Learn Russian pronouns
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Oksana: [Привет всем! С Вами Оксана.] |
| Eddie: Eddie here. Lower Intermediate Series Season 1, Lesson 17. We’re talking about some problems in the workplace today, am I right? |
| Oksana: Absolutely. Last time we left our characters in the middle of an unpleasant conversation. The boss of one company was telling off one of his employees. |
| Eddie: He should fire him right away. Who keeps a worker who’s regularly late and shows up for work with a hangover? |
| Oksana: Yeah, well, I'm sure that’s what they would do in Britain. But in Russia half of the population would lose their jobs on these grounds. |
| Eddie: Are you serious? |
| Oksana: I'm exaggerating a bit, but really let’s see how it goes later. Maybe this guy is not that useless. |
| Eddie: Ok, let’s see. Maybe the next conversation will open some positive sides of this guy to us. Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Oksana: Иван, где Ваш отчёт за прошлый месяц? |
| Eddie: Я его закончил вчера, но я не могу его найти… |
| Oksana: Как так можно! Вы медлительный, рассеянный и безответственный работник! |
| Eddie: Вот, я нашёл отчёт! |
| Oksana: Он мятый и на нём следы кофе и шоколада... Иван!!! |
| Eddie: Once again, more slowly. |
| Oksana: Еще раз, медленнее. Иван, где Ваш отчёт за прошлый месяц? |
| Eddie: Я его закончил вчера, но я не могу его найти… |
| Oksana: Как так можно! Вы медлительный, рассеянный и безответственный работник! |
| Eddie: Вот, я нашёл отчёт! |
| Oksana: Он мятый и на нём следы кофе и шоколада... Иван!!! |
| Eddie: Once again with a translation. |
| Oksana: Еще раз, с переводом. Иван, где Ваш отчёт за прошлый месяц? |
| Eddie: Ivan, where is your report on the last month? |
| Oksana: Я его закончил вчера, но я не могу его найти… |
| Eddie: I finished it yesterday, but I can't find it… |
| Oksana: Как так можно! Вы медлительный, рассеянный и безответственный работник! |
| Eddie: How can you be like this! You are sluggish, absent-minded, and an irresponsible worker! |
| Oksana: Вот, я нашёл отчёт! |
| Eddie: Here, I found the report! |
| Oksana: Он мятый и на нём следы кофе и шоколада... Иван!!! |
| Eddie: It's crumpled and it has coffee and chocolate stains on it...Ivan!!! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Oksana: Ok, I guess we’re dealing with a very difficult case here. The guy is hopeless. Losing the report, then basically taking it out of the garbage… |
| Eddie: I told you, if a person is constantly late and can let himself show up to work half drunk, then there are going to be frustrating things about this person happening again and again. It’s just his nature, his lifestyle, his attitude to work and life in general. |
| Oksana: I understand it’s quite frustrating, but it’s easy to say that you wouldn’t put up with it and would fire the guy right away. I don’t think it’s that simple. Besides, we could give him another chance in another lesson, what do you think? |
| Eddie: Ok, but her better use this chance or I'm going to fire him myself. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Ok, what’s the vocabulary for today’s lesson? Let’s listen to it. The first word is… |
| Oksana: [Отчет] |
| Eddie: A report. |
| Oksana: [Отчет] |
| Eddie: Next. |
| Oksana: [Закончить] |
| Eddie: To finish. |
| Oksana: [Закончить] |
| Eddie: Next. |
| Oksana: [Найти] |
| Eddie: To find. |
| Oksana: [Найти] |
| Eddie: Next. |
| Oksana: [Как так можно?!] |
| Eddie: How can it be, how can you do that, how is it possible? |
| Oksana: [Как так можно?!] |
| Eddie: Next. |
| Oksana: [Медлительный] |
| Eddie: Sluggish, slow (about character). |
| Oksana: [Медлительный] |
| Eddie: Next. |
| Oksana: [Рассеянный] |
| Eddie: Absent-minded, scatter-brained. |
| Oksana: [Рассеянный] |
| Eddie: Next. |
| Oksana: [Безответственный] |
| Eddie: Irresponsible. |
| Oksana: [Безответственный] |
| Eddie: Next. |
| Oksana: [Работник] |
| Eddie: Worker. |
| Oksana: [Работник] |
| Eddie: Next. |
| Oksana: [Мятый] |
| Eddie: Crumpled, wrinkled. |
| Oksana: [Мятый] |
| Eddie: Next. |
| Oksana: [След] |
| Eddie: Trace, track, sign, footprint, stain. |
