Learn about the usage of the instrumental case in describing professions
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Yuriy: Hello and welcome back to RussianPod101.com. This is Lower Beginner season 1, lesson 20 - Who do you want to be in Russia? I’m Yuriy. |
| Elena: А я Елена. Привет. I’m Elena. |
| Yuriy: In this lesson, you'll learn about the usage of the Instrumental case in describing professions. |
| Elena: The conversation takes place in a cafe. |
| Yuriy: The speakers are friends, so they’ll be using informal Russian. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Лера:Алекс, кем ты мечтал стать в детстве? |
| Алекс:Как и многие дети, космонавтом. Мечтал увидеть Землю с космоса, Луну, открыть новые планеты. А сейчас работаю менеджером, так что пришлось отложить мечту в долгий ящик. А ты? |
| Лера:Сначала я хотела стать врачом, потом поваром. |
| Алекс:Жаль, что не стала, ведь у тебя золотые руки. Ты очень вкусно готовишь. |
| Lera: Aleks, kem ty mechtal stat' v detstve? |
| Aleks: Kak i mnogiye deti, kosmonavtom. Mechtal uvidet' Zemlyu s kosmosa, Lunu, otkryt' novyye planety. A seychas rabotayu menedzherom, tak chto prishlos' otlozhit' mechtu v dolgiy yashchik. A ty? |
| Lera: Snachala ya khotela stat' vrachom, potom povarom. |
| Aleks: Zhal', chto ne stala, ved' u tebya zolotyye ruki. Ty ochen' vkusno gotovish'. |
| Лера:Алекс, кем ты мечтал стать в детстве? |
| Yuriy: Alex, what did you want to be in your childhood? |
| Алекс:Как и многие дети, космонавтом. Мечтал увидеть Землю с космоса, Луну, открыть новые планеты. А сейчас работаю менеджером, так что пришлось отложить мечту в долгий ящик. А ты? |
| Yuriy: A cosmonaut, like many other kids. I dreamed to see the Earth from space, to see the Moon, and to discover new planets. Now, I work as a manager, so I had to put off my dream. And you? |
| Лера:Сначала я хотела стать врачом, потом поваром. |
| Yuriy: First, I wanted to become a doctor, then a cook. |
| Алекс:Жаль, что не стала, ведь у тебя золотые руки. Ты очень вкусно готовишь. |
| Yuriy: I wish you had become one, because you have a golden touch. You cook really delicious food. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Yuriy: Elena, I read that the most common dream for boys in the Soviet Union was to be a cosmonaut. Why? |
| Elena: It's because of Yuriy Gagarin. Have you heard about him? |
| Yuriy: Of course. He was a famous Soviet pilot, and the first person in the world to journey into outer space. He was there for 108 minutes. I can’t remember which year, though... |
| Elena: It was 1961. So long ago! And it was on April 12. From then on, April 12 has been considered to be Cosmonautics Day, which is celebrated in Russia as well as in some other former Soviet Union countries. |
| Yuriy: He died in plane crash, right? |
| Elena: That's true. In 1968, something extraordinary happened during his training flight. |
| Yuriy: The reasons and circumstances of his death are not clear even today, and there are many theories about how it happened. |
| Elena: There are many documentaries about this. |
| Yuriy: So check them out if you’re interested, listeners! |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Elena космонавт [natural native speed] |
| Yuriy cosmonaut |
| Elena космонавт [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elena космонавт [natural native speed] |
| Elena земля [natural native speed] |
| Yuriy the Earth, land |
| Elena земля [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elena земля [natural native speed] |
| Elena космос [natural native speed] |
| Yuriy space, universe, cosmos |
| Elena космос [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elena космос [natural native speed] |
| Elena луна [natural native speed] |
| Yuriy Moon |
| Elena луна [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elena луна [natural native speed] |
| Elena планета [natural native speed] |
| Yuriy Planet |
| Elena планета [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elena планета [natural native speed] |
| Elena детство [natural native speed] |
| Yuriy childhood |
| Elena детство [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elena детство [natural native speed] |
| Elena золотые руки [natural native speed] |
| Yuriy golden touch, clever fingers (lit. "golden hands") |
| Elena золотые руки [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elena золотые руки [natural native speed] |
| Elena вкусно [natural native speed] |
| Yuriy tasty, delicious |
| Elena вкусно [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elena вкусно [natural native speed] |
