Russian For Dummies

You can use the phrase My amyerikantsy for any group of American men, women, or mixed genders.

Russian is very specific about gender. If you’re a male, make sure you use the word indicating the nationality of a man, and if you’re a female, use the word indicating the nationality of a woman. Imagine a man introducing himself as Ya amyerkinanka. Although people will understand what he’s saying, they’ll be quite amused, and if you’re that man, you may be just a tad embarrassed.

Most Russians are highly educated people. They know that the United States, Australia, and Great Britain are ethnically diverse countries. Therefore, they also ask the question A kto vy po-natsional’nosti? (ah ktoh vih puh-nuh-tsee- ah-nahl’-nuhst-ee; And what is your nationality?) to find out your specific ethnic heritage (rather than your nationality). This situation is especially true if you don’t look like a “typical American,” which to a Russian means a blueeyed, blond, tall, and athletic-looking Anglo-Saxon.

Another possibility is that your new Russian friend will attempt to guess your nationality instead of asking you outright. Most Russians are very good at recognizing foreigners in a crowd of people and sometimes are even able to guess your nationality just by looking at you. If this is the case, you may hear questions like these right off the bat:

Vy amyerikanyets? (vih uh-mee-ree-kah-neets; Are you American? Literally: Are you an American man?)

Vy amyerikanka? (vih uh-mee-ree-kahn-kuh; Are you American? Literally: Are you an American woman?)

Vy amyerikantsy? (vih uh-mee-ree-kahn-tsih; Are you Americans?)

In Table 4-1 you find a list of some nationalities and specific ethnicities. Find the one that best describes your background, and note that Russian doesn’t capitalize names of nationalities and ethnic backgrounds.

Most words denoting nationality of women have the ending -ka as in amyerikanka (American woman). Many words denoting nationality of men end in -yets as in kitayets (Chinese man). Some words, however, slightly divert from this rule, such as the word frantsuz (frahn-tsoos; Frenchman). Most words denoting the nationality of people (plural) have the ending -tsy. Exceptions to the words you may be using a lot include the following:

russkij (roos-keey; Russian male)

russkaya (roo-skuh-ye; Russian female)

russkiye (roo-skee-ye; Russians)

Other exceptions are words like yevryei (eev-rye-ee; Jewish people) and anglichanye (uhn-glee-chah-nee; English people). Unfortunately, no hard and fast rule exists for this, so you just need to memorize the words as they are.

Note the translation of the word “Indian.” English uses the word “Indian” for both American and Asian Indians. Russian uses indus to indicate an Asian Indian man and indyeyets to indicate a Native American man. This difference eliminates the ambiguity of English. However, this distinction disappears in the word indiyanka, which denotes both an Asian Indian and an American Indian woman, but the distinction reappears when you refer to a group of Indians (either indusy or indyejsty).

Talkin’ the Talk

John and Natasha are on board a flight from Frankfurt to Moscow.

They’ve just met.

Words to Know

Chapter 4: Getting to Know You: Making Small Talk 91

kuzina (koo-zee-nuh; female cousin)

plyemyannik (plee-mya-neek; nephew)

plyemyannitsa (plee-mya-nee-tsuh; niece)

syem’ya (seem’-ya; family)

Talking about family members with the verb “to have”

When talking about your family, use phrases like “I have a brother” and “I have a big family” and “I don’t have any brothers or sisters.” To say these phrases you need to know how to use the verb yest’ (yest’; to have).

Just as in English, this Russian verb expresses possession. For example, in the sentence, “My brother has a car,” the phrase “my brother” indicates a possessor or owner and the word “car” indicates the thing that belongs to the owner. In Russian, the owner is expressed by the prepositional phrase U + a noun (or phrase) in the genitive case, followed by the verb yest’ (have, has), and the thing that indicates what’s being possessed or owned is expressed by the noun (phrase) in the nominative case. In other words, to

convey the idea “My brother has a car,” you have to create the Russian word combination U + “My brother” (genitive case) followed by the word yest’ and then followed by the word “car” in the nominative case. The resulting Russian sentence can be literally translated into English as “At my brother there is a car”: U moyego brata yest’ mashina. (oo muh-ee-voh brah-tuh yest’ muh-shih-nuh; My brother has a car.) Chapter 2 has the full scoop on cases.

Use the construction U myenya yest’ . . . (oo mee-nya yest’; I have . . .) when talking about your own family:

U myenya yest’ brat (oo mee-nya yest’ braht; I have a brother)

U myenya yest’ syestra (oo mee-nya yest’ sees-trah; I have a sister)

If you want to say that you don’t have a brother, a sister, a nephew, and so on, you use the construction U myenya nyet (oo mee-nya nyet) plus a noun in the genitive case:

U myenya nyet brata (oo mee-nya nyet braht-uh; I don’t have a brother)

U myenya nyet syestry (oo mee-nya nyet sees-trih; I don’t have a sister)

The genitive plural forms of some family members are irregular, and you need to memorize them:

brat’yev (braht’-eef; brothers)

syestyor (sees-tyor; sisters)

synovyej (sih-nah-vyey; sons)

dochyeryej (duh-chee-ryey; daughters)

dyetyej (deet-yey; children)

Chapter 4: Getting to Know You: Making Small Talk 93

programmist (pruh-gruh-meest; programmer)

pryepodavatyel’ (pree-puh-duh-vah-teel’; professor at the university)

studyent (stoo-dyent; male student)

studyentka (stoo-dyent-kuh; female student)

uchityel’(oo-chee-teel’; male teacher)

uchityel’nitsa (oo-chee-teel’-nee-tsuh; female teacher)

vospitatyel’ (vuhs-pee-tah-teel’; preschool teacher)

vrach (vrahch; physician)

yurist (yu-reest; attorney, lawyer)

zhurnalist (zhoor-nuh-leest; journalist)

zunbnoj vrach (zoob-noy vrahch; dentist)

Some professions have female versions, some are used for both men and women, and some have only male versions.

You can also specify where you work. Russian doesn’t have an equivalent for the English “I work for United” or “He works for FedEx.” Instead of for, Russian uses its equivalent of at — prepositions v or na. Rather than saying “I work for United,” a Russian says “I work at United.”

The Russian prepositions v and na (at) require that the noun denoting a place should take the prepositional case. Here are some of the most common places people work. We include the right preposition and prepositional case, so you can start telling people where you work right away. Say Ya rabotayu . . . (ya rah-boh-tuh-yu; I work . . .) plus one of these phrases:

doma (doh-muh; from home)

na fabrikye (nuh fah-bree-kee; at a light-industry factory)

na zavodye (nuh zah-vohd-ee; at a heavy-industry plant)

v bankye (v bahn-kee; at a bank)

v bibliotyekye (v beeb-lee-ah-tye-kee; in a library)

v bol’nitsye (v bahl’-nee-tsee; at a hospital)

v byuro nyedvizhimosti (v byu-roh need-vee-zhih-muhs-tee; at a real estate agency)

v kommyerchyeskoj firmye (f kah-myer-chees-kuhy feer-mee; at a business firm, company)

v laboratorii (v luh-buh-ruh-toh-ree-ee; in a laboratory)

v magazinye (v muh-guh-zee-nee; at a store)