Learn Russian from the beginning! Lesson Fifteen

You will learn

• to talk about what you have done in the recent past
• to discuss previous vacations and trips abroad
• about a well-known newspaper
  and about changes in Russian society

Study guide

1. How did Tanya spend her day?

оставлять надписи leave inscriptions, graffiti
писать (я пишу, ты пишешь) to write
дальше further; (here) next
приблизительно roughly, approximately
роман novel
действие как раз начинается... the action begins precisely...
правда truth; (here) it's true

Practice what you have learned

1. Masha has had a very full day visiting places connected with literary or music figures. Listen to her account and mark out her route on the map below.

New words:
Церковь Вознесения Church of the Ascension
венчаться to marry (in a church)
оттуда from there
оперный певец Шаляпин the opera singer Chaliapin

2. Below are the places Masha mentions, and the reasons each is of interest. The two lists have been jumbled up. Can you match them correctly?

3. You will play the role of Seryozha, a lover of literature and music. You will be asked which writers you like: каких писателей вы любите?, and which composers: каких композиторов вы любите?

2. Tanya can now read Bulgakov with her students.

3. Yuri Bandura, deputy editor of Московские новости, talks about his newspaper.

общественно-политический socio-political
еженедельник a weekly
главным образом in the main
экономические проблемы economic problems
положение в области культуры the situation in the cultural sphere

Practice what you have learned

4. Below are the titles of several Russian papers. Listen to your recording, and decide which paper is referred to in each snatch of conversation.

New word: милосердие charity, compassion

5. You have to be sharp to find a copy of many popular newspapers in Russian kiosks. To be ready, Kolya has found out when each of his favorite papers comes out, intending to make a note in his diary. Since he has forgotten, can you fill in the details?

I.		Огонёк
II.		Аргументы и факты
III.		Литературная газета
IV.		Неделя
V.		Культура

4. Natasha spent her vacation last year in Sochi.

в прошлом году last year
Сочи a popular resort town on the Black Sea
к сожалению unfortunately
поэтому therefore
отдых vacation, rest
неорганизованный not officially organized
всё-таки all the same
столовая cafeteria
овощи vegetables
рынок market
на рынке at the market
персики peaches
виноград grapes

Practice what you have learned

6. Victor asks some of his colleagues where they went on their vacation. Listen to the recording, then fill in their replies under the pictures below.

III

7. Your name is Dima and you spent your vacation in Sochi with your wife and son. Andrei as always will prompt you.

Dialogues

5. Lyena asks Dima if he's ever been abroad.

когда-нибудь ever, at any time
за границей abroad
расскажите tell me (about it)
экономика economics
общежитие hostel
в общежитии in a hostel
сначала at first
постепенно gradually
довольно-таки/довольно fairly

Practice what you have learned

8. Aleksei chatted with some people at a party. Later he described his new acquaintances to a friend. Or thought he did... He has mixed the people and their accounts up. Listen to your recording, and read just the order of the sentences below.

9. Dasha is talking to Lyudmila Nikolaevna, a professor of foreign languages. She doesn't even attempt to remember how many languages Lyudmila Nikolaevna reads with ease, how many she speaks fluently. Can you?

Verbs of motion

A word of caution

There are a large number of verbs of motion in Russian, and it is easy to become bogged down in choice and not move at all! The following should give you some useful information and hints. You may well, however, want to concentrate on certain common usages and make sure you are quite confident with them.

The verb 'to go'

Since there are four verbs in Russian which can be translated as 'to go', it is necessary to be clear about the differences between them. They fall easily into two categories:

идти / ходить to go on foot (or to the theatre, cinema etc.)
ехать / ездить to go by vehicle

How to choose between идти and ходить?
Идти is normally used when you are talking about movement on a specific occasion in a single direction, e.g.:

- Куда вы идёте сегодня вечером?
- Where are you going this evening?
- Я иду на концерт/домой.
- I am going to a concert/home.

Ходить is used for frequent movement, and for more than one direction. You will often use this when talking about the past (since you have been in at least two directions - there and back!), e.g.:

Я часто хожу в театр.
I often go to the theater.
Вчера я ходила на Дядю Ваню.
Yesterday I went to Uncle Vanya (and came back again).

