Learn how to use Russian pronouns in the dative case, and refresh yourself on the Russian nominative case pronouns
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Anna: [Здравствуй Прага, меня зовут Анна.] |
| Eric: Eric here. Beginner Series Season 1, Lesson 21 – “Russian pronouns. Could we make them any easier?” Hi, my name is Eric and I'm joined here by… |
| Anna: [Анна] |
| Eric: [Привет, Анна] |
| Anna: [Привет, Эрик] |
| Eric: [Всё хорошо?] |
| Anna: [Всё отлично. Как у тебя?] |
| Eric: [Тоже отлично.] |
| Anna: Hello everyone and welcome back to RussianPod101.com |
| Eric: In the previous lesson, we focused on the Russian New Year. |
| Anna: In this lesson, we will continue with the New Year theme and learn a few new important verbs. |
| Eric: This conversation takes place on the phone. |
| Anna: And this conversation is between James and Tania. |
| Eric: The speakers are friends, therefore the speakers will be speaking informally. |
| Anna: Reinforce what you’ve learned by using the flashcards in the Learning Center. |
| Eric: There is a reason we’ve all used flash cards at some point in our studies. The bottom line is they work. |
| Anna: They really do help with memorization and that’s why we’ve made them part of the core curriculum at RussianPod101.com |
| Eric: Ok, let’s listen to today’s conversation. I’ll be playing James. |
| Anna: And I will be playing Tania. |
| Eric: Ok, here we go. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Eric: [Катя и Макс пригласили меня на новый год, и я не знаю, что им подарить.] |
| Anna: [Хмм, Кате можешь подарить фильм, ей нравятся комедии.] |
| Eric: [А Максу?] |
| Anna: [Ему больше нравятся боевики.] |
| Eric: Once again, slowly. |
| Anna: Еще раз, медленнее. |
| Eric: [Катя и Макс пригласили меня на новый год, и я не знаю, что им подарить.] |
| Anna: [Хмм, Кате можешь подарить фильм, ей нравятся комедии.] |
| Eric: [А Максу?] |
| Anna: [Ему больше нравятся боевики.] |
| Eric: One time, natural native speed with translation. |
| Anna: Еще раз, с переводом. |
| Anna: [Катя и Макс пригласили меня на новый год, и я не знаю, что им подарить.] |
| Eric: Katia and Max have invited me to their New Year’s party and I don’t know what to get them. |
| Anna: [Кате можешь подарить фильм, ей нравятся комедии.] |
| Eric: You can get a movie for Katia. She likes comedies. |
| Anna: [А Максу?] |
| Eric: And Max? |
| Anna: [Ему больше нравятся боевики.] |
| Eric: He prefers action films. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: So Anna, [Что можно подарить на Новый год?] What kind of gifts are acceptable for New Year’s? |
| Anna: To whom, Eric? |
| Eric: Well, to friends, family members… |
| Anna: Oh, Eric, basically you would present something that they want to get. So for example, if you know that your mother wants a new silk scarf, you would buy a scarf for her. Or say your friend is dreaming about new car, you might think buying him this car. At least a model. |
| Eric: You mean like a matchbox car? |
| Anna: Yes. |
| Eric: At Toys”R”US? |
| Anna: Yeah. Good joke is always welcome. |
| Eric: So hopefully your friends and family’s tastes are not expensive. Like if they want Louis Vuitton, you may have to go to a black market and buy a knock-off version cause… |
| Anna: Well, this is not an obligation to buy something, you know, that they want. But still you might think of buying something they would like to get. |
| Eric: Well, what about making something? Like creative. For example, a poem or making a scarf if you know how to saw. |
| Anna: Yeah, of course, it would be more than welcome, I think. Actually, in my family, when I was a kid, I was preparing for the New Year party like in advance, I was making some presents for all my family members. |
| Eric: What did you make them, Anna? |
| Anna: Oh, something like scarfs for my mom and my grandma, and you know. Different things that I could make. |
| Eric: That’s nice. |
| Anna: Yeah. |
| Eric: Excellent. [Здорово] Alright. Now let’s go on to vocabulary and phrases for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Eric: Our first word is… |
| Anna: [подарить] |
| Eric: To give as a gift. |
| Anna: [подарить] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Anna: [боевик] |
| Eric: An action film. |
| Anna: [боевик] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Anna: [комедия] |
| Eric: A comedy. |
| Anna: [комедия] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Anna: [нравиться] |
| Eric: To like. |
| Anna: [нравиться] |
| Eric: Next |
| Anna: [фильм] |
| Eric: A film or a movie. |
| Anna: [фильм] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Eric: Ok, let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Anna: Ok, the first words we’ll look at are [комедия] and [боевик]. Eric, do you know what this means? |
| Eric: Film genres, Anna. Yeah, I remember when I went to see a Russian [комедия], but I fell asleep because they were speaking so fast. And I still don’t get Russian humor, I think it’s one of the hardest things to translate is humor in another language. I remember sitting around with my host family watching comedy variety shows. My host family in stitches and I was just sitting there going “What is so funny?” Right? It’s political, it’s historical… |
| Anna: Yeah. |
| Eric: And I didn’t get a lot of the references. So I think that’s why I fell asleep. What’s your favorite type of film, Anna? |
| Anna: Ok. [Я люблю комедии] I love comedies. And I also like adventure movies like Indiana Jones, for example. What about you, Eric? |
