Learn about nouns in the Russian instrumental case
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Beginner Series Season 2, Lesson 7 - I just wanted to send an SMS. |
| Anna: Hello, everyone, and welcome back to RussianPod101.com. |
| Eric: [Все хорошо, Анна?] |
| Anna: [Все отлично. Как у тебя, Эрик?] |
| Eric: [Также хорошо.] Alright. In this lesson, you will learn about the instrumental case. |
| Anna: This conversation takes place on the plane. |
| Eric: And the conversation is between unlucky Kevin and a flight attendant. |
| Anna: The speakers don’t know each other, therefore they will be speaking formal Russian. |
| Eric: So I’ll be playing unlucky Kevin. |
| Anna: And I'm a flight attendant. |
| Eric: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Anna: [Прошу прощения, но в самолете нельзя пользоваться мобильником.] |
| Eric: [Я только хотел послать смс.] |
| Anna: [Выключите мобильник, пожалуйста.] |
| -- |
| Eric: Once again, slowly. |
| Anna: Еще раз, медленнее. |
| Anna: [Прошу прощения, но в самолете нельзя пользоваться мобильником.] |
| Eric: [Я только хотел послать смс.] |
| Anna: [Выключите мобильник, пожалуйста.] |
| -- |
| Eric: One time, natural native speed with translation. |
| Anna: Еще раз, с переводом. |
| Anna: [Прошу прощения, но в самолете нельзя пользоваться мобильником.] |
| Eric: I’m sorry but you can’t use a cellphone on the plane. |
| Anna: [Я только хотел послать смс.] |
| Eric: I just wanted to send an SMS. |
| Anna: [Выключите мобильник, пожалуйста.] |
| Eric: Turn off your cell phone, please. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: So, Anna, I thought that “cellphone” is [мобильный] in Russian. But in our conversation we used a slightly different word. [мобильник], why is that? |
| Anna: Well, these two words mean exactly the same thing, “a cellphone”. [Мобильник] though is a very conversational form of [мобильный телефон] or [мобильный]. |
| Eric: Oh, that’s right. But I also heard people saying [сотка] referring to their cellphones as well. |
| Anna: Yeah, that’s what I use, actually. [Сотка] is the conversational form from [сотовый телефон] or just [сотовый]. |
| Eric: So what’s the difference between [мобильник] and [сотка]? |
| Anna: If you translate this in English, it would be [мобильный] is “mobile phone” and [сотка or сотовый] is “cellphone”. |
| Eric: Is there one term that’s more common than the other? |
| Anna: I think it just depends on the person, so we can use either one. |
| Eric: Ok. So if I want you to call my mobile, should I say [Позвони мне на мобильник]? |
| Anna: Right. Or you can say [позвони мне на сотку] which means the same. |
| Eric: Let’s break that down real quick. |
| Anna: [позвони] |
| Eric: Call. |
| Anna: [мне] |
| Eric: Me. |
| Anna: [на] |
| Eric: On. |
| Anna: [мобильник] |
| Eric: “Mobile”. “Call me on my mobile telephone.” |
| Anna: Or [сотку]. |
| Eric: Or “Call my cellphone”. |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: Ok, great. Now let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Eric: Our first phrase is… |
| Anna: [прошу прощения] |
| Eric: I’m sorry, my apologies. |
| Anna: [прошу прощения] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Anna: [нельзя] |
| Eric: You can’t, you mustn’t, it’s forbidden. |
| Anna: [нельзя] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Anna: [пользоваться] |
| Eric: To use. |
| Anna: [пользоваться] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Anna: [мобильник] |
| Eric: Mobile phone. |
| Anna: [мобильник] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Anna: [только] |
| Eric: Only, just. |
| Anna: [только] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Anna: [хотеть] |
| Eric: To want. |
| Anna: [хотеть] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Anna: [послать] |
| Eric: To send. |
| Anna: [послать] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Anna: [выключить] |
| Eric: To turn off. |
| Anna: [выключить] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Anna: [смс] |
| Eric: SMS or text message. |
| Anna: [смс] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Eric: Ok, let’s have a closer look at the usage at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Anna: The first phrase we’ll look at is [прошу прощения]. |
| Eric: Which means “excuse me, I'm sorry”. So can I just say [извините] or “excuse me” or do I have to use this tongue twister of a phrase, [прошу прощения]? |
