Let's take a closer look at the conversation. |
Do you remember how Mark asks, |
"Are you a student?" |
Вы студент? (Vy student?) |
First is вы (vy), “you,” when using formal Russian. Вы. Вы. |
Note, Вы (Ya’), "you," refers to the plural, as in "you all," but t's also the formal way to address a single person, as is the case here, where Sergey is addressing Mark. |
Вы (Ya’) is from Вы есть (Ya est’), "you are," plural, as in "you all are," but есть (est’) is omitted. |
Есть is from the verb быть, meaning "to be." быть |
Next is студент (student), "student." Студент. Студент. |
In Russian, all nouns have grammatical gender and are either singular or plural. |
Студент is masculine singular, as Mark is addressing Sergey. |
All together, Вы студент? (Vy student?) literally, "You student,” but translates as, “Are you a student?" |
Вы студент? |
Let's take a closer look at the response. |
Do you remember how Sergey says, |
"No, I'm not a student. I'm an investor." |
Нет, я не студент. Я инвестор. (Net, ya ne student. Ya investor.) |
First is the expression, Нет (Net), meaning, "no." Нет. Нет. |
It answers Mark's yes-or-no question, "Are you a student?" Вы студент? (Vy student?) |
After this, Sergey specifies that he’s not a student. Я не студент (Ya ne student). "I'm not a student." Я не студент. |
First is я (ya), "I [am]." Я. Я. |
Note, Я is from Я есть (Ya est’) "I am," where есть (est’) "am" is omitted. |
Есть is from the verb быть, meaning “to be.” быть |
Next is не (ne). "not." Не. Не. |
Together, it's я не (ya ne), literally "I not," but it translates as "I'm not." Я не. |
Next is студент (student). "Student." Студент. |
Студент is masculine singular, as Sergey is answering the question. |
All together, Я не студент (Ya ne student). "I'm not a student." Я не студент. |
Sergey then tells Mark his actual occupation. Я инвестор (Ya investor). "I'm an investor." Я инвестор. |
First, я (ya) "I [am]." Я. |
Next is инвестор (investor), "investor." Инвестор. Инвестор. |
Инвестор (Investor) is masculine singular. |
Together, Я инвестор (Ya investor). "I'm an investor." Я инвестор. |
All together, Нет, я не студент. Я инвестор. (Net, ya ne student. Ya investor.) |
"No, I'm not a student. I'm an investor." |
Нет, я не студент. Я инвестор. (Net, ya ne student. Ya investor.) |
The pattern is |
Нет, я не OCCUPATION. Я ACTUAL OCCUPATION. (Net, ya ne {occupation}. Ya {actual occupation}.) |
"No, I'm not OCCUPATION. I'm ACTUAL OCCUPATION." |
To use this pattern, simply replace the OCCUPATION and ACTUAL OCCUPATION placeholders with the occupations that are appropriate to the conversation. |
Note: This pattern requires nouns. Their gender will depend on the gender of the speaker. |
Imagine you’re Emma Eliasheva a student. The word for a female student is студентка (studentka). Студентка. Студентка. |
Sergey Svalov asks you if you’re a teacher, учитель (uchitel’). Учитель. Учитель. |
Say |
"No, I'm not a teacher. I'm a student." |
Ready? |
Нет, я не учитель. Я студентка. (Net, ya ne uchitel', Ya studentka.) |
"No, I'm not a teacher. I'm a student." |
Нет, я не учитель. Я студентка. (Net, ya ne uchitel', Ya studentka.) |
In Russian, there are some rules of thumb for gender of nouns. |
In general, nouns that end in -а (-a) tend to be feminine. |
For example, |
Студентка. Student (female) |
Медсестра. Nurse (female) |
Masculine nouns tend to end in a consonant or -й (-y) or ь (-ʼ). |
For example, |
Инвестор (Investor). "Investor." |
Студент (Student). "Student." |
Рабочий (Rabochiy). "Employee." |
Some occupations have the same word for both genders. For example, учитель (uchitel’) in a formal setting. |
учитель (uchitel’), |
учитель (uchitel’). |
Note, there is a word for a female teacher, учительница, in an informal setting. However, you will not need it for this lesson. |
Comments
HideCan you talk about your occupation using the pattern introduced in this lesson?