The Focus of this Lesson is on Saying "Could you...?" and Reflexive Verbs
Не могли бы вы подсказать, что для этого необходимо?
"Could you tell me what I need to do?"

In this lesson we're going to cover the very useful phrase "Could you ..." which you have probably learned in some of our previous series. Let me just quickly remind you. In Russian it would be Не могли бы вы..

Unlike in English, we put the verb мочь "can, could" in its negative form to make the phrase more polite. As you might see, the verb мочь is conjugated for the personal pronoun вы, plural "you" which is also the polite way to address people.

For example:

1. Не могли бы вы подсказать который час?
   "Could you tell me what time is it?"
2. Не могли бы вы повторить?
   "Could you repeat?"

The particle бы also adds politeness to the phrase. It represents an unreal condition implying the phrase "if it didn't bother you could you...."

We will touch upon the grammar for unreal conditions in the next lessons.

Now, let me give you more casual way to ask for a favor. We will use the same verb мочь but conjugated for the pronoun ты, "you" singular. It is Не мог бы ты... Here are some examples:

1. Не мог бы ты повторить?
   "Can you repeat?"
2. Не мог бы ты говорить погромче?
   "Can you speak louder?"

In the dialogue, we saw:

Не могли бы вы подсказать, что для этого необходимо? which means "Could you tell me what is needed?"

Reflexive Verbs in Russian

Reflexive verbs are used to indicate the concept of self in Russian. In our dialogue, we had three reflexive verbs: Записаться, Посоветоваться, Поинтересоваться. As you may notice, the ending ~ся is the same. This is the short way to write the pronoun себя ("self") in Russian. For example:

мыть "wash" - мыться "wash oneself"
одевать "dress" - одеваться "dress oneself"
увидеть "see" - увидеться  "see each other"

1. The first phrase is записаться в спортзал which means "sign up for a gym." Записаться is a reflexive verb in present perfect form. The stem of this word is an imperfect verb писать which means "write." The Prefix ЗА-makes the perfect form of the verb and adds a specific meaning: "make something in advance" or "begin doing something." It perfectly makes sense with our phrase записаться в спортзал. You sign up for a gym in advance and obviously for the first time, so you begin an action. Let's take a look at other examples of verbs with the prefix ЗА-:

1. Я запланировал поездку за город на выходные.
   "I planned a country trip for the weekends."
2. Публика зааплодировала после его выступления.
   "An audience gave him a round of applause after his performance."

The verbs запланировать "plan in advance" and зааплодировать "begin to applause" demonstrate the role of the prefix ЗА- added to imperfect verbs.

2. The next word is подсказать meaning "tell, give a hint, suggest." As you can see it has slightly different meanings. It is mostly used as a synonym of the verbs "recommend, advise, consult" but in most cases will be translated as the verb "tell" in English. For example:

1. Подскажите, что лучше выбрать.  
   "Tell me what to choose."
2. Он подсказал мне правильную тактику.  
   "He told me/advised me the correct strategy."

As in the previous example, the prefix ПОД- used with the verb СКАЗАТЬ literally "tell" in English add the meaning of incomplete action. So somebody is not fully telling you what to do, but giving you a hint or suggestion and leaving the right to make a final decision to you.

3. Our last word for this lesson is the verb поинтересоваться. The translation of this verb would be "ask" in English but this interpretation is "showing your interest in something." This verb also has a prefix, which is ПО-. The prefix ПО- express the start of an action within a certain period of time. So the prefix ПО- plus the verb поинтересоваться mean "being interested in something for a short period of time." Let me give you another example: the prefix ПО + the verb говорить "talk, tell" in general becomes ПОГОВОРИТЬ which means "talk for a little while". For example:

1. Я бы хотела поговорить с ним.
   "I would like to talk to him (quickly)."
2. Он сейчас не может говорить.
   "He cannot talk right now (he is probably to busy so he cannot talk at all even for a short time)."

Restoring Russia's Sports Glory

Sport in Russia is one of the most discussed topics. The government is focusing on bringing back sports culture to Russia. In the past, Russia was one of the strongest sport competitors in international competitions, but years of an unstable economic and political climate have sidelined sport and significantly dampened its development. Many professional sportsmen and trainers went abroad and are now representing other countries.

So now the Russian government, with the president Vladimir Putin who is a professional judo practitioner, is attempting to revive national sport programs and return Russia's former status of a sports leader in the world.