Talking about your town and the weather

You will learn

• to talk about what there is to see and do in cities
• to discuss the weather
• to talk about your vacation
• how to express feelings and opinions in Russian

and you will find out about Moscow and St Petersburg

Study guide

1. Ira knows Moscow very well.

2. What else does Ira like to do?

Practice what you have learned

1. Three Muscovites all show friends their city. But their interests are so different that you might think it is three cities rather than one. Read the postcards below, and then listen and match the postcard writer with his or her friend.

3. A coach excursion is offered.

уважаемые гости respected guests
обзорная экскурсия a panoramic tour
Красная площадь Red Square (the woman uses the accusative because they will be going there)
Кремль Kremlin
центральные улицы central streets
площади, проспекты, бульвары squares, avenues, boulevards
Ленинские горы Lenin hills (These hills are now called by their original name: Воробьёвы горы.)
правительственный government (adj.)
здания (sing. здание) buildings

The Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts

Practice what you have learned

2. A tourist group is visiting three major cities in Russia and Ukraine. Unfortunately the programs are all jumbled up. Listen to the tour guide and write down the places to be seen in each city.

New words:

3. Volodya has found a holiday job showing tourists around Moscow. The trouble is that he knows next to nothing about the city! He hopes that total ignorance can be concealed by an abundance of superlatives. Listen to your recording, then fill in the missing words.

самый красивый the most beautiful
самый интересный the most interesting
самый известный the most famous

4. Some advice about the weather in Moscow.

появляется вода water appears
снег тает the snow melts
поэтому therefore
обязательно definitely
капризный capricious
солнце sun
холод the cold

5. One season is special.

для души for the soul
пушкинская пора Pushkin’s time (Pushkin loved this season particularly)
золотая осень golden autumn
строки lines

A monument to Alexander Pushkin in Moscow

Practice what you have learned

4. Below are three pictures of different parts of the Russian Federation. As you see, the climate varies dramatically! Listen to your recording and match each prediction to the most appropriate picture.

5. Some friends are chatting about when and where they spend their vacation. Listen to the recording, then mark off the correct statements below.

The Kremlin, Moscow (click to enlarge)

6. You live in St. Petersburg. You will be asking questions about the weather in Moscow. As always, Andrei will prompt you.

6. Where do Larisa Alekseevna and her family spend their vacation?

как правило as a rule
река river
турбаза tourist center
дом отдыха vacation center/sanatorium
лес forest

Practice what you have learned

7. Tamara asks some colleagues where they spend their holidays. Listen to your recording, then fill in the missing words (they are jumbled up in the box below).

Борис, где вы обычно (I) ?

Я отдыхаю обычно (II) на юге. Я очень люблю (III)

Игорь, где вы проводите (IV) ?

Летний отпуск мы (V) на море, а (VI) мы отдыхаем в доме отдыха, недалеко от Владимира.

Там есть какая-нибудь (VII) ?

Да, (VIII) расположен на реке Клязьма.

Impersonal sentences

Some Russian sentences may at first sight appear telegraphic. This is mainly because there is no word in them for 'it is'. Thus:
Сегодня холодно. It is cold today.
Это очень интересно. That is very interesting.

Verb forms are, however, needed for 'it was' - было and 'it will be' - будет, e.g.:
Сегодня было тепло. It was warm today.
Завтра будет холодно. It will be cold tomorrow.

If it is Boris who is, was or will be cold, the sentence will be:
Борису (было, будет) холодно. Boris is (was, will be) cold.
(Literally, this sentence means 'То Boris it is (was, will be) cold'.)

Such sentences are very common in Russian when talking about feelings, opinions, etc. Here are some other examples:
Антону интересно здесь. Anton finds it interesting here. (lit. To Anton it is interesting here.)
Нине было жарко. Nina was hot. (lit. To Nina it was hot.)
Мне надо будет работать. I will have to work. (lit. To me it will be necessary to work.)
Вам холодно? Are you cold? (lit. To you cold?)

