Learn how to talk about the weather and to describe different weather conditions
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Eric here. Beginner Series Season 1, Lesson 11 – “It’s so cold in Russia. Do you have any advice?” Hi, my name is Eric and I'm joined here by… |
| Anna: Anna. |
| Eric: [Привет, Анна!] |
| Anna: [Привет, Эрик!] |
| Eric: [Как дела?] |
| Anna: [Отлично! Как у тебя?] |
| Eric: [Очень хорошо, Анна!] |
| Anna: Hello everyone and welcome back to RussianPod101.com |
| Eric: With us, you’ll learn to speak Russian like a native, |
| Anna: We’ll also provide you with cultural insights and tips you won’t find in a textbook. |
| Eric: In the previous lesson, we focused on checking in to a hotel. |
| Anna: The focus of this lesson is two fault – how to say you don’t have something and how to say you need something. |
| Eric: Ok, this conversation takes place at the reception desk at a hotel. James is about to leave, he isn’t wearing a hat. |
| Anna: The conversation is between James Johnson and a hotel clerk. |
| Eric: The Russians are speaking in a formal setting, so the Russian will also be formal. Drastically improve your pronunciation with the voice recording tool in the Premium Learning Center. Record your voice with the click of a button and play back what you record just as easily. This tool is the perfect complement to the line by line audio. |
| Anna: Ok, let’s listen to today’s conversation. |
| Eric: Ok, I’ll be playing James. |
| Anna: And I’ll be playing the hotel clerk. |
| Eric: Ok, here we go. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Eric: [Вот ключ.] |
| Anna: [Спасибо. У вас нет шапки?] |
| Eric: [Нет.] |
| Anna: [Сейчас холодно. Вам надо купить шапку.] |
| Eric: Once again, slowly. |
| Anna: Еще раз, медленнее. |
| Eric: [Вот ключ.] |
| Anna: [Спасибо. У вас нет шапки?] |
| Eric: [Нет.] |
| Anna: [Сейчас холодно. Вам надо купить шапку.] |
| Eric: One time, natural native speed, with the translation. |
| Anna: Еще раз, с английским переводом. |
| Anna: [Вот ключ.] |
| Eric: Here’s the key. |
| Anna: [Спасибо. У вас нет шапки?] |
| Eric: Thanks. You don’t have a hat? |
| Anna: [Нет.] |
| Eric: No. |
| Anna: [Сейчас холодно. Вам надо купить шапку.] |
| Eric: It’s cold now. You should buy a hat. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: Ok, Anna, do you think it’s typical for Russians to give advice about what to wear? Even hotel clerks who don’t know you? |
| Anna: I think Russians generally like to give advice. And Russians consider this as an indication of care about the other person. |
| Eric: Yes, Anna, in my personal experience, my host families were always checking to see if I was appropriately dressed. |
| Anna: What do you mean appropriately dressed? |
| Eric: Well, for example, there are these shoes that have like a fur, a faux fur lining inside them. |
| Anna: Oh, right. |
| Eric: And sometimes they’d be really nice and put them on the heater for me so they’d be nice and toasty. They were very considerate, I was very appreciative actually. |
| Anna: That’s very good. |
| Eric: So what other clothing or accessories do Russians wear to keep them warm? |
| Anna: I think the most important clothing in winter is [шуба]. You know this, right? |
| Eric: Anna, what is [шуба]? |
| Anna: [шуба] is a big coat. |
| Eric: How big? |
| Anna: Depends on your size. |
| Eric: Ok, so but I mean, are we talking thick coat, is it furry coat, is it… what kind of coat is this? |
| Anna: It’s furry, furry coat. Furry, furry. |
| Eric: Furry, furry coat. Are there like animals attached to this coat, Anna? |
| Anna: Oh, my god… |
| Eric: How furry are we talking about? |
| Anna: No, this coat is made from animals, from animal fur. |
| Eric: So… I don’t want to be politically correct here but I'm going to be. Is this real animal fur or fake animal fur? |
| Anna: It depends on how much money you earn. If you are very rich, you would go with the natural fur. |
| Eric: And if you’re not rich? |
| Anna: You have [шуба] with the fake fur. |
| Eric: And if you’re poor? |
| Anna: You don’t have [шуба]. |
| Eric: That’s so sad. Alright. So Anna, do you think a [шуба] is really that important in the winter time? |
| Anna: Yes, because it’s really, really cold in Russia. |
| Eric: So Anna, what you’re saying is that it’s better to go to Russia in the summer, right? |