| Anna: Of course you can say [извините, прошу прощения] is just a different way to say it. It’s very polite and quite formal. You wouldn’t normally use it with your friends. |
| Eric: Ok, good, so I’ll stick to [извините] then. |
| Anna: Well, Eric, I don’t blame you. |
| Eric: So, Anna, if you really messed up, then this would be the phrase to use, right? |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: Cause [извините] may be not enough. |
| Anna: Well, maybe. |
| Eric: I guess depending on what you did. |
| Anna: Yeah, yeah. |
| Eric: The next word is… |
| Anna: [нельзя]. We use it to say “We mustn’t do something” or that “it’s forbidden”. For example, [здесь нельзя курить]. |
| Eric: Let’s break that down. |
| Anna: [здесь] |
| Eric: Here. |
| Anna: [нельзя] |
| Eric: Can’t. |
| Anna: [курить]. |
| Eric: “Smoke”. So “You can’t smoke here.” |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: Actually, you can just say [нельзя], right? |
| Anna: Yes. |
| Eric: In Russian, it’s common just to hear [нельзя!], but maybe in a different context. It’s like “No, you can’t do that.” |
| Anna: Right, if you’re talking to your child, yeah. But sometimes we use [нельзя] as a general rule. For example, you can see a sign saying [нельзя курить здесь] or [нельзя бросать мусор]. |
| Eric: You can’t litter. |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: In these phrases [здесь нельзя курить] there’s no “you”, “you can’t”. |
| Anna: That’s right, because it’s a general rule. If you’re talking about rules, you can just start a phrase with [нельзя]. However, if you need to stress that only this particular person can do something, you should use “you”. |
| Eric: Anna, for example, if you’re talking to your brother and he’s sick, what would you say for him not to do? |
| Anna: Probably I would say [Тебе нельзя пить холодную воду]. |
| Eric: Ok, let’s break that down. |
| Anna: [тебе] |
| Eric: You. |
| Anna: [нельзя] |
| Eric: Can’t. |
| Anna: [пить] |
| Eric: Drink. |
| Anna: [холодную] |
| Eric: Cold. |
| Anna: [воду] |
| Eric: “Water”. Ok. And this is something that my host family said to me, actually. [Тебе нельзя! Тебе нельзя пить холодную воду!] |
| Anna: Yes. |
| Eric: And I said, “Why? It’s no problem. Cause we don’t have this, at least where I'm from, in California, I never heard “You can’t drink cold water”, but my host family was very… |
| Anna: Really? |
| Eric: … that no, you should only have tea or other hot liquids. |
| Anna: That’s interesting, Eric, cause this is very common in Russia. |
| Eric: So one more question about that sentence - why is it [тебе] and not [ты]? |
| Anna: Because we use the dative case with [нельзя]. |
| Eric: So if I want to say that I can’t drink cold water, I would say what, Anna? |
| Anna: You would say [Мне нельзя пить холодную воду]. |
| Eric: So the next word we’ll look at is… |
| Anna: [выключить] |
| Eric: Which means “to turn off”. |
| Anna: That’s right. |
| Eric: Right. And the verb “to turn on” is quite similar to “turn off”, right? |
| Anna: Yeah. |
| Eric: Anna, could we have a side by side comparison? |
| Anna: Sure. |
| Eric: Ok. So the first word, “to turn off”... |
| Anna: Is [выключить]. |
| Eric: To turn on? |
| Anna: [включить] |
| Eric: [включить] |
| Anna: [выключить, включить] |
| Eric: Ok. So we’re talking about appliances here, right? |
| Anna: Yes. |
| Eric: Ok. Just to make that clear. This has nothing to do with people being turned on or off, right? |
| Anna: No. We don’t use it in Russian. |
| Eric: So, Anna, also the stress is a bit different for both of the words. |
| Anna: That’s right. For “turn on” the stress is on the last syllable - [включить] |
| Eric: [включить] |
| Anna: Yes. And for “turn off” it’s on the first syllable - [выключить] |
| Eric: [выключить] |
| Anna: Yes. |
| Eric: Ok, so [включить] last syllable, that’s “turn on”, and [выключить]. |
| Anna: Yes. |
| Eric: Turn off. |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: Anna, could we just have a quick example with “Turn off the television” and “Turn on the television”? |
| Anna: [Выключи телевизор.] |
| Eric: That is “Turn off the television”. |
| Anna: Yes. |
| Eric: And how do you say “Turn on the tele?” |
| Anna: [Включи телевизор.] |
| Eric: Ok. For turn off it’s the same [вы] as in “you”, formal, [выключить, вы], right? |
| Anna: Yes, that’s right. |
