Learn the difference between the Russian prepositional case and the Russian accusative case
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Eric here. Beginner Series Season 1, Lesson 9 – “How much does it cost to stay out of jail in Russia?” |
| Anna: Hello everyone and welcome back to RussianPod101.com |
| Eric: With us, you’ll learn to speak Russian like a native. |
| Anna: We also provide you with cultural insights and tips you won’t find in a textbook. |
| Eric: In our previous lesson, we looked at how to ask for directions. |
| Anna: The focus of this lesson adds on to beginner lesson one and will help you to talk with Russian officials. |
| Eric: This conversation takes place in an underpass in the Moscow metro. |
| Anna: The conversation is between James Johnson and a police officer. |
| Eric: The speakers don’t know each other and so they will be speaking formal Russian. |
| Anna: Let’s listen to today’s conversation. |
| Eric: Ok, I will be James again and… Anna? |
| Anna: I’ll play police officer. It’s a nice role. |
| Eric: Ok, here we go. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Anna: [Ваши документы, пожалуйста.] |
| Eric: [Вот, пожалуйста.] |
| Anna: [Почему у вас нет регистрации?] |
| Eric: [Я только что приехал в Москву. Я ещё не был в гостинице.] |
| Eric: One time, slowly. |
| Anna: Еще раз, медленнее. |
| Anna: [Ваши документы, пожалуйста.] |
| Eric: [Вот, пожалуйста.] |
| Anna: [Почему у вас нет регистрации?] |
| Eric: [Я только что приехал в Москву. Я ещё не был в гостинице.] |
| Eric: One time, natural native speed with translation. |
| Anna: Еще раз, с переводом. |
| Anna: [Ваши документы, пожалуйста.] |
| Eric: Your papers, please. |
| Anna: [Вот, пожалуйста.] |
| Eric: Here you are. |
| Anna: [Почему у вас нет регистрации?] |
| Eric: Why haven’t you registered your Visa? |
| Anna: [Я только что приехал в Москву. Я ещё не был в гостинице.] |
| Eric: I’ve just arrived in Moscow. I haven’t been to the hotel yet. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: Anna, James just got to Russia and he’s already in trouble with the police? Is James a bad boy? |
| Anna: Who knows, but in reality you don’t need to be a bad boy to be stopped by the police officer in Moscow. |
| Eric: So should tourists expect to be stopped by the police when they go to Russia? How about in a Russian speaking country like Uzbekistan? |
| Anna: I think it’s better to be prepared. Not only tourists, but also Russians are stopped sometimes. |
| Eric: I guess it depends on what you’re doing, but imagine you’re just walking in the metro station. Should one expect to be treated fairly by the police if one doesn’t speak Russian? |
| Anna: You know, I was stopped by the police once when I was in Moscow. And believe me, I speak Russian. My problem was I didn’t have my passport with me. So my advice for everyone who is going to Russia, keep your passport with you all the time you go out. |
| Eric: Good advice, Anna, and we also want to mention that the police aren’t that scary, right? |
| Anna: No, they are not. |
| Eric: No, you probably won’t encounter any major problems. |
| Anna: You probably won’t have any problems. We’re only mentioning this as a precautionary measure. |
| Eric: Thanks, Anna. Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Eric: First word is… |
| Anna: [гостиница] |
| Eric: Hotel. |
| Anna: [гостиница] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Anna: [еще] |
| Eric: Yet, still. |
| Anna: [еще] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Anna: [приехать] |
| Eric: To arrive, to come. |
| Anna: [приехать] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Anna: [только что] |
| Eric: Just. |
| Anna: [только] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Anna: [регистрация] |
| Eric: Registration. |
| Anna: [регистрация] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Anna: [почему] |
| Eric: Why? |
| Anna: [почему] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Eric: Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Anna: The first word we’ll look at is [регистрация]. |
| Eric: Which means “registration”. |
| Anna: It’s a stamp which you must get within three days after you arrive in Russia. |
| Eric: So you can get it from the hotel when you check in. |
| Anna: [регистрация] can also mean “check in” in a hotel or airport. |
| Eric: Anna, can you give us an example of the second meaning of [регистрация]? |
| Anna: Yes, of course. Sometimes you can hear, at the airport example, announcement: [Пройдите на регистрацию]. |
| Eric: Which means? |
| Anna: “Please proceed to the check in.” |
| Eric: And what do you do there? |
| Anna: Proceed to the check in. |
| Eric: I know, but once you preceded… do you register, what do you do there? Do you give blood? |
| Anna: Eric, we are talking about airport, right? |
| Eric: Ok, but there’s a lot you can do at the airport these days. |
