Happy New Year! - С Новым годом!

С НОВЫМ ГОДОМ!  СЧАСТЬЯ И УДАЧИ! ...

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Hard and soft signs: grammar exercises

The previous post was about hard and soft signs: where and how should you use them. Do you want to practice? There are some simple exercises. The only thing that you should do is to put the right letter (Ь/Ъ) or skip it. Below the exercises you can find keys and check all words. The basic rules for hard and soft signs here  раз__яснение  в__юга  контр__удар  без__аварийный  мат__  отец__  свин__я  метел__  част__  с__ездит__  пред__явит__  брат__я  об__явление  двух__ярусный  Н__ю-Йорк  помощ__  с__экономит__  казн__  об__езд  сем__я Check...

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Pronunciation: hard and soft signs

There are two letters in the russian alphabet that don't have any sounds - the hard sign (твёрдый знак) and the soft sign (мягкий знак). In this post, I will try to explain you how do we use these letters without any sounds and how can we pronounce them. Ъъ - твёрдый знак  Ьь - мягкий знак  The hard sign  You have to use the hard sign Ъ for separating a prefix and a root of a word. In this case a prefix should finish with a consonant (for example, под-, из-, об-, с-) and a root should start with a vowel (only е, ё, ю or я)....

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Text: New Year in Russia

Only two days left before the biggest holiday in Russia - New Year. You can know more about it from a text in Russian that I've prepared for you. Look through the text carefully. There is a list of some words with translations below the text that should help you. The images in this post are old soviet postcards for New Year.  Новый год в России  Новый год в России - самый популярный праздник. Пожалуй, его любят и отмечают все: и дети, и взрослые. Готовиться к Новому году начинают...

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Pronunciation of consonants: hard and soft

The basic rules of pronunciation the russian letters are given in one of the fisrt my post - The Russian alphabet. Now I want to give you some advices how to pronounce soft and hard consonants. There are 20 consonants · 3 always soft: й, ч, щ; · 3 always hard: ж, ш, ц; · 14 could be hard or soft: б, в, г, д, з, к, л, м, н, п, р, с, т, ф, х. When consonants are hard? before a hard vowel: а, о, у, ы, э баржа, рот, пуля, пытка, мэр before a hard consonant: б, в, г, ж, ш, ц etc брод, пламя, окно, хвост at the end of a word стук,...

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Photo: Russian life. Pure morning after New Year's party

"Photo: Russian life" is a new tag in my blog. I will use it when I share my photos from different places in Russia. The first photo is about New Year, the biggest holiday in my country. To be more precise, I made this picture the day after New Year's party, on the 1st of January 2011, in Krasnoyarsk, my hometown. Usually almost everyone celebrates on the night between December and January, eats and drinks a lot. I like to go out early in the first morning of a year. There are almost no one on...

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How to say: Goodbye

Last week I wrote how to say "Hello" in Russian. If you missed this post or you want to repeat, click here. Now it's time to know how to say "Goodbye" in Russian. There are a lot of different phrases and words which you can use for farewell. I gathered some of them in the table below. Meaning How to say in Russian Goodbye! (formal terms) До свидания!  Bye! (informal terms) Пока!  Bye-bye! (informal terms) Пока-пока! Good night! Спокойной ночи! Доброй ночи! Have a good day! Приятного дня!  See you tomorrow! До завтра!  See...

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Russian traditions and music: New Year's song

There remain only 10 days before New Year. It's the biggest holiday in Russia, and it's very close to Christmas in USA and many european countries. Do you know that we don't celebrate Christmas? I mean, we celebrate, but another day (the 7th of January), because there is orthodox church in Russia and Gregorian calendar for relgious holidays. But we have Christmas tree (новогодняя ёлка), Santa Claus (Дед Мороз) and a lot of presents (новогодние подарки) at New Year (Новый год). Look at the video below. It's one of the famous New Year's song...

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Pronunciation of vowels: е, ё, ю, я

The basic rules of pronunciation the russian letters are given in one of the fisrt my post - The Russian alphabet. Now I want to give you more about specific russian sounds - pronunciation of vowels. There are 10 vowels   But for describing pronunciation four of them (е, ё, ю, я) we use the term yotation.   Yotation is a form of palatalization which occurs in Slavic langaguges. Following the rules, we yotate the letters е, ё, ю, я: at the beginning of a word; when they follow a vowel; when they follow...

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How to say: Colors in Russian

As you remember I'm gathering useful phrases and good words that we use many times in everyday life. I believe that you've already known how to say "Hello" and 15 everyday expressions. Today I want to teach you how to say different colors in Russian. Look at the picture below. Colors in Russian How to use colors in sentences? Go through examples below and try to do exercises. Моя машина красная. - My car is red. Я не люблю черный цвет. - I don't like black color. На работу я не...

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How to say: 15 everyday expressions

We, Russians, we are like the other nations. In everyday life we use everyday expressions as everyone does: yes, no, OK, please etc. Are you ready to know how to say it in Russian? 15 EVERYDAY EXPRESSIONS IN RUSSIAN Yes. Да. No. Нет. OK. Хорошо. Really? Точно? или Да? Please. Пожалуйста. Thank you. Спасибо. Thank you very much. Спасибо большое. You are welcome. Пожалуйста. I don’t know. Я не знаю. I think so. Думаю, да. I don’t think so. Я так не думаю. Are you sure? Ты уверен? или Вы уверены? Maybe. Возможно. или Может быть. Of...

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Simple texts un Russian: Мне нравится моя работа

There are two new tags - reading and simple texts in Russian. I will use them for marking interestinf russian texts and exercises that connect to them. Read simple russian texts. МНЕ НРАВИТСЯ МОЯ РАБОТА Меня зовут Мария Васильева, я работаю секретарём в большой компании. Моя работа очень интересная. В понедельник я не работаю, потому что в этот день общегосударственный праздник. Во вторник я не работаю, потому что болею. В среду я не работаю, потому что мой муж болеет. В четверг я не...

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How to say: Useful russian words and phrases for every day

I want to introduce the new category that I'm going to use often - How to say. There will be useful phrases and words in Russian that you can use in everyday life in any kind of situations. The topic for today - How to say "Hello". Remember that in Russian it's very important do you know or not that person and how good do you know each other. We use ты if we know that person good, and we use вы if we do not that person good.  There are different ways to greet people. Meaning Greeting...

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The Russian alphabet

Probably you've already known that the Russian alphabet is not same as English, Spanish, Swedish and other latin languages. And probably you think that some letters (or all of them?) look wierd and it's almost impossible to understand and remember how you must pronounce and read them. But don't worry. It's more easier that you think. Especially if you compare it with other parts of Russian grammar which really are difficult, even for native Russians. The Russian alphabet is based on the old...

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Let's study Russian!

Hi! My name is Polina. And now I'm typing the fisrt post in my new blog that is about learning Russian. I'm going to add new posts several days a week. They won't be only about boring grammar. There will be texts in Russian, new good words, useful tips and advices, facts about Russia. But they will about (sometimes boring, yeah...) grammar also. I want to convint you that Russian is fun and easy. Believe me. And let's study Russian! PS. If you want to know more about me and this blog, go to "Abou...

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