| Oksana: [След] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Eddie: Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is “report”. |
| Oksana: [Отчет]. Usually we say [написать отчет], “to write a report”, or [сдать отчет], “to hand in a report”. But you can also make it a verb, [отчитываться], which will mean “to report to someone”. |
| Eddie: Ivan had to hand in some report for the past month. The preposition [за] stands for the English “for” here and [прошлый месяц] is just a phrase for the past month. And here goes his lame explanation again. “I finished it yesterday, but I can’t find it.” This guy is really getting on my nerves. |
| Oksana: Well, at least he [закончил] the report. But who needs it if you can’t [найти] it. The word [найти] is “to find”, but I just wanted to tell you how to use it in the past tense because its past forms are quite different from the present. So if it’s a guy who found something, we’d say [нашел]. If it’s a girl, [нашла]. |
| Eddie: And, just to compare, how would you say “to look for something”? |
| Oksana: “To look for” or “to search” would be [искать]. |
| Eddie: Ok, great. Next we have the angry boss exploding. |
| Oksana: [Как так можно?!] |
| Eddie: I think you picked on his frustration and expressed it perfectly. Literally, this phrase means “how like this possible?” Usually it’s directed to a person you’re dissatisfied with in order to scold him, express your frustration, disappointment, irritation, annoyance, or even anger. |
| Oksana: It can be translated as “How could you do this? You’re impossible” and so on, right? |
| Eddie: I got some stronger words in my head but… |
| Oksana: But no, it’s not anything offensive. It’s quite a polite phrase. |
| Eddie: Ok. Oh, here comes my favorite part. Now the boss is going to say exactly what he thinks about this… |
| Oksana: Stop right there. We’re not going to talk offensive here, although even the most polite truth can be offensive to some sensitive people. |
| Eddie: Not Ivan, I don’t think. Being this sort of guy, he’s probably immune to the critics. Better to say, he probably doesn’t even hear them. |
| Oksana: Yeah, I'm sure he knows how [безответственный] he is. |
| Eddie: Extremely irresponsible. By the way, the prefix [без] in Russian means “without”, therefore to build the word for responsible, we simply drop the prefix [без] and get [ответственный]. |
| Oksana: He’s also [рассеянный], “absent-minded”. |
| Eddie: I think we should give an explanation into this word too. What’s the opposite of [рассеянный], Oksana? |
| Oksana: There are several antonyms to this word but the most common one is probably [внимательный], “attentive”. |
| Eddie: I see. Can you say [невнимательный]? |
| Oksana: Yeah, sure. [Невнимательный] means “inattentive”, very popular word teachers tell the kids at schools. [Ты такой невнимательный] “You’re so absent-minded or inattentive.” |
| Eddie: Great self-confidence booster. But anyway, what’s the matter with Ivan? What else is he besides irresponsible and absent-minded? |
| Oksana: Unfortunately he’s also [медлительный]. |
| Eddie: “Sluggish, slow”. You can’t use this word to describe the speed of the object movement. This is a character feature which describes a person as dull and slow-moving. How can you describe a person with the opposite features? |
| Oksana: I got more than one antonym because these words are all equally popular. [Энергичный], “energetic”, [активный], “active”, [расторопный], “quick, efficient”. |
| Eddie: And no matter how many antonyms to the word [медлительный] you can come up with, Ivan isn’t any of them. Let’s move on. |
| Oksana: In the last lesson, we learned the words like [сотрудник] and [подчиненный], “a coworker, employee” depending on the situation and “a subordinate”. Today we’ll learn another word - [работник]. |
| Eddie: Which simply means “worker”. You can say, for example, [Он хороший работник] or [Она хороший работник]. This word is used in masculine gender for both men and women. |
| Oksana: Yes, but Ivan is obviously [плохой работник]. |
| Eddie: Bad worker, yes, but he found the report, finally. Did that make his boss happy? |
| Oksana: Not really because it’s all [мятый], “crumpled”. [Мятый] is an adjective you can use with clothes, for example, [мятая одежда, мятая футболка]. |
