Time to Speak Russian__Grammar Notes

There is a special group of Russian nouns which have a different ending "­y" in the Prepositional case singular. Please, memorize th

Verbs

All Russian verbs are inflected (modified) for person and number. There are 2 sets of verb endings, or 2 Conjugation patterns. The I signaled by endings ­ть, ­ти, ­чь) always remains unchanged. This is the very form you see in a dictionary. In a sentence the verb f it has to "agree" with a person and number of the verb's subject: I, you, he or she, it (singular), we, you, they (plural).

Я знаю. Они знают. Вы знаете.

Please, note that there is one third­person singular verbal form for both animate and inanimate subjects of all three genders: masculin "Антон (Anton) работа║ет". "Магазин (a store) работа║ет"."Анна (Anna) работа║ет". "Школа (school) работа║ет". "Радио (ra The third­person plural form of a verb will also be the same for inanimate and animate subjects :"Антон и Анна (Anton and Anna) (stores) работа║ют".

Endings of personal verbal forms depend on a verb's conjugation type ­ I or II. Most Russian verbs which in the Infinitive form end i II verbs: "любить", "звонить". Verbs which in the infinitive form have all other endings are Conjugation I verbs: "знать", "гулять", etc. But you will come across a lot of exceptions in verb conjugation!

Conjugation I

– Эта комната.

– Какое кино очень интересное?

– Это американское кино.

– Какие вещи твои?

– Эти вещи мои.

To answer the question: "What is it?", you can use just one pronoun form "это", and in this case, it does not have to agree with the n in number:

Это мой дом.

Это наша удобная квартира.

Это наше окно. Это твои вещи?

A grammar model with the pronoun "это" gives you a complete sentence: "Это дом" (This is a house). Это ваза. Это окно. Это час very short because in Russian the verb "to be" is not used in the Present Tense. This model is quite different from a phrase with a de which requires additional information about the specified object and, thus, requires a predicate to complete a sentence. Compare:

Pay attention to the word order in such sentences.

Это овощной салат. Э́тот салат овощной. Это красная рыба. Э́та рыба красная. Это дорогие закуски. Э́ти закуски дорогие.

DATIVE CASE

In a sentence the Dative case often indicates an indirect object: a person or object to whom the action is directed.

Позвони мне!

Скажи мне! Дай мне!

In the Dative case nouns and pronouns answer the questions: To whom? To what?

I LIKE

The construction "Мне нравится… " (I like) or "Мне не нравится…" (I don’t like) is used to express the speaker's attitude toward construction a logical subject is expressed by a noun or pronoun in the Dative case while an object is expressed by a noun or pronou

20.06.2015 Time to Speak Russian::Grammar Notes

To convey an attitude to an action using the construction with the verb "нравиться" (to like), follow the verb "нравиться" (in the fo infinitive form of the verb which indicates the action itself:

Мне нра́вится чи́тать.

Тебе́нра́вится обе́дать здесь? Ему не нра́вится пить во́ду.

ACCUSATIVE CASE

A noun or pronoun in the Accusative case indicates a direct object. Verbs "читать" (to read), "понимать" (to understand), "to know love or like) will be followed by the noun or pronoun in the Accusative case. Nouns or pronouns in the Accusative case answer the q "whom?"

The question "what?" is asked when the inanimate noun serves as an object, and the question "whom?" refers to an object that is eith animal.

– Что ты хо́чешь?

– Я хочу́сала́т.

– Кого́ты зна́ешь?

– Я зна́ю А́нну.

For inanimate masculine nouns, as well as neuter nouns, the Accusative case endings coincide with the Nominative case endings:

Masculine nouns

Neuter nouns:

However, for feminine nouns both animate and inanimate the Accusative case endings will be different:

Please, note! For masculine and feminine nouns which end in "–Ь", the Accusative case endings stay the same.

To find out how animate masculine noun endings change in the Accusative case, see Lesson 5.

Personal pronouns in the Accusative case have special forms.

Compare:

IMPERATIVE

The Imperative is used to express a request or an order.

There are two Imperative forms in Russian, and the choice of a particular form depends on whom you are addressing:

Imperative forms.

This is how the Imperative forms are constructed:

Please, remember!

If the verb stem ends in a vowel ("a", "о", "у", "и", etc.), then the suffix "­Й­" is added to the stem. If the stem ends in a consonant (" etc.), then the suffix "­И­" is added.

Verb: Past Tense

The Past tense is used to describe any action that took place in the past.

"Этот молодой человек раньше не говорил по­русски, а теперь говорит". ­ "Previously, this young man did not speak Russian b

"Маша уже говорила тебе, где можно купить сувениры." ­ "Masha told you before where to buy souvenirs."

To form the Past Tense verbal forms: first, drop the verb Infinitive ending and add to the verb stem the Past tense suffix "­л", then fo ending "­а" for feminine nouns, with the ending "­о" for neuter nouns, and the ending "­и" for plural nouns.

Please, remember! The Past tense verbal form agrees with the noun in gender and number.

Я ем икру, потому что я люблю икру.

Почему я часто ем икру? – Потому что я люблю её.

Modal words: рад (glad), уверен (sure), должен (have to), готов (ready), надо / ну

To convey an attitude to an action or event being talked about, a speaker can use special words: "должен", "рад", "уверен", "готов"

The words "рад", "уверен", "готов" are short forms of adjectives. Thus, they agree with nouns or pronouns in gender and number.

Consider the sentence structure in the following examples:

For example:

"Антон рад видеть Анну в Москве". ­ "Anton is glad to see Anna in Moscow."

"Подруга должна заплатить за квартиру".­ "My girl friend has to pay for the apartment". "Студенты готовы писать тест". ­ "The students are ready to write a text."

BUT!

Я уверен, что видел этот фильм.

Please, remember!