Getting what you want in shops

You will learn

• to ask for stamps, postcards and newspapers
• to inquire how much things cost
• to buy tickets for the opera
• to shop for groceries
• to ask for something cheaper, or in another language,

and you will find out about shopping in Russia

Label from the cake box "Love you".

Study guide

1. Lyena asks how much a stamp for a letter to England costs.

2. Lyena also needs some postcards

выбирайте [vybiraitye] choose
Спасская башня Кремля [Spasskaya bashnya Krimlya] Savior tower in the Kremlin

Practice what you have learned

1. Listen to the recording and then see if you can work out how much each customer spends in the post office. A little arithmetic is required!

2. On the "postcards" below, two vital details are missing: the name of the city from which they have been written and the name of the country to which they are being sent. Listen to the transactions in the post office and then fill in the gaps.

I. This is the Pecherskaya monastery

II. This is the 'Bronze Horseman'

III. This is the monument to Pushkin

3. Tanya has dropped into the hotel kiosk for a paper.

тогда [tagda] then, in that case
газета [gazyeta] newspaper

4. Still in the hotel, Tanya wants to buy tickets to the Bolshoi Theater

что вас интересует? [shto vas interisuyit?] what would you be interested in?
пожалуй, опера [pazhaluy, opera] perhaps opera
очень хорошо [ochin' kharasho] very good

Practice what you have learned

3. On your recording you will hear some hotel guests asking for newspapers and books in various languages. Listen, then decide whether the following statements are true or false.

4. The lady selling theatre tickets has developed an efficient system for recording tickets. Listen to your recording and fill in the number of tickets under the right day.

5. You want to buy two tickets to the Bolshoi, preferably to the opera. Read the program below, then let Andrei guide you.

5. Olya is buying some groceries

утром [utram] in the morning
масло [masla] butter

6. Olya goes to the cashier

7. And then back to the counter for her purchase.

чек [chek] the receipt you hand over at the counter in order to receive your purchase

8. Tamara is at the market and wants some tomatoes.

помидоры [pamidory] tomatoes. A single tomato is помидор [pamidor]

Now the exercises based on these dialogues.

Practice what you have learned

6. In the pictures below the names of the items have been omitted. If you listen to your recording, you will discover what they are.

a)		b)
20 копеек кг.		3 рубля кг.
c)		d)
3 рубля 70 копеек кг.		2 рубля 70 копеек кг.

7. The man selling tomatoes in the market was having quite a morning. One after another his customers made extra requests, until he was forced to make a list. But has he taken down all the requests correctly? Listen to your recording and pick out his mistakes.

8. You are buying some vegetables for dinner. And money is an object! Andrei will guide you.

Congratulations! When you have studied the five letters below, you will have completed your introduction to the Russian alphabet. Do not worry if you still find it difficult - and slow! - to read in Russian. Remember how hard it was at the beginning - you have come a long way since then!

So the last five letters are:

A few small but crucial words:

The following people played a role in Russian history:

And a role in Russian literature:

Билеты Tickets

Here are some of the posters you might see around theaters and cinemas in Russia. Do you know the works advertised?

Plural of nouns

Most of the nouns you have met so far in the plural have the ending -ы (sometimes spelled -и). This applies to both masculine and feminine nouns. Thus:

Neuter nouns, those nouns which end in -o or -e in the singular, normally end in -a or -я in the plural. For example:

There are of course exceptions to the above, but any irregularities will be noted in a dictionary. We will point out important ones along the way.

9. Complete the sentences below putting the noun in round brackets into the plural.

Did you know

The information is out of date!

The majority of visitors to the Russian Federation shop exclusively in 'Beryozka' shops, and at kiosks in their hotels. These shops accept only foreign currency, travelers' checks and credit cards. As you might expect, they stock the souvenirs traditionally popular among tourists: dolls, varnished boxes, vodka, caviare and, inevitably, fur hats. They also, however, have other items - foodstuffs, cosmetics, technical equipment etc. - which are not available for rubles. This strange situation has led, amongst other things, to a flourishing - and nasty - black market in foreign currency.

Such shops are convenient but since you are learning Russian, it seems safe to assume that you would like to see something of the life led by ordinary people in the Russian Federation, and, of course, practice your Russian!

In this lesson we have talked only about government-owned shops, leaving markets and the new cooperatives to Lesson 6. As you saw when Olya was buying groceries, there are at least two, sometimes three steps to making a purchase in a Russian shop. First you have what you want weighed and priced, then you pay the cashier, then finally you return to the counter with your receipt and take your purchase. Experienced shoppers, if they are sure that the product is available and that it won't have run out before they reach the front of the line, will generally dispense with the first step.

This rather cumbersome system has not created the chronic problems of shortages and lines, but it certainly increases the already considerable amount of time people spend each day doing shopping.

Your turn to speak

In the final exercise on your recording, you will be playing the role of a tourist in Moscow. You will need to use the following words and phrases:

сколько стоит...? [skol'ka stoit...?]
дайте, пожалуйста, ... [daitye, pazhalsta, ...]
на английском языке [na angleeskam yizikye]
один килограмм [adin kilagramm]
нет подешевле? [nyet padishevlye?]
персики [pyersiki] peaches
мандарины [mandariny] mandarins
помидоры [pamidory] tomatoes