| Anna: Well, personally I prefer to go during summer, but you know there is beauty in every season. |
| Eric: [А, здорово!] That’s very nice. Ok, now let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Eric: First word is… |
| Anna: [купить] |
| Eric: To buy. |
| Anna: [купить] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Anna: [холодно] |
| Eric: Cold. |
| Anna: [холодно] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Anna: [сейчас] |
| Eric: Now, at the moment. |
| Anna: [сейчас] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Anna: [шапка] |
| Eric: A winter hat. |
| Anna: [шапка] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Anna: [ключ] |
| Eric: A key. |
| Anna: [ключ] |
| 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: Our first word is [ключ]. |
| Eric: Which means “a door key” or “a car key”. Our next word is… |
| Anna: [шапка] |
| Eric: Which is “a warm winter hat”. Anna, can you describe a [шапка] for our listeners? |
| Anna: I guess it’s a little bit difficult because it depends on the fashion but I think listeners have all seen traditional Russian hat, which covers ears. |
| Eric: This is the one you have, isn’t it, Anna? |
| Anna: No, actually I don’t have one. |
| Eric: So Anna, can you use the word [шапка] to mean all hats in Russia? Even a baseball cap? |
| Anna: You know, Eric, [шапка] generally refers to winter hats, but some people use [шапка] for all hats. |
| Eric: Ok. So Anna, our next word is… |
| Anna: [сейчас] |
| Eric: Which means… |
| Anna: Now. |
| Eric: “Now”. Can you give us a real Russian reading of [сейчас]? |
| Anna: Yeah. |
| Eric: If you go to Russia, not everyone says [сейчас] like you. You had great pronunciation, but let’s get the real Russian way of saying [сейчас]. |
| Anna: Ok. Usually Russian people say [щас]. |
| Eric: [щас] |
| Anna: Yeah. |
| Eric: [щас пойду] |
| Anna: [щас пойду] |
| Eric: “I’m going now.” Or [щас приеду]. |
| Anna: Exactly. |
| Eric: “I'm coming now”. [щас]. |
| Anna: [щас] But you wouldn’t use these impolite settings cause it’s generally considered as a very, very conversational. |
| Eric: Conversational, so that’s good to know. But with friends you can say [щас, щас]. |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: “Just a minute” or “now”. |
| Anna: [щас] |
| Eric: Ok, the last word we’ll look at is… |
| Anna: [холодно] |
| Eric: [холодно], which means? |
| Anna: Cold. |
| Eric: “Cold”. How would you say “I'm cold”? |
| Anna: [Мне холодно] |
| Eric: [Мне холодно] Ok. It’s a good one to know if you’re in Siberia in the winter, but I guess that’s understood. |
| Anna: Yes, that’s obvious. You don’t need to say this. |
| Eric: You don’t need to say it. Ok. Anna, how would you say “It’s cold”? |
| Anna: Just [холодно]. |
| Eric: [холодно] So all you need to say is one word for “it’s cold”? |
| Anna: Right. [холодно] |
| Eric: [холодно]. |
| Anna: You can also add emotion, like [холодно]. |
| Eric: Ok. Great, Anna. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Eric: Now let’s look at the grammar for this lesson. Ok, Anna, let’s add “today” to the expression “it’s cold”. How would you say “Today it’s cold”? |
| Anna: [сегодня холодно] |
| Eric: Which literally translates to “Today cold”. |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: There’s no “it’s”. |
| Anna: No, it’s very easy. |
| Eric: Can you say [Холодно сегодня]? |
| Anna: You can say this but you need to put the emphasis on the first word then. [Холодно сегодня] |
| Eric: [Холодно сегодня]. Which is more common [Сегодня холодно] or [Холодно сегодня]? |
| Anna: I think they’re both, the both expressions are pretty common. |
| Eric: Ok, so you can say either or. Great. So no subject is needed. How would you say “Today is hot”. |
| Anna: [Сегодня жарко] |
| Eric: [жарко] Ok. And how about “It’s warm”? |
| Anna: [тепло] |
| Eric: [тепло] Nice. So we don’t need “it’s” in any of these expressions. |
| Anna: Yeah. Isn’t it wonderful? |
| Eric: It is a good thing. So Anna, if I said [Это холодно], would that be correct? |
| Anna: No, it’s not correct. You shouldn’t say this. |
| Eric: So [это] means “this”. |
| Anna: “This”. |
| Eric: Or “it’s”. So all you need to remember is that you don’t need [это] in these kind of sentences. |
| Anna: And [это] means “it’s” or “this is”. |
| Eric: Again, just to review, how would you say “I’m cold”? |
| Anna: [Мне холодно] |
| Eric: [мне] |