| Eric: Well, I like drama and soap operas. Some of the Russian soap operas like [Бригада]. |
| Anna: Really? |
| Eric: Do you know this? |
| Anna: Yeah, I know. |
| Eric: [Поехали] “Let’s go.” They always say that. [Поехали] It was about the rise of [Белый]. Remember [Белый]? |
| Anna: [Белый]. Sasha [Белый]. |
| Eric: Yeah. He left the military and then with his [бригада] or band or gang or… |
| Anna: Band. |
| Eric: Band, they became mobsters, right? |
| Anna: Yeah. |
| Eric: It was a great series. I think pretty popular in Russian, yeah? |
| Anna: It was actually very popular in Russia. |
| Eric: Yeah, so I like that. I thought that was pretty cool. |
| Anna: I see. So I think it was a good practice of Russian for you. |
| Eric: Yeah, I think movies and films, even gangster ones are really good practice to learn slang and how Russians really speak. |
| Anna: That’s right, Eric. Thanks. [Спасибо] |
| Eric: [Не за что]. [Поехали] Onto grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Eric: So for our first grammar point, I’d like to look at what James says in the dialogue. Anna, can you say the line? |
| Anna: OK. He says [Я не знаю, что им подарить]. |
| Eric: Ok. Can we break that down? |
| Anna: OK. [Я] |
| Eric: I. |
| Anna: [не] |
| Eric: Don’t. |
| Anna: [знаю] |
| Eric: Know. |
| Anna: [что] |
| Eric: What. |
| Anna: [им] |
| Eric: Them. |
| Anna: [подарить] |
| Eric: “To give as a present”. So “I don’t know what to them,” right? [им] is like “to them” and [подарить] is “to…” |
| Anna: To present. |
| Eric: “To give as a present”. Or “I don’t know what to get them”. |
| Anna: Exactly. |
| Eric: Ok. So what is [им] here? |
| Anna: [им] is an example of the dative case here. |
| Eric: And when do you use the dative case, Anna? |
| Anna: Just to remind our listeners, the dative case is mainly used to indicate the indirect object of an action, for example the person to whom we give something. |
| Eric: So if I said “He gave me the book,” how would you say that in Russian? |
| Anna: [Он дал мне книгу] |
| Eric: [он] is “he”. |
| Anna: He. |
| Eric: [дал] “gave”. [мне] is an example of dative case, right? |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: To me. |
| Anna: To me. |
| Eric: And then [книгу] is “the book”, so “the book” is the direct object and [мне], we are receiving the action. |
| Anna: Yes. |
| Eric: “The book to me.” Ok, great. So Anna, now let’s go over how the personal pronouns, in Russian, change in the dative case. So I'm going to say the English, you say the Russian. |
| Anna: Ok. |
| Eric: For the regular or nominative case. “I”. |
| Anna: [я] |
| Eric: You – informal. |
| Anna: [ты] |
| Eric: We. |
| Anna: [мы] |
| Eric: You – formal. |
| Anna: [вы] |
| Eric: He. |
| Anna: [он] |
| Eric: She. |
| Anna: [она] |
| Eric: They. |
| Anna: [они]. |
| Eric: Ok, Anna. So now let’s compare the nominative with the dative case. Can you show how the pronouns change in the dative case, Anna? |
| Anna: Ok, sure. |
| Eric: I. |
| Anna: [я] becomes [мне]. |
| Eric: You – informal. |
| Anna: [ты] becomes [тебе]. |
| Eric: We. |
| Anna: [мы] becomes [нам]. |
| Eric: You – formal. |
| Anna: [вы] becomes [вы]. |
| Eric: He. |
| Anna: [он] becomes [ему]. |
| Eric: She. |
| Anna: [она] becomes [ей]. |
| Eric: They. |
| Anna: [они] becomes [им]. |
| Eric: So let’s have just a few examples of these pronouns. How would you say “She likes comedies,” in Russian, Anna? |
| Anna: [Ей нравятся комедии] |
| Eric: Ok. And that was right from our dialogue, right? |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: And how would you say “He prefers or he likes action films more”? |
| Anna: It’s also from our dialogue. |
| Eric: Right. |
| Anna: [Ему больше нравятся боевики] |
| Eric: Could you say that one more time a little bit slower? |
| Anna: [Ему больше нравятся боевики] |
| Eric: Ok. So you could translate that as [ему] “to him”, [больше] “more”, [нравятся] “like” or “appeal”, [боевики] or “action films”. “Action films appeal more to him”. [Ему] |
| Anna: Exactly, Eric. |
| Eric: Ok. Or, in English, “He likes action films more.” Ok. So to say “I like something” you use the pronoun or noun in the dative case, plus [нравится], plus the object in the nominative case. |
| Anna: I would like to give an example here, Eric. |
| Eric: Yeah, that was a bit confusing, eh? |
| Anna: Yeah, but actually it’s very helpful. So for example, to say “I like coffee”, you need “I” in the dative case, which is equal to [мне], plus [нравится] in the right form, plus the object, “coffee”. And you have [Мне нравится кофе]. |
| Eric: “I like coffee.” |
Outro |
| Eric: Ok, great. For more information, please check out the PDF file for this lesson. Ok, be sure to use the line by line audio in the Learning Center. The conversations are broken down into comprehensible, bite-sized sentences you can listen to at your own convenience. Simply click on the flash button and listen to recordings of native Russians again and again until every word and syllable becomes clear. It’s the perfect complement to the voice recording tool. And Anna, I think that’s just about going to do it for today. |
| Anna: Thank you, Eric. [Спасибо, Эрик] |
| Eric: [Спасибо тебе] Thank you. |
| Anna: [тебе] is also example for dative case. |
| Eric: Oh, there you go. [спасибо тебе] “Thanks to you.” |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: Dative case, it’s everywhere. |
| Anna: Watch out. |
| Eric: Ok. See you next time. |
| Anna: [До встречи] |
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