Learn how to form comparative adjectives
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Yuriy: Hello and welcome back to RussianPod101.com. This is Lower Beginner season 1, lesson 7 - Shopping for an Outfit in Russia. I’m Yuriy. |
| Elena: А я Елена. Привет. I’m Elena. |
| Yuriy: In this lesson, you'll learn how to form comparative adjectives in Russian. |
| Elena: This conversation takes place in a clothing store. |
| Yuriy: The speakers are strangers, so they’ll be using formal Russian. Okay! Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Лера: Можно посмотреть это синее пальто? |
| Продавец: Да, конечно. |
| Лера: Скажите, пожалуйста, оно теплое? На носу зима и мне нужно самое теплое пальто, так как я - мерзлячка, и мне постоянно холодно. |
| Продавец: Синее пальто конечно теплое, но вот это, коричневое, теплее. |
| Лера: Сколько оно стоит? |
| Продавец: Около 1000 долларов. |
| Лера: Ого, как дорого, а у вас есть более дешевое пальто? |
| Lera: Mozhno posmotret' eto sineye pal'to? |
| Prodavets: Da, konechno. |
| Lera: Skazhite, pozhaluysta, ono teploye? Na nosu zima i mne nuzhno samoye teploye pal'to, tak kak ya - merzlyachka, i mne postoyanno kholodno. |
| Prodavets: Sineye pal'to, konechno, teploye, no vot eto, korichnevoye, tepleye. |
| Lera: Skol'ko ono stoit? |
| Prodavets: Okolo 1000 dollarov. |
| Lera: Ogo, kak dorogo, a u vas yest' boleye deshevoye pal'to? |
| Лера: Можно посмотреть это синее пальто? |
| Yuriy: Can I see this blue coat? |
| Продавец: Да, конечно. |
| Yuriy: Yes, of course. |
| Лера: Скажите, пожалуйста, оно теплое? На носу зима и мне нужно самое теплое пальто, так как я - мерзлячка, и мне постоянно холодно. |
| Yuriy: Tell me, is it warm? Winter is coming, and I need the warmest coat because I'm a cold-sensitive person and I'm constantly cold. |
| Продавец: Синее пальто конечно теплое, но вот это, коричневое, теплее. |
| Yuriy: The blue coat is certainly warm, but the brown one is warmer. |
| Лера: Сколько оно стоит? |
| Yuriy: How much does it cost? |
| Продавец: Около 1000 долларов. |
| Yuriy: About one thousand dollars. |
| Лера: Ого, как дорого, а у вас есть более дешевое пальто? |
| Yuriy: Wow, how expensive. Do you have any cheaper ones? |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Yuriy: So Elena, what are the winters in Moscow like? |
| Elena: Winters are cold. Sometimes there are heavy snowfalls, strong winds, and snow storms. The coldest month is February, so be sure to take a warm coat if you’re going then! |
| Yuriy: Do Russians like winter? |
| Elena: I think it depends on the person. But there are many holidays in winter, so that’s something to look forward to! New Year’s, Christmas, Old New Year’s, and the Baptism of Jesus. Because Christmas and New Year’s are very close to each other, Russians used to have official holidays for about 8 to 10 days. |
| Yuriy: I heard that Christmas in Russia is a little bit different than in Catholic countries. |
| Elena: Yes, that’s right. Christmas is considered a calm, family holiday. On this day, people go to church and spend time surrounded by family and close friends. |
| Yuriy: That sounds nice! Okay, now let’s move on to the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Elena синее [natural native speed] |
| Yuriy blue, dark blue |
| Elena синее [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elena синее [natural native speed] |
| Elena пальто [natural native speed] |
| Yuriy coat |
| Elena пальто [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elena пальто [natural native speed] |
| Elena на носу [natural native speed] |
| Yuriy near at hand, soon |
| Elena на носу [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elena на носу [natural native speed] |
| Elena зима [natural native speed] |
| Yuriy winter |
| Elena зима [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elena зима [natural native speed] |
| Elena так как [natural native speed] |
| Yuriy because, since, as |
| Elena так как [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elena так как [natural native speed] |
| Elena мерзлячка [natural native speed] |
| Yuriy someone with low tolerance to cold weather (female version) |
| Elena мерзлячка [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elena мерзлячка [natural native speed] |
| Elena постоянно [natural native speed] |
| Yuriy constantly, always |
| Elena постоянно [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elena постоянно [natural native speed] |
| Elena дешёвый [natural native speed] |
| Yuriy cheap |
| Elena дешёвый [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elena дешёвый [natural native speed] |
| Elena около [natural native speed] |
| Yuriy about, around, near |
| Elena около [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elena около [natural native speed] |
| Elena коричневое [natural native speed] |
| Yuriy brown |
| Elena коричневое [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elena коричневое [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 for this lesson is... |