| Anna: [мне холодно] |
| Eric: Ok, and how about “I’m hot”? |
| Anna: [мне жарко] |
| Eric: [мне жарко] So just to note, even though [*] is translated into English as “cold”, an adjective, in Russian it’s an adverb. Right, Anna? |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: So for example, to say “ The weather is cold” in Russian, how would you say that, Anna? |
| Anna: I would say [Погода холодная]. |
| Eric: So the ending changes. [холодная] |
| Anna: Yes, instead of [холодно], you would say [холодная]. |
| Eric: And why is it a feminine ending? |
| Anna: Because [погода] is a feminine noun. |
| Eric: I understand, ok. Let’s have another example with tea. How do you say “tea” in Russian. |
| Anna: Oh, that’s a good example. “Tea” is [чай]. |
| Eric: [чай] And [чай] is what kind of noun? |
| Anna: [чай] is masculine noun. |
| Eric: Masculine noun. How would the word change in Russian? |
| Anna: So I would say [чай холодный]. |
| Eric: [чай холодный] |
| Anna: [чай холодный] |
| Eric: The tea is cold. |
| Anna: So the ending of the masculine noun is [-ый]. |
| Eric: [-ый] Ok. And what is the word for “sea” in Russian? |
| Anna: “Sea” is [море]. |
| Eric: [море] And what kind of noun is this? |
| Anna: This is a neutral noun. |
| Eric: Neutral, ok. And then let’s have an example with [море]. |
| Anna: Ok, for example, [море холодное]. |
| Eric: [холодное] |
| Anna: [холодное] |
| Eric: [холодное] |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: “The sea is cold.” Great. Ok, Anna. Our last grammar point is an important one. It’s how to say “I don’t have something”. Right? |
| Anna: Right, ok. So let’s talk about this. |
| Eric: Ok, so in the dialogue, we said [У вас нет шапки]. |
| Anna: Which means “You don’t have a hat.” |
| Eric: So how would you say “I have a hat”. |
| Anna: [У меня есть шапка] |
| Eric: [У меня есть шапка]. And how would you say “I don’t have a hat”? |
| Anna: [У меня нет шапки] |
| Eric: Ok, so what changed here? [У меня есть шапка]. [шапка] is feminine noun, so with an [-а] ending. |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: If you say “I don’t have”, that would be [У меня нет шапки]. |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: So you take out the [есть] and you replace it with [нет] and you also change the ending to [-и], right? |
| Anna: Right, it’s a very nice explanation, Eric. |
| Eric: Ok. So let’s have another example. “I have a car”, “I don’t have a car”, let’s have the first one. “I have a car.” |
| Anna: [У меня есть машина] |
| Eric: [У меня есть машина] How would you say “I don’t have a car”? |
| Anna: [У меня нет машины] |
| Eric: [У меня нет машины] Ok. Anna, I noticed that the ending was a little bit different. With [шапка] is [шапки]. |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: And [машина] is [машины]. |
| Anna: It depends on the letter that comes before A, but generally ending changes from A to [-и] or [-ы]. So if you want to say that you don’t have something in Russian, you would say [У меня нет]. And then you will change the ending of the noun, if it’s feminine, from A to [-и] or [-ы]. |
| Eric: Excellent explanation, Anna. Thank you. So Anna, just to recap. When you say you have something, it’s in the regular, Nominative case that no endings change, right? So [У меня есть шапка]. |
| Anna: [У меня есть ключ] |
| Eric: [У меня есть ключ] “I have a key.” [У меня есть ключ] “I have a hat”. [У меня есть шапка] No changes. |
| Anna: No changes. |
| Eric: If you say “I don’t have”, we use the genitive case, right? |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: Ok. For feminine nouns what changes? There’s a change for the ending. |
| Anna: Yes, you change the ending A or Я to И or Ы. |
| Eric: And for masculine nouns? |
| Anna: For masculine nouns you add A in the genitive case. For example, [У меня нет ключа]. |
| Eric: Which means? |
| Anna: I don’t have a key. |
| Eric: “I don’t have a key.” We had [ключ] and [ключа] in the genitive case. Ok. For more examples of the genitive case and how to say “I don’t have something” or “I have something”, please check out the PDF file for this lesson. Ok, Anna, I think that does it for today. |
| Anna: Ok, great. Please leave us a comment if you have any questions. |
Outro |
| Eric: See you next time. |
| Anna: [До встречи] |
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