Learn how to use direct speech in Russian sentences
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Gina: Hello everyone and welcome to RussianPod101.com. This is Upper Beginner, Season 1, Lesson 21 - Will You Do Whatever it Takes in Russia? I’m Gina. |
| Svetlana: And I’m Svetlana. |
| Gina: In this lesson you’ll learn about direct speech in Russian sentences. And we’ll also listen to Elena’s husband trying to make up for drinking too much on the weekend. |
| Svetlana: The conversation is between Elena and her husband, and it takes place in their home. |
| Gina: The speakers are a married couple so they’ll be using informal Russian. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Husband: Ну, не обижайся, дорогая. Хочешь я тебе куплю новое платье? |
| Elena: Нет, спасибо. |
| Husband: Ну, проси всё, что хочешь. |
| Elena: Я хочу, чтобы ты пошёл со мной в спортзал. Хватит уже просиживать свою молодость на диване. Я познакомлю тебя с моим тренером, и он разработает для тебя комплекс упражнений. Уверена, тебе понравится. |
| Husband: Ты же знаешь, что мне некогда, и я очень устаю на работе. |
| Elena: Времени у тебя достаточно.Ты же можешь выделить час в день на свою любимую жену. Тем более ты сам сказал: "Проси, что хочешь". |
| Husband: Ну хорошо. Я согласен. |
| Husband: Nu, ne obizhaysya, dorogaya. Khochesh' ya tebe kuplyu novoye plat'ye? |
| Elena: Net, spasibo. |
| Husband: Nu, prosi vsyo, chto khochesh'. |
| Elena: Ya khochu, chtoby ty poshyol so mnoy v sportzal. Khvatit uzhe prosizhivat' svoyu molodost' na divane. YA poznakomlyu tebya s moim trenerom, i on razrabotayet dlya tebya kompleks uprazhneniy. Uverena, tebe ponravitsya. |
| Husband: Ty zhe znayesh', shto mne nekogda, i ya ochen' ustayu na rabote. |
| Elena: Vremeni u tebya dostatochno.Ty zhe mozhesh' vydelit' chas v den' na svoyu lyubimuyu zhenu. Tem boleye ty sam skazal: "Prosi, chto khochesh'". |
| Husband: Nu khorosho. Ya soglasen. |
| Husband: Come on dear, don't be mad at me. Do you want me to buy you a new dress? |
| Elena: No, thank you. |
| Husband: You can ask for whatever you want. |
| Elena: I want you to come with me to the gym. Enough wasting your time on the couch. I'll introduce my trainer to you and he'll work out a workout program for you. I'm sure you'll like it. |
| Husband: You know I don't have time and I am always tired after work. |
| Elena: You have enough time. Can't you find an hour a day for your wife? And after all, you said "Ask whatever you want," right? |
| Husband: Okay, I'll agree to it. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Gina: Elena is a very persistent lady, huh? She managed to talk her husband into working out. Well done. |
| Svetlana: Yeah, but it’s partially because he felt guilty for wasting a weekend trip by drinking too much and complaining about his hangover the next day. |
| Gina: That’s true. Men can become very obedient when they feel guilty! |
| Svetlana: (laughs) especially in Russia. So if a Russian man gives his wife a present all of a sudden, he should also be ready to give an explanation about what the present is for. |
| Gina: Really? So I guess, they have only two options in order not to be suspected of anything - give presents all the time, or don’t make any mistakes. |
| Svetlana: (laughs) I like it. But if the woman really likes the present, she’ll probably pretend that she doesn’t have any suspicions. |
| Gina: Ok, so men have three options then. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Gina: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is... |
| Svetlana: обижаться [natural native speed] |
| Gina: to get offended |
| Svetlana: обижаться [slowly - broken down by syllable] обижаться [natural native speed] |
| Gina: Next |
| Svetlana: просиживать [natural native speed] |
| Gina: to spend time, to waste time |
| Svetlana: просиживать [slowly - broken down by syllable] просиживать [natural native speed] |
| Gina: Next |
| Svetlana: молодость [natural native speed] |
| Gina: youth |
| Svetlana: молодость [slowly - broken down by syllable] молодость [natural native speed] |
| Gina: Next |
| Svetlana: диван [natural native speed] |
| Gina: couch |
| Svetlana: диван [slowly - broken down by syllable] диван [natural native speed] |
| Gina: Next |
| Svetlana: познакомить [natural native speed] |
| Gina: to introduce |
| Svetlana: познакомить [slowly - broken down by syllable] познакомить [natural native speed] |
| Gina: Next |
| Svetlana: разработать [natural native speed] |
| Gina: to work out, to design |
| Svetlana: разработать [slowly - broken down by syllable] разработать [natural native speed] |
| Gina: Next |
| Svetlana: некогда [natural native speed] |
| Gina: no time |
| Svetlana: некогда [slowly - broken down by syllable] некогда [natural native speed] |
| Gina: Next |
| Svetlana: уставать [natural native speed] |
| Gina: to get tired |
| Svetlana: уставать [slowly - broken down by syllable] уставать [natural native speed] |
| Gina: Next |
| Svetlana: выделять [natural native speed] |
| Gina: to find (time) |
| Svetlana: выделять [slowly - broken down by syllable] выделять [natural native speed] |
| Gina: And last... |