| Eddie: “Wrinkled clothing. Wrinkled shirt.” Is there a verb “to crumple” that is similar to [мятый]? |
| Oksana: Well, yeah, it’s almost the same. [Мять]. For example, [мять бумагу], “to crumple a paper”. |
| Eddie: But Ivan’s report is not only crumpled, it also has… |
| Oksana: [Следы кофе и шоколада] |
| Eddie: We don’t need to explain to you what [кофе] and [шоколад] are, but what is [следы], Oksana? |
| Oksana: Here it can be translated as “stains”, I guess, but actually it can also mean “footprints”, “marks”, “tracks”. Oh, and it’s plural here. If we were talking about one footprint, track or mark, we should say [след]. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Eddie: Time to talk about grammar for a bit. What are we going to focus on today, Oksana? |
| Oksana: I was thinking the pronouns. We have so many of them in our dialogue, plus I think Russian pronouns can be one of the most confusing parts of the Russian language. |
| Eddie: Oh, that’s so true. There are so many pronouns in the Russian language and it takes some time to learn them all because each of the Russian pronouns decline according to their case. |
| Oksana: Ok, stop scaring people. Let’s take a look at the pronouns from today’s dialogue first. |
| Eddie: Remember, today we’re only talking about personal pronouns like “I”, “me”, “he”, “she” and so on. We’re not including possessive pronouns like “mine” or “yours” in this lesson. |
| Oksana: That’s right. So here are the pronouns from the dialogue. [Я] “I”, [его] “him”, [Вы ] “you” (polite or plural), [он] “him”, [на нем] “on him”. |
| Eddie: There are only three pronouns that are used in their primary forms. [Я, Вы] and [он]. The rest of them are modified according to different cases. Oh, and the word “report”, [отчет], is referred to as “he” because it’s masculine |
| Oksana: Right, so what’s the trickiest thing about the Russian pronouns. |
| Eddie: I’ve said that already. They’re used in all six grammar cases and they’re all different. What could be trickier? |
| Oksana: Ok, don’t work yourself up about it. Let’s take a look at the pronouns in each of these cases. Slow, step by step, I'm sure you’ll find them not so difficult in the end. |
| Eddie: I think I have to start with changing my attitude. I have some mental block on these pronouns. I'm letting it go. Ok, you can start. |
| Oksana: Thanks. So first we have the nominative case. This case equals to all the simple forms of all nouns and pronouns you see in the dictionary. So basically they are the following. [Я] |
| Eddie: I. |
| Oksana: [Мы] |
| Eddie: We. |
| Oksana: [Ты] |
| Eddie: You (singular, informal). |
| Oksana: [Вы] |
| Eddie: You (plural or polite). |
| Oksana: [Он] |
| Eddie: He. |
| Oksana: [Она] |
| Eddie: She. |
| Oksana: [Оно] |
| Eddie: It. |
| Oksana: [Они] |
| Eddie: “They.” Right. These we are very familiar with. The pronouns in the nominative case always answer the questions “what?” or “who?”. |
| Oksana: Like in [Кто это? Это я] or [Это мы]. |
| Eddie: Ok, that was easy. Next in the list is the genitive case if I'm not mistaken. |
| Oksana: Oh, you’re not. It is genitive. What do you remember about this case in general? |
| Eddie: Well, it’s used to show that something or somebody belongs or refers to something or somebody. It can be translated by the preposition of or an apostrophe in English. Oh, and it’s also used in negations, like in a sentence “I don’t have something”. |
| Oksana: Good, I think that sums up the function of this case pretty well. |
| Eddie: So what are the pronouns for this case? |
| Oksana: Here they are. [Меня] |
| Eddie: Me. |
| Oksana: [Тебя] |
| Eddie: You (informal). |
| Oksana: [Его] |
| Eddie: Him. |
| Oksana: [Ее] |
| Eddie: Her. |
| Oksana: [Нас] |
| Eddie: Us. |
| Oksana: [Вас] |
| Eddie: You (formal or plural). |
| Oksana: [Их] |
| Eddie: “Them”. I think it’s always easier to understand things through the examples. I mean we’re throwing a phrase, it indicates possession and then giving a bunch of pronouns, but where should we put them in a sentence? |
| Oksana: You’re quite short-tempered, aren’t you? I have examples for you, don't worry. For example [У меня] or [У него] or [у нее, у них, у нас / есть телефон]. |
