Learn how to form plural nouns
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Yuriy: Hello and welcome back to RussianPod101.com. This is Lower Beginner season 1, lesson 4 - This Your Russian Family? I’m Yuriy. |
| Elena: А я Елена. Привет. I’m Elena. |
| Yuriy: In this lesson, you'll learn how to form plural nouns in Russian. |
| Elena: The conversation takes place in a cafe and is between Lera and Alex. |
| Yuriy: The speakers are friends, so they’ll be using informal Russian. Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Лера: Алекс, что это? |
| Алекс: Это мой фотоальбом. |
| Лера: Можно посмотреть? |
| Алекс: Конечно. Это мои фотографии. Вот мои родители. Рядом мой старший брат. Он-профессор и преподает в университете. |
| Лера: А это кто? Твои друзья? |
| Алекс: Да. Они-врачи. А это моя младшая сестра. |
| Лера: Какая симпатичная. Она наверное модель? |
| Алекс: Ха-ха, я передам ей твои слова. Нет. Она-юрист. |
| Lera: Aleks, chto eto? |
| Aleks: Eto moy fotoal'bom. |
| Lera: Mozhno posmotret'? |
| Aleks: Konechno. Eto moi fotografii. Vot moi roditeli. Ryadom moy starshiy brat. On-professor i prepodayet v universitete. |
| Lera: A eto kto? Tvoi druz'ya? |
| Aleks: Da. Oni-vrachi. A eto moya mladshaya sestra |
| Lera: Kakaya simpatichnaya. Ona navernoye model'? |
| Aleks: Kha-kha, ya peredam yey tvoi slova. Net. Ona-yurist. |
| Лера: Алекс, что это? |
| Yuriy: Alex, what is this? |
| Алекс: Это мой фотоальбом. |
| Yuriy: This is my photo album. |
| Лера: Можно посмотреть? |
| Yuriy: Can I have a look? |
| Алекс: Конечно. Это мои фотографии. Вот мои родители. Рядом мой старший брат. Он-профессор и преподает в университете. |
| Yuriy: Of course. These are my pictures. Here are my parents. Next to them is my older brother. He is a professor and teaches at university. |
| Лера: А это кто? Твои друзья? |
| Yuriy: And who are they? Are they your friends? |
| Алекс: Да. Они-врачи. А это моя младшая сестра. |
| Yuriy: Yes. They're doctors. And this is my younger sister. |
| Лера: Какая симпатичная. Она наверное модель? |
| Yuriy: She is so pretty. I'm guessing she's probably a model? |
| Алекс: Ха-ха, я передам ей твои слова. Нет. Она-юрист. |
| Yuriy: Haha, I'll tell her you said so. No. She's a lawyer. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Yuriy: It seems like Alex has a talented family – his brother is a professor and his sister is a pretty lawyer. Elena do you have brothers and sisters? |
| Elena: Yes, I have a sister and I can safely say she is sooo pretty. [laughs] |
| Yuriy: Is she also a lawyer? |
| Elena: Haha, no, she’s a dentist. Actually, women in Russia are very independent. Women play a very important role in the Russian family. A wife is not only highly regarded, but she’s also considered to be the person who makes a home a home. |
| Yuriy: What else can you tell us about Russian families? |
| Elena: Well, it’s not uncommon for retired parents to still be supporting their children financially. |
| Yuriy: Oh, so it seems like some parents take a little too much care of their kids! Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Elena фотоальбом [natural native speed] |
| Yuriy photo album |
| Elena фотоальбом [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elena фотоальбом [natural native speed] |
| Elena фотографии [natural native speed] |
| Yuriy photos |
| Elena фотографии [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elena фотографии [natural native speed] |
| Elena слова [natural native speed] |
| Yuriy words |
| Elena слова [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elena слова [natural native speed] |
| Elena профессор [natural native speed] |
| Yuriy professor |
| Elena профессор [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elena профессор [natural native speed] |
| Elena передавать [natural native speed] |
| Yuriy to tell, to pass |
| Elena передавать [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elena передавать [natural native speed] |
| Elena юрист [natural native speed] |
| Yuriy lawyer |
| Elena юрист [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elena юрист [natural native speed] |
| Elena преподавать [natural native speed] |
| Yuriy to teach |
| Elena преподавать [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elena преподавать [natural native speed] |
| Elena симпатичная [natural native speed] |
| Yuriy pretty |
| Elena симпатичная [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elena симпатичная [natural native speed] |
