Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Transcript

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.

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RussianPod101.com
2025-02-10 18:30:00

Can you talk about your occupation using the pattern introduced in this lesson?

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