| Svetlana: согласиться [natural native speed] |
| Gina: to agree |
| Svetlana: согласиться [slowly - broken down by syllable] согласиться [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Gina: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Svetlana: The first keyword is a verb, просиживать. |
| Gina: This verb was used in the dialogue and translated as “to waste time”. But the literal translation of this verb is “to sit down for some time” or “to spend some time sitting”. However, this verb is mostly used figuratively, meaning “to waste time” or “to sit without doing anything in particular”. For example, |
| Svetlana: Я все выходные просидела перед телевизором. |
| Gina: “I spent my whole weekend in front of the TV.” |
| Svetlana: This verb is derived from the verb сидеть which means “to sit”. The prefix ПРО- adds a specific meaning to this verb, “spending some time over something”. But it should be used only in casual settings. For example, |
| Я просидел всю прошлую неделю за написанием этого доклада. |
| Gina: “I spent all of last week completing this report.” |
| Okay what’s the next word? |
| Svetlana: The next one is an adverb, некогда |
| Gina: meaning “no time”. For example |
| Svetlana: Мне некогда сегодня гулять, потому что надо готовиться к экзаменам. |
| Gina: “I have no time to go out today because I have to prepare for my exam.” |
| Svetlana: Let’s break down this adverb. The negative particle не- means “no”, and the interrogative когда means “when”. |
| Gina: Since this interrogative is always used to ask about time, it’s very easy to remember that this adverb has something to do with time. |
| But this adverb has another meaning which is a bit outdated, and rarely used in everyday conversation. It means “happened sometime in the past” or “used to be”. For example |
| Svetlana: Он некогда был очень знаменит в этой стране. |
| Gina: “He used to be very popular in this country.” |
| Okay, and what’s the last key word for this lesson? |
| Svetlana: The last one is the verb выделять |
| Gina: It can be translated as “to find” or “to take” time or attention. |
| Svetlana: It’s derived from the verb делать, which means “to make”or “to create”. |
| Gina: Oh, so it’s easy to remember “to make time”. |
| Svetlana: Right. Let me give you an example |
| Не могли бы вы выделить немного вренени и прорепетировать свою речь для выступления? |
| Gina: “Could you find some time to rehearse your lines before the speech?” |
| Okay, now let’s move onto the grammar. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Gina: In this lesson, you’ll learn about direct speech in Russian sentences. We’ll also talk about how to refer to somebody’s words and put them nicely into sentences using the right punctuation. |
| Svetlana: We had a sentence with direct speech in our dialogue, remember? Let me remind you. |
| Тем более ты сам сказал: "Проси, что хочешь". |
| Gina: “And after all, you said “Ask for whatever you want”, right?” |
| Elena referred to her husband’s words when he was about to turn down her idea to go to the gym together. |
| Svetlana: Right! Let me give you another example of direct speech in Russian. |
| Мама сказала (colon) “Сейчас же помой руки”. |
| Gina: “Mom said, ‘Wash your hands right now!’” |
| In written Russian, you should always enclose direct speech in quotation marks. Also, we need to add a colon if the speaker’s words are put before the direct speech, and a dash if they come after the direct speech. Please have a look at the lesson notes to get a clear understanding of how it should look. |
| Svetlana: Right. Unlike in regular sentences, we don’t need any conjunctions or prepositions to connect the speaker’s words and direct speech. Let’s compare. |
| Учитель сказал (colon) “Сдайте ваши доклады до пятницы”. |
| Gina: “The teacher said, ‘Submit your report by Friday.’” |
| Svetlana: and here is another one with a preposition |
| Учитель сказал, чтобы мы сдали наши доклады до пятницы. |
| Gina: “The teacher said that we should submit our reports by Friday.” |
| Svetlana: Do you see how it works? We used the preposition чтобы, meaning “that”, to refer to the teacher’s words. In direct speech sentences we don’t need it. |
| Gina: Be careful not to mistake direct speech for a citation, as it may look very similar. We usually quote well-known expressions, proverbs, or lines from books and movies, so it’s used not as direct speech but more like a statement. For example, |
| Svetlana: Нам известно, кто есть кто, так что не пытайтесь нас обмануть. |
| Gina: “We know who’s who, so don’t try to trick us.” |
| Here is another example- |
| Svetlana: Высказыванию Владимира Маяковского «любовная лодка разбилась о быт» уже много лет, но оно всё так же актуально. |
| Gina: “The quote by Vladimir Mayakovsky, ‘Love's boat has been shattered against the life of everyday.’ has been around for a long time but it is still topical.” |
| Okay! Don’t forget to check the lesson notes for more explanations and examples for this lesson. |
Outro |
|---|
| Gina: That’s it for this lesson, everyone! See you next time. |
| Svetlana: Пока-пока! |
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