INTRODUCTION |
Yuriy: Hello and welcome to RussianPod101.com. This is Lower Beginner season 1, lesson 1 - Doing Some Sightseeing in Russia. I’m Yuriy. |
Elena: Привет, меня зовут Елена. Hello, and my name is Elena! |
Yuriy: In this lesson, you'll learn how to say “This is” and “This is not” in Russian. |
Elena: This conversation takes place on the street. |
Yuriy: The speakers are strangers, so they’ll be using formal Russian. Let’s listen to the conversation. |
DIALOGUE |
Экскурсовод: Уважаемые туристы, это Красная площадь. Слева находится Мавзолей В.И.Ленина, а справа - знаменитый Храм Василия Блаженного. |
Алекс: Восхитительный собор! Простите, а напротив Кремля, это университет? |
Экскурсовод:Нет, это не университет, это большой торговый центр. |
Алекс: А вон то здание, это музей? |
Экскурсовод: Да, это Государственный исторический музей. |
Алекс: Ого! Целый дворец! |
Ekskursovod: Uvazhayemyye turisty, eto Krasnaya ploshchad'. Sleva nakhoditsya Mavzoley V.I.Lenina, a sprava - znamenityy Khram Vasiliya Blazhennogo. |
Alex: Voskhititel'nyy sobor! Prostite, a naprotiv Kremlya, eto universitet? |
Ekskursovod: Net, eto ne universitet, eto bol'shoy torgovyy tsentr. |
Alex: A von to zdaniye, eto muzey? |
Ekskursovod: Da, eto Gosudarstvennyy istoricheskiy muzey. |
Alex: Ogo! Tselyy dvorets! |
Экскурсовод:Уважаемые туристы, это Красная площадь. Слева находится Мавзолей В.И.Ленина, а справа - знаменитый Храм Василия Блаженного. |
Yuriy: Dear tourists, this is Red Square. The Lenin Mausoleum is situated on the left side and the famous St. Basil's Cathedral is on the right side. |
Алекс:Восхитительный собор! Простите, а напротив Кремля, это университет? |
Yuriy: What a wonderful church! Excuse me, but is that a university opposite the Kremlin? |
Экскурсовод:Нет, это не университет, это большой торговый центр. |
Yuriy: No, it's not a university, it's a big shopping mall. |
Алекс:А вон то здание, это музей? |
Yuriy: And that building, is it a museum? |
Экскурсовод:Да, это Государственный исторический музей. |
Yuriy: Yes, it's the State Historical Museum. |
Алекс:Ого! Целый дворец! |
Yuriy: Wow! A great big palace! |
POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
Yuriy: Alex must really like sightseeing! He has questions about every building in Red Square. |
Elena: Of course! Did you know that the State Historical Museum in the square is a very unique museum? It has more than five million items. |
Yuriy: That must be all of Russia’s history under one roof. Listeners, you should definitely visit someday. |
Elena: And while you’re there, don't forget to also visit St. Basil's Cathedral. It’s just across from the museum. It’s very colorful and beautiful. I think it’s truly stunning. |
Yuriy: I read an interesting legend that said Ivan the Terrible had the architects of the Cathedral blinded, so that they would never be able to build a better cathedral. |
Elena: Well, we have a lot of legends about it, and a tour guide will certainly tell you many of those! |
Yuriy: Now let’s take a look at the vocabularies of this lesson. |
VOCAB LIST |
Elena справа от [natural native speed] |
Yuriy to the right of; on someone or something's right |
Elena справа от [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
Elena справа от [natural native speed] |
Elena слева от [natural native speed] |
Yuriy to the left of; on the left of; on someone or something's left |
Elena слева от [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
Elena слева от [natural native speed] |
Elena Ого [natural native speed] |
Yuriy wow! |
Elena Ого [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
Elena Ого [natural native speed] |
Elena здание [natural native speed] |
Yuriy building |
Elena здание [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
Elena здание [natural native speed] |
Elena музей [natural native speed] |
Yuriy museum |
Elena музей [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
Elena музей [natural native speed] |
Elena находиться [natural native speed] |
Yuriy to be, to locate, to be situated |
Elena находиться [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
Elena находиться [natural native speed] |
Elena напротив [natural native speed] |
Yuriy opposite |
Elena напротив [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
Elena напротив [natural native speed] |
Elena уважаемые [natural native speed] |
Yuriy dear |