The same principle applies to ехать (like идти) and ездить (like ходить). Here are some examples:

Она обычно ездит на работу на метро,
She normally goes to work by subway,
но сегодня она едет на автобусе.
but today she is going by bus.
Он обычно ходит в магазин утром,
Не normally goes to the shop in the morning,
но сегодня он идёт в магазин вечером.
but today he is going to the shop in the evening.

The future tense

Only the single-direction verbs идти and ехать have perfective forms which are used in the future:

идти —› пойти (я пойду I will go, ты пойдёшь you will go)
ехать —› поехать (я поеду I will go by vehicle, ты поедешь you will go by vehicle)

После работы я пойду в кафе.
After work I’ll go to a café.

Летом мы поедем на юг.
In summer we'll go south.

Very often, however, the present tense (идти and ехать only) is used even when you are talking about the future, e.g.:

я иду завтра на концерт.
I'm going to a concert tomorrow.

The past tense

Both пойти and поехать can be used in the past also, but they imply that the action is still in effect.

Где Тоша? - Он поехал в Англию. He's gone to England.

The past of пойти is rather irregular: он пошёл, она пошла, они пошли:

Где Лара? - Она пошла на работу. She's gone to work.

Compare:

Володи нет дома. Он пошёл на работу.
Volodya isn't here. He's gone to work.
Таня, где ты была? - Я ходила на рынок.
Tanya, where were you? - I went to the market (- but obviously I've come back!).
Здравствуй, Сева! Я думал, что ты поехал в Клин.
Hello, Syeva! I thought you'd gone to Klin (i.e. I didn't expect to see you here).
Здравствуй. Нет, я ездил в Клин в понедельник.
Hello. No, I went to Klin (and returned) on Monday.

10. Fill in the missing verbs in the following sentences.

New words:
мамы нет дома mother's not at home
озеро Байкал Lake Baikal

Read and understand

Read the following letters, written by some Russians who have recently returned from vacation. Find out how they like to spend their vacation, what they are interested in. Imagine the sort of vacation you would pick and the letter you would write to them.

больше всего на свете more than anything
самое главное most important
здорово amazing

обязательно поезжайте! definitely go there!
догадаться to guess
Михайловское family estate of Alexsander Pushkin
леса и поля forests and fields
могила grave

Did you know

'Рукописи не горят' - 'Manuscripts don't burn'

These words, from Bulgakov’s novel The Master and Margarita (spoken by the Devil as he restores the master’s apparently destroyed novel), have taken on a particular resonance since the mid 1980s.

It is easy to understand why, if one looks back a little. From the days of the Russian tsars, the state has tried to control its writers and artists. In the Russian empire most 'dangerous' were those who called for political change or asserted nationalist claims. After the revolution, the net was widened. Particularly under Stalin thousands of writers and artists shared the fate of millions: arrest, torture, summary execution or labor camp. Writers had to be very careful, and often memorized works or entrusted them to friends.

After Stalin's death, most of those who had survived the camps were released. However, until well into the 1980s there were cases of writers being sent to labor camps or psychiatric hospitals.

Since about 1986 the situation has changed dramatically. All the works suppressed for many years have been published. Some of the greatest writers of the Soviet period have been 'returned' to the reading public: Mandel'shtam, Bulgakov, Platonov, Grossman, Solzhenitsyn, Pasternak and many many others.

This new freedom or гласность (openness) has not been confined to literature. For many years the mistakes of the past, social and economic problems and national conflict were simply denied. While there are people continuing to take this line, it has become possible to read truthful accounts, listen to hard-hitting speeches and form one’s own opinion. The process is continuing, and it is a painful one, but the change is marked: people now speak out, and believe that they have a right to be heard.

Your turn to speak

11. You have just returned from Russia. You'll want to tell your friends where you have been, what you did and generally share your impressions. You may want to look over the notes about the past tense in lesson 11. The following words and phrases will help you to begin, but there will be a lot of other things you will want to say!

Once you have tried it yourself, turn on your recording and hear how Sasha talks about his trip.