Russian For Dummies

Chapter 4: Getting to Know You: Making Small Talk 95

To answer these questions, you simply say

Moi nomyer tyelyefona . . . (mohy noh-meer tee-lee-foh-nuh; My telephone number is . . .)

Moi adryes . . . (mohy ahd-rees; My address is . . .)

Moj adryes po imyeilu . . . (mohy ahd-rees puh ee-meh-ee-loo; My e-mail address is . . .)

I’m Sorry! Explaining that You Don’t Understand Something

When you first start conversing in Russian, there will probably be a lot you don’t understand. You can signal that you don’t understand something in several ways. Choose the phrase you like best, or use them all to really get the message across:

Izvinitye, ya nye ponyal. (eez-vee-nee-tee ya nee pohh-nyel; Sorry, I didn’t understand; masculine)

Izvinitye, ya nye ponyala. (eez-vee-nee-tee ya nee puh-nye-lah; Sorry, I didn’t understand; feminine)

Izvinitye, ya plokho ponimayu po-russki. (eez-vee-nee-tee ya ploh-khuh puh-nee-mah-yu pah-roos-kee; Sorry, I don’t understand Russian very well.)

Govoritye, pozhalujsta, myedlyennyeye! (guh-vah-ree-tee pah-zhahl- stuh myed-lee-nee-ee; Speak more slowly, please!)

Kak vy skazali? (kahk vih skuh-zah-lee; What did you say?)

Povtoritye, pozhalujsta. (puhf-tah-ree-tee pah-zhahl-stuh; Could you please repeat that?)

Vy govoritye po-anglijski? (vih guh-vah-ree-tee puh uhn-gleey-skee; Do you speak English?)

Fun & Games

Which of the two words indicates a woman? See the answers in Appendix C.

Which of the three words doesn’t belong to the group? Check out the answers in Appendix C.

1.plyemyannik, syestra, brat

2.dyeduska, babushka, otyets

3.mat’, doch’, otyets

4.vnuchka, babushka, vnuk

5.syestra, brat, otyets

Which of the following statements just doesn’t make sense? (The word rabotayet (ruh-boh-tuh-eet) means “works.”) See the answers in Appendix C.

1.Aktyor rabotayet v teatrye.

2.Aktrisa rabotayet v teatrye.

3.Profyessor rabotayet v univyersityetye.

4.Domokhozyajka rabotayet na fabrikye.

5.Inzhyenyer rabotayet na zavodye.

Ty khochyesh’ yest’? (tih khoh-cheesh’ yest’; Are you hungry? Literally: Do you want to eat?; informal)

Vy khotitye yest’? (vih khah-tee-tee yest’; Are you hungry? Literally: Do you want to eat?; formal and plural)

In addition to these expressions, you may also hear one of these phrases:

Vy golodnyj? (vih gah-lohd-nihy; Are you hungry?), when speaking to a male

Vy golodnaya? (vih gah-lohd-nuh-ye; Are you hungry?), when speaking to a female

Vy golodnyye? (vih gah-lohd-nih-ee; Are you hungry?), when speaking to multiple people

To answer these questions, you say:

Ya golodnyj (ya gah-lohd-nihy; I’m hungry), if you’re male

Ya golodnaya (ya gah-lohd-nuh-ye; I’m hungry), if you’re female

Note that these phrases, however, have a particular flavor. In Russia golod (goh-luht; hunger) is a word that carries tragic historical connotations. So while it’s perfectly acceptable to use the above expressions, you should know that they also carry this darker, secondary meaning.

Table 5-1 shows you how to conjugate the Russian verb yest’ (yest’; to eat) for all the different pronouns. It’s an irregular verb, so you just have to memorize it. (For more on regular verb conjugations, see Chapter 2.)

Drinking up

If you feel thirsty, you say Ya khochu pit’ (ya khah-choo peet’; I’m thirsty, Literally: I want to drink). When you want to ask somebody whether they’re thirsty, you say Ty khochyesh’ pit’? (tih khoh-cheesh’ peet’; Are you thirsty? Literally: Do you want to drink?; informal) or Vy khotitye pit’? (vih khah-tee- tee peet’; Are you thirsty? Literally: Do you want to drink?; formal)

The drinking verb pit’ (peet’; to drink) has an unruly conjugation, as shown in Table 5-2.