| Anna: Ok. I didn’t know you can do much. Ok. Usually I register myself before the flight, right? So you give the tickets and you… |
| Eric: That kind of… ok, I didn’t know what was going on here. |
| Anna: Ok. |
| Eric: Alright, we got it, we got it. Our next phrase is… |
| Anna: [только что] |
| Eric: Which means… |
| Anna: “Just” or “very little time ago”. |
| Eric: As in “just arrived”, right? |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: How would you say “I just arrived”? |
| Anna: Ok. So girls would say [Я только что приехала]. |
| Eric: And guys would say [Я только что приехал]. |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: Ok. Our next phrase is… |
| Anna: [еще] |
| Eric: Which means “still”, “yet”. |
| Anna: Yes. And [еще] is used only in negative sentences. In questions without [не]. |
| Eric: Could we have an example with [еще]? |
| Anna: Ok. Eric, [Эрик, ты был в Москве?] |
| Eric: Oh, I'm giving the example. Have I been to Moscow? [Нет, я еще не был] “No, I haven’t been yet”. |
| Anna: Right. So you used [еще] for “yet” in this sentence. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Eric: Anna, it seems like we’ve already crossed into the grammar section. |
| Anna: Ok, Eric, let’s just continue. |
| Eric: Ok. So James says [Я только что приехал в Москву] but [Я еще не был в гостинице]. [Москва] and [гостиница] are both feminine nouns, so why don’t they have the same ending? |
| Anna: In this sentence, [Я еще не был в гостинице], [в гостинице] is an example of the prepositional case, which we introduced last time. |
| Eric: So just to remind you, the prepositional case is used with places to indicate where you are. |
| Anna: And it’s usually used with the prepositions [в] and [на]. |
| Eric: In this case [в гостинице]. |
| Anna: Right, which means… |
| Eric: At the hotel. |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: Ok. Now, how about the other example, [Я только что приехал в Москву]? So Anna, they both have [в], [в гостинице] and [в Москву]. In the example [Я только что приехал в Москву] “I just arrived in Moscow”, how come [Москва] is changed to [Москву]. |
| Anna: This is a very good question, Eric. But you know when [в] means “to” we speak about the movement towards the place. We use the accusative case. |
| Eric: So different case altogether. |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: So Anna, could we have an example of prepositional case and then the accusative case? |
| Anna: Ok. [Я работаю в банке] |
| Eric: I work at the bank |
| Anna: [Я иду в банк] |
| Eric: “I’m going to the bank.” One more time? |
| Anna: [Я работаю в банке] |
| Eric: Ok, so “I work at the bank”, there’s no movement here, right? |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: Just the place. |
| Anna: Just the place. |
| Eric: That’s the prepositional case. |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: And we just add the E. It’s the easy case, I think. [в банке] |
| Anna: I would say so, yeah. |
| Eric: Ok, now the accusative case, we’re going to the bank. |
| Anna: [Я иду в банк] |
| Eric: Ok, so there’s no [в банке], it’s just [в банк]. |
| Anna: [в банк] because it’s direction. |
| Eric: Ok. And I noticed there’s no ending here. [банк] does not change but [Москва] changes to [Москву]. |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: Why is that, Anna? |
| Anna: It’s just because [Москва] is a feminine noun, so the end in A changes to U. |
| Eric: Ok, I got you. So all we need to remember if it’s a feminine noun like [Москва], we just change that A to U, right? |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: And if it’s a masculine noun, we don’t have to change it, right? |
| Anna: Right. For example, [Я иду в университет]. |
| Eric: I'm going to the university. |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: And university is a masculine noun. |
| Anna: So you don’t change anything. |
| Eric: How about “school”? |
| Anna: “School” is [школа] in Russian. |
| Eric: And [школа] is a feminine noun, right? |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: Because it ends in A. |
| Anna: So we would say [Я иду в школу]. |
| Eric: Ok. So that’s the accusative case. How would you say “I work at the school?” |
| Anna: [Я работаю в школе] |
| Eric: [в школе] |
| Anna: [в школе], right. |
| Eric: And that’s the prepositional case, we just throw an E on… |
| Anna: Yeah. |
| Eric: At the end. Ok, I think I'm understanding it a lot better now. Thank you, Anna. |
| Anna: You’re welcome, but I help listeners understand this as well. |
| Eric: I think I'm cautiously optimistic, but if you do have any questions please leave us a comment and we will answer all of your questions. I think that does it for today, Anna. |
| Anna: Right. |
Outro |
| Eric: Ok, we’ll see you next time. |
| Anna: [До встречи] |
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