| Elena пришлось [natural native speed] |
| Yuriy had to |
| Elena пришлось [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elena пришлось [natural native speed] |
| Elena откладывать в долгий ящик [natural native speed] |
| Yuriy to put off |
| Elena откладывать в долгий ящик [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elena откладывать в долгий ящик [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 phrase for this lesson is... |
| Elena: золотые руки, which can be translated as "clever fingers" or a "golden touch." |
| Yuriy: Now let's break down this phrase to see the meaning of each word. The adjective золотые means "golden," and the noun руки means “hands.” So the literal translation of this phrase is “golden hands.” |
| Elena: This phrase is used in two ways. |
| Yuriy: We use this phrase when we want to emphasize that someone is a real professional in what he or she is doing. For example... |
| Elena: Антон - работник-золотые руки, посмотри какой он сделал ремонт в своей квартире! |
| Yuriy: "Anton is a worker with clever hands, just look how he repaired his apartment!" And we also use this phrase when we want to point out that, someone is able to succeed in a profession related to physical activity with the hands. For example... |
| Elena: У Алины золотые руки. Она может сшить любое платье. |
| Yuriy: "Alina has clever fingers. She can sew any dress." Ok. what is the next phrase for this lesson? |
| Elena: It's откладывать в долгий ящик, which can be translated as “to put off." |
| Yuriy: The phrase consists of four words—the preposition в, which means “in;” the verb откладывать, which means “to put off” |
| Elena: ...then the adjective долгий, which means “long;” and the masculine noun ящик, which means “box." |
| Yuriy: So the literal translation of this phrase is "to put off in a long box." |
| Elena: Right. We use this phrase when some business must be delayed for an unknown period of time. |
| Yuriy: It expresses dissatisfaction, and sometimes annoyance with the situation. |
| Yuriy: For example... |
| Elena: Сделай домашнее задание сейчас, не откладывай в долгий ящик! |
| Yuriy: "Do your homework now, don't put it off!" Ok, now onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Yuriy: In this lesson, you’ll learn about the use of the instrumental case in describing professions, as well as in the grammar structure “together with.” |
| Elena: In the previous lesson, you learned that the instrumental case is used to describe the means by which the action is performed. |
| Yuriy: But that's not all. The instrumental case is also widely used to describe one's job. If you want to express who you are according to your work in Russian, you should use the instrumental case. |
| Elena: It's usually used with the nouns that follow verbs such as становиться or стать. |
| Yuriy: "to become" |
| Elena: быть |
| Yuriy: "to be" |
| Elena: ...and работать |
| Yuriy: "to work." It's used if such nouns refer to a state of being, an occupation, function, or status. For example... |
| Elena: Он работает учителем в школе. |
| Yuriy: "He works as a teacher at school." Or another example... |
| Elena: Мой дедушка был художником. |
| Yuriy: "My grandfather was a painter." How about one more... |
| Elena: Кем ты хочешь быть? - Я хочу переводчиком. |
| Yuriy: "What do you want to be?" - "I want to be a translator." The instrumental case is used after the prepositions [с] or [со], having the meaning “with,” or else in the grammar structure “together with someone.” Here the word “together” is translated as вместе and the preposition “with” is translated as [с] or [со] depending on the pronoun following the preposition. For example... |
| Elena: Мы с дочкой поехали на море. |
| Yuriy: "My daughter and I went to the sea." Or another example... |
| Elena: Попробуйте салат с сыром, он очень вкусный. |
| Yuriy: "Please try a salad with cheese, It's very delicious." Elena, another example please. |
| Elena: Эта квартира с большим балконом и кондиционером. |
| Yuriy: "This apartment comes with a large balcony and air conditioner." OK, one last example... |
| Elena: Кто пойдет вместе со мной в магазин? |
| Yuriy: "Who will go with me to the store?" |
Outro |
| Yuriy: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Be sure to take a look at the lesson notes for more examples and explanations. Thanks for listening everyone, and we’ll see you next time! |
| Elena: Спасибо вам большое и до скорой встречи! |
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