| Eric: So maybe if you’re talking with somebody and they’re talking a lot and you just want to turn them off like an appliance. “Stop talking”. You can remember the “you”, “you stop talking or turn off”, [вы] as in [выключить]. |
| Anna: Yeah. |
| Eric: Right. That may be a different between [включить], “turn on”, [выключить] “You stop, turn off”. |
| Anna: Maybe, it could be a nice way to memorize it. |
| Eric: Ok. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Eric: Ok, now let’s look at the grammar for this lesson. |
| Anna: Today we’ll learn about the instrumental case. |
| Eric: Yay, another case! |
| Anna: Well, this one is really easy. |
| Eric: You say that about all of them, Anna. |
| Anna: Well, this one is easy. Let’s have another look at the conversation. The flight attendant says [В самолете нельзя пользоваться мобильником]. |
| Eric: “In the plane, you can’t use cellphones or mobile phones.” |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: So in this example, we use the instrumental case after [пользоваться] or “to use”. So, Anna, which word in the sentence is in the instrumental case? |
| Anna: [мобильником] |
| Eric: So [мобильник] or “mobile phone” becomes… |
| Anna: [мобильником] |
| Eric: [мобильником]. Ok. What are some other examples? |
| Anna: We need the instrumental case when we use something as a tool. For example, [Я ем ложкой]. |
| Eric: “I eat with a spoon.” How is “spoon” normally? |
| Anna: [ложка] In instrumental case, it becomes [ложкой]. |
| Eric: [ложка, spoon] becomes… |
| Anna: [ложкой] |
| Eric: [ложкой], in the instrumental case. |
| Anna: Yes. |
| Eric: “I eat with a spoon.” |
| Anna: [Я ем ложкой] |
| Eric: Ok. |
| Anna: And another example could be [Он пишет карандашом]. |
| Eric: “He writes with a pencil.” So the key word is “with” for the instrumental case, right? |
| Anna: Yes, but we don’t translate it into Russian, actually. |
| Eric: So the case hold the “with”. [ложкой] is “with a spoon”. |
| Anna: Yes. |
| Eric: In this example, [я ем], “I eat”, [ложкой], “with a spoon”. |
| Anna: Yes. So we cannot say [Я ем с ложкой]. |
| Eric: Ok, good. And [Он пишет карандашом], also no [с]. It’s in the case, [карандашом], “with a pencil”. |
| Anna: So, Eric, just to recap - when we use something as a tool, we just need the verb and a noun in the instrumental case. |
| Eric: Thanks, Anna. So is this the only time when we use the instrumental case? |
| Anna: No, not Eric. The instrumental case is also commonly used to talk about your job. For example, [Она работает врачом]. |
| Eric: “She works as a doctor.” And how do you say “doctor”? |
| Anna: [врач] |
| Eric: [врач]. Here it becomes… |
| Anna: [доктором] |
| Eric: [доктором] or… |
| Anna: [врачом] |
| Eric: [врачом] |
| Anna: [Она работает врачом.] |
| Eric: “She works doctor” or “as a doctor”. Ok. |
| Anna: We also use instrumental case after the preposition [с] or “with”. [Я живу с мамой.] |
| Eric: “I live with my mother.” Let’s break that down. |
| Anna: [я] |
| Eric: I. |
| Anna: [живу] |
| Eric: Live. |
| Anna: [с] |
| Eric: With. |
| Anna: [мамой] |
| Eric: “My mother”. And “mom” normally is how? |
| Anna: [мама] |
| Eric: And in the instrumental case it becomes… |
| Anna: [мамой] |
| Eric: [мамой]. Ok. Great. So that leads me to the endings in the instrumental case. I’ve noticed that sometimes it’s [ом] and sometimes it’s [ей]. |
| Anna: Yeah, that’s right. It depends on the gender of the noun. The endings for masculine nouns in the instrumental case are [ом] or [ем]. |
| Eric: So, for example, “pencil”, [карандаш]. |
| Anna: It becomes [карандашом]. |
| Eric: Because it’s a masculine noun. |
| Anna: In instrumental case. |
| Eric: Ok. |
| Anna: It is [ем] if noun ends in [ь] or [й] and it is [ом] for all other masculine nouns. |
| Eric: Ok, so what about feminine nouns? |
| Anna: The endings for feminine nouns are [ой] or [ей]. |
| Eric: So just like in our example, “I live with my mother”. |
| Anna: [Я живу с мамой.] |
| Eric: [мамой] |
| Anna: [мамой] is feminine noun, so in instrumental case it becomes [с мамой]. |
Outro |
| Eric: Perfect, Anna, thank you. |
| Anna: Thank you, Eric. |
| Eric: And that will do it for today’s lesson. |
| Anna: Stop by and leave us a comment. |
| Eric: We’d love to hear from you. |
| Anna: [Спасибо и до встречи!] |
| Eric: See you next time. |
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Comments
HideВ самолёте нельзя пользоваться мобильником. Что ещё нельзя делать в самолёте? Have you ever done something that was forbidden (on a plane or somewhere else?)