In these sentences, the noun or pronoun ('to me', 'to you', etc.) referring to the person involved has a dative ending. We introduced dative endings for pronouns. Names of people must also change.

Dative endings

There are really only three endings to learn:

Masculine & neuter singular nouns end in -y or -ю, e.g.:
Виктору и Николаю интересно ловить рыбу. Victor and Nikolai enjoy fishing.
Михаилу Ивановичу жарко. Mikhail Ivanovich is hot.

Feminine singular nouns normally end in -e, e.g.:
Нине хорошо здесь. Nina feels good here.
Татьяне Алексеевне приятно читать в парке. Tatyana Alekseevna finds it pleasant to read in the park.

In the plural, all nouns end in -ам or -ям, e.g.:
Экскурсия по самым памятным местам столицы Excursion around the most noteworthy places of the capital

Do not be put off by these endings. It is the pronouns you have learned in lesson 10 which you are more likely to use. The main thing is to understand such constructions.

8. Read and translate the following sentences.

9. In the spaces below add the words in parentheses with the right endings. Make sure you understand each one.

Read and understand

10. Three tourists wrote notes in their diaries about the places they were visiting. Below are picture postcards which each one sent to a friend. If you read the diary entries, you will know who sent which postcard.

(click to enlarge)

Did you know

Moscow and St Petersburg

A visitor may well have difficulty believing that these two cities are part of the same country. A few words about each city’s past may help to explain the differences.

While Moscow does not date back to the earliest days of Kievan Rus' it is quite old, having been founded by Prince Yuri Dolgoruky in 1156. It was, however, one of the least important princedoms until the Tartar invasion of the 13th century and the fall of Kiev. Then its geographical location and a lack of fastidiousness on the part of Ivan Kalita (or 'Moneybags') in dealing with the invaders enabled Moscow to gain considerable power. This was further increased by the Metropolitan’s decision to establish the Church center in Moscow. Constantinople, the 'second Rome', fell in 1453. After the end of Tartar rule in 1480, Prince Ivan of Moscow declared himself Tsar, ruler of all Russia and of all Orthodox Christians. Moscow was to be the third Rome — there would be no fourth.

Moscow remained the capital of a burgeoning empire until the reign of Peter the Great (1672-1725). In supremely autocratic fashion Peter decided to build a new capital on the shores of the Baltic Sea. Undeterred by the marshy terrain and inauspicious climate, Peter used Swedish prisoners of war and Russian peasants to create St. Petersburg, a 'window onto Europe' ('Bronze Horseman' by Alexander Pushkin).

He also invited architects from abroad to create this 'Venice of the North'. The classical style of architecture, canals and bridges and the famous 'white nights' in June create a particular atmosphere which has fascinated writers and poets from Pushkin and Dostoevsky to the present day.

It was in this city, renamed from 1914 Petrograd, that the revolutions of February and October 1917 took place. In 1918, however, Lenin moved the capital back to Moscow. From 1924, following Lenin’s death, up to 1991, the city was called Leningrad.

The Soviet period left its mark on both cities. The appearance of Moscow, historically more 'Russian', changed more, with many historical areas destroyed or converted into offices for the dozens of ministries centered in the city. Fifty years after the October 1917 revolution, fewer than half of Moscow’s churches and monasteries remained standing.

St. Petersburg has altered less structurally. The problem here is that restoration and repair work have not kept pace with decay and many beautiful buildings are close to collapse.

St. Petersburg / Leningrad was also particularly ravaged by the Second World War. For 900 days the city was under siege, during which more than a million people died of starvation. To this day on one of the houses on Nevsky Prospect is a sign warning citizens of Leningrad that 'under gunfire this side of the street is more dangerous'.

Your turn to speak

In this exercise you will be talking about your own city or the place where you spend your vacation. Work out what you would like to say about it and try this out before listening to your recording. Remember that if your version is different from the recording, it is not wrong, just different! The following words may be useful: