentTemple To be honest, I don't go to that group as often as I should. It may be easier to get help either by asking in a video comment or else on huliganov dot tv.

[BentTemple]

thanks..just joined the group and really appreciate these vids!

[ChaosPhoenix7]

It's hard to differentiate when you say "Verb" and "Word". Your accent is too awesome for my mind to comprehend.

[ComradeOtastic]

how would you pronounce the backwards N with creasant shaped mark over it in the word angli(letter in question)ski? It is from your use of in the language of english. I am stuck on that and how to distinguish when to sound "o" as an ah and as an o. Can you help me?

[usenetposts]

It just lengthens the i a little there. The unstressed o sounds like an a so you have to learn where it is an o and where an a. If you hear an a bearing the stress, it's an a. If you hear an "a" not bearing the stress, then in a Russian root word it's more likely to be an "o", in a word of imported root, maybe more likely to be an 'a'.

[ndaatweg00]

thank you very much for your videos! much appreciated

[usenetposts]

You're very welcome.

[KaiToTheN]

i have to second 88manta88's opinion. your "eine kleinigkeit essen" was perfect.

[88manta88]

You pronounced the words "eine kleinigkeit essen" - "to eat a little bit" so damn perfectly in german language. Really stunning. even the "g" in kleinigkeit as a "ch" as most german dialects do. Really really good.

Your lessons are so well structured and never give to much information that would confuse one. Please keep up that good work.

Best regards from a german guy who learned English and French at school but always wanted to learn a slavic language.

[amokdelviento]

I have a question: shouldn't много be pronounced мново?

[usenetposts]

No, because it is not from a genitive of an adjective "mnyi" which doesn't exist, but is the adverbial form of an adjective "mnogi" which doesn't exist in Modern Russian but which in older slavonic used to mean "plural" or "many". The adjective persists in Polish, eg "liczba mnoga" ("the plural number"), or in Czech "mnohy" ("many a"). In South Slavic the meaning became "very".

It is cognate with Germanic "Manig", giving us words such as "manch" and "Menge" in Modern German and English "many".

[amokdelviento]

wow... Thank you very much!!

You didn't only answer my question but did also give me its linguistical context, you are a master.

I really want to be like you.

;) Me inco ante ti.

P.D. do you know Humboldt?

[usenetposts]

I know he was a leader of Prussia, and a great academic of Berlin university. I know he was at the Congress of Vienna, and that quite a lot of his letters survived, but I don't know that much about him.

[Bboygenius]

The best way for all of you who really want to speak well in Russian, you need to practice with those who do speak it so they can correct you here and there..

[kuhistone]

he talks too much, but little substance, but still thanks.

[evillttlimp]

only one MINOR problem...

"good" and "bad" aren't adverbs, they are adjectives. You might confuse people. "xopowo" and "nlaxa" are "well" and "badly."

Sorry, I'm a bit of a grammar nazi.

[usenetposts]

OK, but go and tell the Americans about it, they are the ones who go around saying "I feel good", "I feel bad", etc.

[evillttlimp]

Hah, you have a good point.

[xanax430]

most americans do use the wrong words. but "i feel good" and "i feel bad" are the correct ways of saying. "i feel well" and "i feel badly" would actually mean literally feeling (with fingers, for example)

[usenetposts]

In British English "I feel well" is standard, though. The American construction is a contraction of "I feel (myself to be in) good (health)". A British person would say without compunction also "I felt badly about letting him down".

[MEpianist]

I'm not sure that's "wrong." If "to feel" is an intransitive verb in American English that its technically okay to use the words "good" and "bad" as predicate nominative substantive (adjectives)...

All the same, Mr. Huliganov is absolutely brilliant, I'm indebted to his lessons. I still struggle with conversational Russian though.

[Thestralsxxx]

"I feel good" and "I feel bad" are perfectly acceptable sentences. "Good" and "bad" are describing a noun "I" not the verb "feel."

[Bboygenius]

what exactly is "nlaxa"?????????

[evillttlimp]

"badly"

[Bboygenius]

nlaxa?! are you sure? I have NEVER heard of this word before..

[evillttlimp]

Are you just harassing me because I accidentally wrote a's instead of o's? I'm pretty sure you know what I mean...

Gimme a break, please. I'm a french speaker.

[Ericosproduction]

Russia <3

im Swedish :D

[abruzz0]

these videos are great for keeping my mind sharp while i wait for my 2nd semester russian class that begins in late january. i got an "a+" in my first semester russian class, and i owe some thanks to the great Хулиганов.

[IOwnAFerrari]

Я слишком, курю больше чем вы вероятно

[MothmanCometh]

Врад ли.

[worthingtoniv]

keep up the good work Victor! Your lessons are of a great support in my quest in learning russian.СПОССИВА!

[MothmanCometh]

ЛОЛЗ! спасибо. Я курю много килограммов марихуаны!

[itsthehand]

?????????

[MothmanCometh]

That's right.

[Marii26]

The diction exersize was so helpful! Ya panyemayu! Thank you so much!

[Cha0z19]

Can you tell where are the determinants?

[Beach01]

i have a question.

i could not understand with your accent (no offense)

what does zagorat' mean?

[kuariso2]

to sun, lay on sun to be sun tanned

[Subzzero93]

zagorat means to get or to tan and his accent is not real just part of the character if im correct

[GypsyPianist]

When is HE ponounced as nye and when is it ponounced as ni?

[Balazak]

Good question.

I think 'e' is pronounced as 'ye' when stressed and as 'i' when unstressed.

This is the basic rule I learned but there may be exceptions I'm not familiar with.

[GypsyPianist]

Your lessons are so interesting that I can only stop when my eyes start to hurt from the computer screen.