Hi Steve,
thank you for your comment!
I think it's not explained here because the lesson is about the instrumental case but not about prepositions😉
You are right, we use "с" when accompanied by someone. Also, when one thing is added to another like: "кофе с молоком" (coffee with milk), блины со сметаной (pancakes with sour cream), суп с мясом (soup with meat), рубашка с карманами (a shirt with pockets).
Let us know if you have any questions!
Kind Regards,
Evgeniia
Team RussianPod101.com
Hi my comment is - why did you not say the reason for using the "c" (with)? I previously was taught that we use it when accompanied by someone - i.e a person. A good lesson though.
Hello Sergio,
thank you for your question!
You are right, the correct form is "папой" (стать папой).
Kind Regards,
Evgeniia
Team RussianPod101.com
Папа is a masculine noun. It becomes папом or папой? It seems as it changes with the ending, not with the gender. This is so?
Hello Daemon,
вы работаете хирургом... Это впечатляет!
Please, note, "моя жена врачом" and "я работаю с ножом" (singular) or "я работаю с ножами" (plural).😉
Kind Regards,
Evgeniia
Team RussianPod101.com
я работаю хирургом и мая жена как врачом но мама медсестрой
я работаю с ножоми 😁
thank you for the lesson transcript
robert
Hello Olivier (как салат),
That's a very good question.
Basically they are synonyms.
1. The main difference is....:
использовать - to use (once)
пользоваться - to use (permanently)
2. Another interesting aspect is that "пользоваться" means to use something for the purpose it was intended to.
For example: "Я пользуюсь кредиткой, чтобы расплатиться." - "I use a credit card to pay."
But "использовать" does not really mean to use a thing for what it was intended to.
For example: "Я использую кредитку в качестве книжной закладки" - "I use a credit card as a bookmark."
Elena
Team RussianPod101.com
Bсем привет!
Just wondering when do you use пользоваться and when do you use использовать?
Спасибо
Hello Anna,
They are both correct.
я только проснулся - male`s speech
я только проснулась - female`s speech.
Elena
Team RussianPod101.com
Hi, I have a question concerning an example sentence in vocabulary expansion part. There is a sentence: я только проснулся, but before I had learned a sentence я только проснулась. Could you tell me what's the difference? Are they both correct , meaning "i've just woken up"?
Thanks in advance!
Hello Stevie!
Thank you for your lovely comment! I'm glad you seem to enjoy our lessons! :innocent:
Have a great day and let us know if you have any questions!
Engla
Team RussianPod101.com
This was super helpful! I like the casual conversation and clear examples on both ends.
Thanks a lot!
Thank you, Barry!
Elena
Team RussianPod101.com
Very useful lesson. Difficult area but well explained. Well done all!
Hello Harrison,
Thank you for your question.
There are two differences between written and spoken version of the word "пользоваться". It is the second syllable "зо" which is pronounced as "за","пользAваться" because the vowel "O" without accent always has an "A" sound.
The ending "ться" in spoken Russian will usually be pronounced as "ца"
So we have "пользаваца" in spoken language.
Hope it was helpful.
Please let us know if you have any other questions.
Svetlana,
Team RussianPod101.com
In the dialogue, пользоваться is pronounced with the "ова" highly reduced into what sounds like a schwa and an "f" sound. Can some one talk more about this phonological process. Also does it occur in other "ова" verbs?
Я русская и живу в Петербурге. Первый раз слышу слово "сотка", где вы его откопали?
Dialogue is not attached to the lesson!