| Elena друзья [natural native speed] |
| Yuriy friends |
| Elena друзья [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elena друзья [natural native speed] |
| Elena рядом [natural native speed] |
| Yuriy near, close |
| Elena рядом [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elena рядом [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 vocabulary word for this lesson is... |
| Elena: модель, which can be translated as a “model”... |
| Yuriy: ...as in a person who is employed to promote some commercial goods, clothes, cosmetics, shampoo, and so on. |
| Elena: In Russian, as in English, the word модель or “model” can be used for both women and men. |
| Yuriy: Can you give some examples? |
| Elena: Алина - модель Виктория Сикрет. |
| Yuriy: “Alina is a model for Victoria’s Secret.” |
| Elena: Антон работает моделью. |
| Yuriy: “Anton is working as a model.” |
| Yuriy: But this word also means “pattern”, “sample”, or maquette”. For example... |
| Elena: У меня на столе стоит модель самолёта. |
| Yuriy: “I have a model airplane on my table.” Okay I think it’s clear now! What’s the next word? |
| Elena: передавать, which is translated as “to tell” or “to pass”. |
| Yuriy: The first meaning of this verb is “to pass” or “to hand” something from one person to another. For example: |
| Elena: Передайте хлеб, пожалуйста. |
| Yuriy: “Could you pass the bread please?” |
| Elena: Я купила подарок для Инны, передай ей его пожалуйста. |
| Yuriy: “I bought a present for Inna. Could you give it to her please.” The second meaning is “to tell”, “to take a message”, or “to transfer some information” or news from one person to another. For example... |
| Elena: Передай Оксане от меня привет. |
| Yuriy: “Tell Oksana ‘hello’ from me.” |
| Elena: Я передам ему твою информацию. |
| Yuriy: “I will pass your information on to him.” Okay, now onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Yuriy: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to form plural nouns in the nominative case. |
| Elena: To form plurals in English, you simply add the letter 's', but in Russian, there are four types of endings to form plurals: Ы , И, А, and Я. |
| Yuriy: There are several rules that determine which to choose. The ending Ы will have masculine nouns, which end in consonants in the singular form and feminine nouns ending in а in the singular form. For example…. |
| Elena: стол |
| Yuriy: “a table” |
| Elena: столы |
| Yuriy: “tables”. As you see, all you need to do is just add ы to a consonant. |
| Elena: To form plural feminine nouns you have to remove the last letter, а, from the singular form of the noun and add the ending ы. For example, комната... |
| Yuriy: “a room” |
| Elena: комнаты |
| Yuriy: “rooms”. But masculine and feminine nouns can also have the ending И if they’re masculine nouns ending in й, ь, or ий, or feminine nouns ending in ь, я, or ия. |
| Elena: In this case, you have to remove the last letters й and ь, and add the ending и to the stem of the noun. For example, словарь... |
| Yuriy: …”dictionary” |
| Elena: словари |
| Yuriy: “dictionaries” |
| Elena: санаторий |
| Yuriy: “health resort” |
| Elena: санатории |
| Yuriy: “health resorts” |
| Elena: площадь |
| Yuriy: “square” |
| Elena: площади |
| Yuriy: “squares”. But there’s one more rule. If in the singular form, masculine and feminine nouns have stems ending in г, к, х, ж, ч, ш, or щ, the ending in plural form will be И. To form a plural noun, you need to remove the ending and add the plural form ending to the stem. For example... |
| Elena: врач |
| Yuriy: “doctor” |
| Elena: врачи |
| Yuriy: “doctors” |
| Elena: старуха |
| Yuriy: “old woman” |
| Elena: старухи |
| Yuriy: “old women”. What about neuter nouns, Elena? |
| Elena: To form plural neuter nouns, you need to change their ending from о to a, and from е or Ие to я or ия respectively. |
| Yuriy: Let’s hear some examples. |
| Elena: письмо |
| Yuriy: “a letter” |
| Elena: письма |
| Yuriy: “letters” |
| Elena: поле |
| Yuriy: “field” |
| Elena: поля |
| Yuriy: “fields” |
| Elena: общежитие |
| Yuriy: dormitory |
| Elena: общежития |
| Yuriy: Dormitories. So listeners, do you see how they change for the plural forms? And that brings us to the end of the lesson. In the next lesson, we’ll learn how to form plural adjectives. |
Outro |
| Yuriy: Thanks for listening everyone! |
| Elena: Спасибо вам большое и до скорой встречи! |
| Yuriy: Пока-пока. |
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