Learn Russian from the beginning! Lesson Nine

You will learn

• to ask how to get to places outside the city
• to buy train and plane tickets
• to ask for information about departure times, where to go, etc.
• to rent a car

and you will read about travel within the Russian Federation.

Study guide

1. Tamara wants to know how to get to Zagorsk.

Загорск or, since 1991, Сергиев Посад, a small city outside Moscow, containing a monastery which many consider the spiritual center of the Russian Orthodox Church
лучше всего best of all

Practice what you have learned

1. Below is a diagram showing five of Moscow's railway stations and the directions in which they face. Underneath is a jumbled list of cities which one can reach from these stations. After reading it, listen carefully to the dialogues and fill in the city which each arrow is pointing towards.

2. You will be trying to get to one of the above places. Listen to Andrei's prompts.

2. At the station Tamara buys a ticket to Zagorsk.

будьте любезны please, be so kind
только only

3. She asks a young woman when the next train will be.

Practice what you have learned

3. Three friends went on daytrips out of Moscow. Well, they were supposed to be daytrips... However, only one bought a round-trip ticket, and the others were stranded. Listen to your recording, then write down what each asked for.

4. Below are signs above tracks in a Moscow railway station. Only the destination is shown. If you listen carefully to the following snatches of conversation, you should be able to add the time of departure and the track.

5. You are a tourist wanting to go to Vladimir. As usual, Andrei will guide you.

4. Ira is at the Aeroflot desk of her hotel booking a flight.

к сожалению [ksazhalyen'yu / ksazhalyeniyu] unfortunately

5. Maybe there are seats for the day after tomorrow?

один момент one moment
касса рядом the cashier is at the next desk
уплатите, пожалуйста, за билет pay (there) please for the ticket
всего наилучшего all the best
счастливого полёта! have a good flight!

Practice what you have learned

6. The Aeroflot assistant has a list of flights still available, with a note of how many tickets are available on each. Listen to your recording. Cross out any flights on your list which are now fully booked. Read just the number of seats available after all three customers have been served.

7. You will be buying tickets for flights to Moscow. Listen to Andrei for full details.

6. At her hotel Tanya asks about renting a car.

я рекомендую вам... I recommend...
плюс три доллара страховка плюс бензин plus 3 dollars insurance, plus gasoline

7. Tanya will take it.

это меня устраивает that suits me
права driver's licence (plural in Russian)
в нашем гараже in our garage
приходите ещё come again

Practice what you have learned

8. In the dialogue below Oleg is looking for a small car. Certain key words have been left out and are jumbled up in the box below. Listen to your recording, then fill in the gaps.

9. You are a visitor to Moscow on a fairly limited budget. You will be practicing asking for different sizes of car, saying how long you need the car for and asking the crucial question about cost.

Verbs

Russian verbs have six different endings depending on who is performing the action. There are patterns which you can follow in order to work out the ending for a verb you have never seen before. The first type of verb 'conjugates' (changes its endings) like the verb знать (to know):

The verbs завтракать (to have breakfast), обедать (to have lunch), ужинать (to have dinner) conjugate in this way, as does the important verb понимать (to understand).

There are also many verbs whose infinitives end in -еть or -ить. Most of these will conjugate like говорить (to speak):

Here are three important verbs that follow the same pattern:
смотреть (to look, watch)
стоить (to cost)
помнить (to remember)

A word of warning: You can’t be sure that a verb will follow the above patterns. There are quite a lot of irregular verbs which unfortunately just have to be learned.

10. Write in the correct forms of the verbs in parentheses.

New words:
дома at home
вечером in the evening

Read and understand

11. Nina has come to the Russian Federation determined to see places with which her favorite writers were connected. So she tells the Intourist guide, whose itinerary goes nowhere near those places! Undeterred, Nina finds the necessary timetables and proves to her guide that her plans are quite feasible. What will her revised program look like?

New words:
прибытие arrival
отправление departure
утром in the morning

Here are the various possibilities Nina noted from the timetables, before she'd seen the Intourist program.

Михайловское - the estate of the great Russian poet Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin.
Царское Село - home of the famous Lycee at which Pushkin and some other poets of the time studied.
Ясная Поляна - estate of Leo Tolstoy.

Did you know

How Russian people travel

The number of private car owners in the Russian Federation is relatively low (not now!). Many Russian-made cars such as Lada are easier and much cheaper to buy abroad than in their country of origin! It should not, however, be assumed that the roads are correspondingly safer. They are not! The number of accidents per year is quite disproportionate to the number of cars on the road.

Most people use trains and airplanes when traveling long distances. A train journey over one or two days can be a very enjoyable way of meeting Russian people in a relaxed environment. Travelers generally change into comfortable casual clothing and bring bagloads of provisions, as well as cards or chess to while away the time.

Particularly over the summer months it can be quite difficult to obtain tickets. This is nothing, however, in comparison with the problems involved in getting airplane tickets. Branches of Aeroflot frequently have lines overflowing into the street, while even a ticket in hand by no means guarantees that you will fly on the day and time designated.

Russian people have necessarily become hardened to such difficulties, and are seldom deterred from travelling.

Travel abroad

Until recently this was merely a dream for all but a privileged few. People quite simply did not have international passports. To obtain one required a 'good' reason for traveling and political 'reliability'. There would also be a stream of bureaucratic demands. The authorities could — and did — refuse people without providing any reason.

The end of the 1980s saw an increase in the number of people granted visas, and a new law which came into effect in January 1993 affirms the right of all citizens to an international passport.

Your turn to speak

12. Beiow is a map of the Russian Federation. We have marked certain famous places, though you may of course be interested in visiting others. The itinerary this time is in your hands! Before turning on the recording, work out where you wish to go, then try organizing your trip. You will need to ask how to get to places, buy tickets, find out about the next train, flight etc. You may also want to rent a car. And of course you will have to convince Intourist that you know what you are doing!

Here are some useful phrases:

как доехать до...? how does one get to...?
у вас есть билеты до...? do you have tickets to...?
на завтра? / на послезавтра? for tomorrow? / for the day after tomorrow?
один билет до..., пожалуйста one ticket to..., please
туда и обратно there and back
у вас можно взять напрокат машину? can I rent a car here?
я хочу маленькую машину I want a small car
я хочу доехать до... I'd like to get to...
надо купить... / взять напрокат... I have to buy... /rent...