Elena уважаемые [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
Elena уважаемые [natural native speed] |
Elena дворец [natural native speed] |
Yuriy palace |
Elena дворец [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
Elena дворец [natural native speed] |
Elena знаменитый [natural native speed] |
Yuriy famous, well-known |
Elena знаменитый [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
Elena знаменитый [natural native speed] |
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
Yuriy: Let’s take a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word we have is... |
Elena: Уважаемые, which can be translated as “dear”. |
Yuriy: We use this word when we want to address third parties in a very polite way. |
Elena: Yes, this word is used at official presentations, meetings, announcements, or in official letters, at conferences, or when writing to the authorities. |
Yuriy: Can you give us some examples? |
Elena: Уважаемые посетители, просим Вас не кормить животных. |
Yuriy: "Dear visitors, please do not feed the animals." The next word is... |
Elena: Ого! which can be translated as “Wow”. |
Yuriy: We use this word when we want to emphasize our feelings of astonishment and surprise, like when something is better or worse that we expected it to be. |
Elena: Right, but it’s important to know that this feeling is sudden. For example... |
Yuriy: Это платье стоит 10 000 долларов. “This dress costs ten thousand dollars.” |
Elena: Ого! Как дорого! “Wow! How expensive!” |
Yuriy: In this sentence, the interjection “Wow!” emphasizes the feeling of unpleasant surprise at the dress being so expensive. Here’s another example. |
Elena: Я выиграл в лотерею! “I won the lottery!” |
Yuriy: Сколько? “How much?” |
Elena: 15 000 долларов. “Fifteen thousand dollars.” |
Yuriy: Ого! “Wow!” |
Elena: In this sentence the interjection “Wow!” emphasizes the astonishment at the huge amount of money won in the lottery. |
Yuriy: In written Russian, the interjection Ого should be separated by a comma or an exclamation mark. Okay, now onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus
|
Yuriy: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to say “This is” and “This is not” in Russian, as well as two types of intonations you can use to ask the question “Is this..?” |
Elena: This grammar is quite simple. The word “This is” could be literally translated as Это есть, where Это means “This” and есть means “to be”. |
Yuriy: In Russian, the verb “to be” should be omitted. |
Elena: So, instead of saying Это есть музей you should simply say Это музей. |
Yuriy: To ask the question “Is this a museum?” you don't need to change the word order, just change your intonation. For example... |
Elena: Это парк, which means, “This is a park”. It’s an affirmative sentence. |
Yuriy: And if you want to form a question, you can simply change your intonation like this: |
Elena: Это парк? |
Yuriy: “Is this a park?” Compare the two. |
Elena: Это парк and Это парк? |
Yuriy: There’s one more important grammar rule. The question can be asked in two ways, by using two different intonations. Depending on the intonation, the answer will also differ. The first intonation is: |
Elena: Это музей? |
Yuriy: “Is this a museum?” As you can see, the stress was placed on the word музей which means “museum”. Elena, could you repeat it one more time? |
Elena: Это музей? |
Yuriy: Using this intonation implies that the speaker is not sure whether this building is a museum or, for example, a bank. The answer to this question will either be: |
Elena: Да, это музей. |
Yuriy: “Yes, this is a museum.” or... |
Elena: Нет, это не музей. |
Yuriy: “No, this is not a museum.” The second intonation sounds like this: |
Elena: Это музей? |
Yuriy: “Is it a museum?” The stress is put on the word Это, meaning “Is it”, showing that the speaker probably thinks that the building is a museum but wants to hear confirmation of it. The answer to this question will be... |
Elena: Да, это. or Нет, не это. |
Yuriy: “Yes, it is.” or “No, it is not.” Let’s compare the two intonations. |
Elena: Это музей? Это музей? |
Yuriy: Okay, that’s it for this lesson. For more examples and information, please check the lesson notes. |
Outro
|
Elena: Thanks for listening everyone. |
Yuriy: See you in our next lesson. |
Elena: До скорого встречи! |
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