[Yardana28]

How do you know in what tense to use the (po) ?

[usenetposts]

po as a prefix usually, like most prefixes, will make an imperfective verb perfective. That means if you use the present conjugation you are talking about a future one off action, and if in the past you are talking about a finished action.

[Yardana28]

So, you use it to describe a present tense?

[usenetposts]

I'm not sure I understand the question...

[Yardana28]

I mean, should you only use it when describing something in a present tense? You didn't say it in most of the phraises in the video so I'm a little confused haha

[ogbash]

I'm 0% linguist, I do not really understand you question, but I'll try to help.

First, to make clear, "po" makes a new distinct verb, it is not some special prefix to some form of existing verb.

Second, given this "po" verb(e.g. pozavtrakat'):

1) past form (of it) means accomplished action in the past

2) present from - accomplished action in the FUTURE

3) it has no future form

[ogbash]

I mean, it is special prefix but there are many prefixes and when you apply them you may get the whole new meaning and it means new verb.

For example,

igrat' - to play

proigrat' - to loose

vyigrat' - to win

poigrat' - to play for some time

sygrat' - to perform, to play (once)

pereigrat' - to replay, to outplay

razygrat' - ...

so on :)

[Yardana28]

How does (po)igrat translate to losing?

If it's a time tense then that just doesn't make sense to me. Maybe I'm just missing something.

[ogbash]

it is pRoigrat' not poigrat

(po) is not related to any time tense directly. It generally adds "completeness sense" to the action (ie makes verb perfective).

Compare gulyat' (walk) and pogulyat' (take a walk). In some contexts there is almost no difference (like I want to walk or I want to take a walk). But think about next sentence: "I want to walk and then start learning". It is more natural (at least for me) to say "to take a walk", so the action is "completed".

I can also explain pRo

[ogbash]

(po) makes a verb perfective. And all perfective verbs when used in present tense actually refer to the future. (I'm not linguist, so I do not know if I should call it future tense instead)

budesh zavtrakat'?

pozavtrakaesh?

Both legal, relate to future, and mean (almost) the same ("Will you have a breakfast?" or "Would you like to have a breakfast? depending on the context).

[ogbash]

One more idea from me but uncertain.

'po' preposition itself actually means "over/along" something. So trying to connect this to 'po' as a verb prefix means to "go through" some activity.

This 'go through' does NOT mean 'thoroughly' and, on the contrary, may sometimes add the opposite sense (ie slightly).

[Yardana28]

This is very interesting, thank you for helping me. So, when you use (po) it puts it in the present tense of actually doing something, otherwise the word can be a future or a past tensed verb? I think I understand a little bit more. Walk, or take a walk... hmm

[ogbash]

Yes, there are different verbs, exactly like (re)play, (out)play relate to 'play'. I would say that transition from imperfective to perfective (and seems like where your confusion comes from) is a side effect of the prefix addition, because prefixes may really change the meaning.

With some prefixes (like 'po') the meaning is only slightly changed, but formally these are different verbs with their own past/present/future tenses.

[ogbash]

To finish, that 'po' is not directly related to (im)perfectiveness, there is a (rarely used) verb pogulivat' (notice the changed suffix). Copying R-E vocabulary it means "walk up and down" or "go* on the spree (from time to time)". There is exactly one such suffix transformation for every "prefixed verb" and it does NOT change the basic meaning of a verb. And this is actual pair of perfective/imperfective forms.

[Yardana28]

Wow, I have to tell you I am absolutely amazed at your English, I thought you were a native ENglish speaker until I went to your profile! Way cool. Anyway, thank you so much for your help. Sometimes I only understand things if they're explained in a variety of different ways.

[isg84]

At 6:12 you say "verbs", but aren't those adjectives? I mix them up quite often myself...

[solonou]

Oops. There are some typos in the words that appear on the screen: разговаривать and по--немецки have spelling errors that need to be fixed.

[usenetposts]

Thanks. I'll fix them when the book comes out.

[lordmoggy]

another interesting lesson dave , but to speak the words will be harder

[sssummer]

thanks; this is great. i used to study russian on my own, and i'm guilty of ignoring it but this is a fantastic refresher.

[usenetposts]

I'm glad you're finding it helpful.

Next lesson will be produced over the Easter weekend.

[sandradunska]

"ostorozhno, tam guljajut po russki" LOL

this is great for beginners, but i actually would need some more advanced stuff on how to use those softening marks (i mean the letter) and grammatical exceptions and such. i can speak and read russian, but i have really HUGE problems with writing. dear professor Huliganov, perhaps you coul recommend any net resources for me? thank you :)

[usenetposts]

One day, I will get on to more advanced stuff that will help people at your level. In the meantime, I suggest Derek Offord's book "Using Russian - a guide to contemporary usage" I think he also has another book out on Advanced grammar too, and you could look up "derek offord" on Amazon.

[sandradunska]

spasibo ^_^

[kenbank]

Dear Professor Huliganov, Thank you for another Russian lesson.

[usenetposts]

Pleasure, Ken. Second part of lesson coming up as soon as I do the titles.

[vwgmbh]

toll, danke sehr! nun machen wir einige grossere vorschritte mit dem Wortschatz.

der Witz über wieviel die Deutschen essen war auch ja lustig :)

[usenetposts]

Danke. Hoffentlich habe ich niemanden damit beleidigt.

[rockt73]

Great again!

[uptodat]

I was doing OK until the big step up to dictation! I need a clear head, peace & quiet to try this. Excellent lesson again.

[usenetposts]

Give it a go before the answers come in a few days. In the worst case you will find out the answers then, but trying to understand speech is an important step.

[dpay02]

Russian teachers will all soon be made redundant thanks to you :) I'll get practising.

[usenetposts]

Good luck!