Just as in English, the Russian statement On/ona p’yot (ohn/ah-nah p’yot; He/she drinks) in certain contexts can signify that the person is an alcoholic. If that’s not your intention, you may want to add a direct object to the sentence to clarify your meaning.

Some common napitki (nuh-peet-kee; beverages) you may use as the direct objects are sok (sohk; juice), chaj (chahy; tea), kofye (koh-fye; coffee), vodka (voht-kuh; vodka), pivo (pee-vuh; beer), vino (vee-noh; wine), and a famous Russian kvas (kvahs) — a nonalcoholic beverage made of bread.

To say “I drink coffee” in Russian, you say Ya p’yu kofye (yah p’yu koh-fye). “I’m drinking vodka” is Ya p’yu vodku (yah p’yu voht’-koo). Notice that in this sentence vodka become vodku, the accusative case form of the noun, because it’s the direct object of the sentence. (For more on using the accusative case with direct objects, see Chapter 2.)

Chapter 5: Making a Fuss about Food 101

The construction Mozhno . . . (mohzh-nuh; Can/May I have . . .) + a noun is quite common in Russian. The noun takes the accusative case.

Minding basic Russian table manners

If you want to impress your Russian acquaintances, you should know basic Russian table manners. Some of the most important rules are related to using table utensils:

Hold your fork in your left hand at all times, if you use a knife.

Hold your fork in your right hand if you don’t need a knife to cut food. When Russians eat fish, for example, they don’t use a knife, and they hold the fork in the right hand.

When eating dessert, don’t use a fork; use a teaspoon instead.

Russians often find the American habit of cutting food into pieces before eating it very amusing. In Russia, only mothers do this for their young children. So when in a Russian restaurant, do as the Russians do. Never cut your food first with your knife and then put down the knife to hold your fork in the right hand. Always hold your knife in the right hand and your fork in the left hand, cutting pieces of food as necessary.

Enjoying Different Meals in Russia

Russians eat three meals a day: zavtrak (zahf-truhk; breakfast), obyed (ah- byet; dinner), and uzhin (oo-zhihn; supper). But Russian meals have quite a few peculiarities, which we tell you about in the following sections. We give you details on the amazingly flexible Russian breakfast, the hearty Russian midday meal, and the Russian dinner. Prepare your taste buds!

Russian for “to cook” is gotovit’ (gah-toh-veet’). So, if cooking is one of your hobbies, you can now proudly say Ya lyublyu gotovit’ (ya lyub-lyu gah-toh- veet’; I like/love to cook) when asked Vy lyubitye gotovit’? (vih lyu-bee-tee gah-toh-veet’; Do you like to cook?)

Chapter 5: Making a Fuss about Food 103

Let’s do dinner (not lunch)

Obyed (ah-byet; dinner) is the main meal of the day and it’s usually eaten as a midday meal between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.

Don’t make the common mistake of calling your evening meal obyed, because this may cause misunderstanding. Obyed is, in fact, your midday meal. What speakers of English call “lunch” doesn’t have an equivalent in Russian.

For their midday meal, Russians enjoy a four-course meal consisting of zakuski (zuh-koos-kee; appetizers), sup (soop; soup), vtoroye (ftah-roh-ye; the second or main course), and dyesyert (dee-syert; dessert), also called tryet’ye (trye-t’ee; third course).

The most popular Russian zakuski are:

baklazhannaya ikra (buh-klah-zhah-nuh-ye eek-rah; eggplant caviar)

kapustnyj salat (kah-poost-nihy suh-laht; cabbage salad)

salat iz ogurtsov i pomidorov (suh-laht iz ah-goor-tsohf ee puh-mee-doh- ruhf; salad made of tomatoes and cucumbers)

salat olivye (suh-laht uh-lee-v’ye; meat salad)

studyen’ (stoo-deen’; beef in aspic)

syelyodka (see-lyot-kuh; salt herring)

vinyegryet (vee-nee-gryet; mixed vegetable salad made with beets, carrots, and pickle)

vyetchina s goroshkom (veet-chee-nah s gah-rohsh-kuhm; ham with peas)

After zakuski comes the sup. You have many different kinds to choose from:

borsh’ (bohrsh’; beet root soup)

bul’yon (bool’-yon; broth)

kurinyj sup (koo-ree-nihy soop; chicken soup)

molochnyj sup (mah-lohch-nihy soop; milk soup)

sh’i (sh’ee; cabbage soup)

ukha (oo-khah; fish soup)