| Elena: ...на носу... |
| Yuriy: ...which can be translated as “near at hand” or “soon”. Let's look at the example from the dialogue: |
| Elena: На носу зима и мне нужно самое теплое пальто. |
| Yuriy: “Winter is coming and I need the warmest coat.” Elena, what does на носу mean? |
| Elena: Well, let’s break it down; the preposition на means “on”, while the noun носу means “nose” in the prepositional case. |
| Yuriy: So literally, this phrase means “on the nose”? |
| Elena: Exactly. It’s kind of like something is so close, that it’s hard not to notice it or forget about it. |
| Yuriy: I can imagine that. Like when you have a fly on your nose - you can feel it but you can’t even see it. |
| Elena: Kind of, but here, it has a more figurative meaning. It refers to events. |
| Yuriy: You mean that some event is approaching or coming soon? |
| Elena: Yes, the fact that it will happen very soon, means it’s “on the nose”. |
| Yuriy: Hmm, I think we need to give the listeners some examples. |
| Elena: На носу экзамены, а он гуляет. |
| Yuriy: “The exams are soon, but he’s going out and having fun.” |
| Elena: На носу Новый год, а мы еще не купили ёлку. |
| Yuriy: “New Year’s is coming but we still haven't bought a tree.” Okay, I think I see the pattern! What’s the next word? |
| Elena: The second key word is мерзлячка, which can be translated as a person who has a low tolerance for cold weather. |
| Yuriy: Is мерзлячка a feminine or masculine noun? |
| Elena: It’s feminine. If we are talking about a man, we’d say мерзляк. |
| Yuriy: This word is very informal, and is used in a sort of joking way, meaning a person who is very sensitive to the cold, who feels chilly even when the weather is fine or warm. |
| Elena: It’s better to use this word about ourselves rather than other people. |
| Yuriy: Right. Let’s hear an example. |
| Elena: Она такая мерзлячка, что одевает шубу весной. |
| Yuriy: “She is so sensitive to the cold that she wears a fur coat in spring.” Okay, now onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Yuriy: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to form comparative adjectives in Russian. As in English, adjectives in Russian can be used to compare the qualities of nouns. |
| Elena: In Russian, comparisons can be made in two ways. |
| Yuriy: The first way is the easiest one. All you need to do is just add special words to normal adjectives, agreeing with the noun in gender, number, and case. These words are |
| Elena: более |
| Yuriy: “more” |
| Elena: более [pause] чем |
| Yuriy: “more [pause] than” |
| Elena: менее |
| Yuriy: “less” |
| Elena: менее [pause] чем |
| Yuriy: “less [pause] than”. Can you give us some example sentences? |
| Elena: Фильм ‘Аватар’ более интересный. |
| Yuriy: “The movie ‘Avatar’ is more interesting.” |
| Elena: Фильм ‘Аватар’ более интересный, чем фильм ‘Титаник’. |
| Yuriy: “The movie ‘Avatar’ is more interesting than the movie ‘Titanic’.” |
| Elena: As you can see, the grammar is similar to English. We just add the words “more” or “less” to a regular adjective. |
| Yuriy: Lets give some more examples. |
| Elena: Этот дом более красивый, чем тот. |
| Yuriy: “This house is more beautiful than that one.” |
| Elena: Коричневое пальто менее дорогое, чем синее. |
| Yuriy: “The brown coat is less expensive than the blue one.” What’s the next way of forming comparative adjectives in Russian? |
| Elena: The comparative degree of adjectives can be formed by adding the suffix ee to the stem of an adjective. |
| Yuriy: How do you do it? |
| Elena: It’s very easy; just remove the ending of an adjective and add ee to a stem. |
| Yuriy: Can you give an example please? |
| Elena: Of course. For example, the adjective тёплый, “warm”. First, let’s find the stem. |
| Yuriy: That would be тёпл-, right? |
| Elena: Yes. Теплый is an adjective where тёпл- is the stem and -ый is the ending. So, remove the ending and add ee, and you get теплее, “warmer”. |
| Yuriy: And an example sentence please. |
| Elena: Эта книга интереснее. |
| Yuriy: “This book is more interesting.” |
| Elena: Please remember that the comparative adjectives whose stems end in г, к, х, д, and т change the last letter of the stem to ж, ч, or ш plus the suffix e. If a stem ends in the consonants ст, you should change them to the letter -щ. |
| Yuriy: You can read about it in more detail in the lesson notes. The superlative degree is formed by adding to the standard adjective the word for “the most” in either masculine, feminine, neuter, or plural forms, which are самый, самая, самое, and самые, respectively. For example... |
| Elena: Саша - самая красивая девушка. |
| Yuriy: “Sasha is the most beautiful girl.” |
| Elena: Эти часы самые дорогие. |
| Yuriy: “This watch is the most expensive.” |
Outro |
| Elena: Okay, that’s it for this lesson. |
| Yuriy: Thanks for listening everyone! Bye! |
| Elena: Спасибо вам большое и до скорой встречи! |
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