| Eddie: “I” or “he/she/they/we have a phone.” |
| Oksana: [Его нет дома] |
| Eddie: “He’s not at home.” First we used it in a sentence which indicated possession, and second with the negation. Ok, what’s the third case? Is it the accusative? |
| Oksana: Well, if you want to talk about the accusative next, how can I say no? |
| Eddie: Let me explain. The case that shows a person or thing to whom or to which an action is being done. |
| Oksana: Right. For example, [Я ее люблю]. “I love her”. Where “she” is the one to whom an action is performed. [Я их потерял] “I lost them.” The keys for example. They are the ones on whom an action was done because they were lost. |
| Eddie: Can you list the pronouns for us? |
| Oksana: Here they are. [Меня] |
| Eddie: Me. |
| Oksana: [Тебя] |
| Eddie: You. |
| Oksana: [Его] |
| Eddie: Him. |
| Oksana: [Ее] |
| Eddie: Her. |
| Oksana: [Нас] |
| Eddie: Us. |
| Oksana: [Вас] |
| Eddie: You (formal or plural). |
| Oksana: [Их] |
| Eddie: “Them.” Great. The next case is the dative. It represents the giving-taking concept, where the receiver is used in the dative. Like “to me”, “to you” and so on. |
| Oksana: The example could be [Я ей звонил], “I called to her”. And the pronouns themselves are the following: [Мне]. |
| Eddie: Me. |
| Oksana: [Тебе] |
| Eddie: You (informal). |
| Oksana: [Ему] |
| Eddie: Him. |
| Oksana: [Ему] |
| Eddie: It. |
| Oksana: [Ей] |
| Eddie: Her. |
| Oksana: [Нам] |
| Eddie: Us. |
| Oksana: [Вам] |
| Eddie: You (formal or plural). |
| Oksana: [Им] |
| Eddie: “Them.” Right, just two cases left. I’d pick the instrumental to talk about next. |
| Oksana: Ok, then talk about it. |
| Eddie: Oh, ok. So the instrumental case indicates how something is done, by what means. It’s also used in talking about jobs or attitudes. The best indicators of the instrumental case are the prepositions “by” and “with”. |
| Oksana: Not bad, you got quite a memory. |
| Eddie: I did my homework. Now your turn, give us some examples. |
| Oksana: Easily. [Я ей ем] |
| Eddie: “I'm eating with it.” “It” being something feminine, for example “a spoon”. The pronoun [ей] is used in the instrumental case, “by her”. |
| Oksana: [Я им недоволен] |
| Eddie: I'm dissatisfied with him. [Им] is used in the instrumental case, “with him”. Great, now what are those pronouns? |
| Oksana: Here they are.[Мной] |
| Eddie: Me. |
| Oksana: [Тобой] |
| Eddie: You. |
| Oksana: [Им] |
| Eddie: Him. |
| Oksana: [Ей] |
| Eddie: Her. |
| Oksana: [Им] |
| Eddie: It. |
| Oksana: [Нами] |
| Eddie: Us. |
| Oksana: [Вами] |
| Eddie: You (plural). |
| Oksana: [Ими] |
| Eddie: “Them”. We got them all here. I must tell you, it will be much easier for you to listen to if you take a look at the PDF materials at the same time so both your auditory and visual memories are active. |
| Oksana: That’s good but we have one more case left. |
| Eddie: Oh, do we? Ok, I'm sorry. Which one is it? |
| Oksana: The prepositional case. Tell me what you remember about it. |
| Eddie: Everything, simply because it’s one of the easiest cases. All you have to remember is that it’s used after the prepositions [о] “about”, [в] “in”, [на] “at”, “on”. |
| Oksana: Absolutely right. Here are the examples. [Мы разговаривали о ней] |
| Eddie: “We were talking about her.” [Ней] is the pronoun in the prepositional case because it goes right after the preposition [о]. Oksana, another example if you’d be so kind. |
| Oksana: [На нем надета шляпа] |
| Eddie: “He’s wearing a hat.” Literally “a hat is on him”. [Нем] would be the pronoun in the prepositional case as it follows the preposition [на]. |
| Oksana: And here are the pronouns themselves. [Мне] |
| Eddie: Me. |
| Oksana: [Тебе] |
| Eddie: You. |
| Oksana: [Нем] |
| Eddie: Him. |
| Oksana: [Ней] |
| Eddie: Her. |
| Oksana: [Нем] |
| Eddie: It. |
| Oksana: [Нас] |
| Eddie: Us. |
| Oksana: [Вас] |
| Eddie: You (plural). |
| Oksana: [Них] |
| Eddie: “Them.” Ok, so you’ve heard all the personal prepositions that exist in the Russian language today. We understand that it’s far too difficult to remember every pronoun and case. They normally decline in a logical pattern, so you should learn them this way. |
Outro |
| Oksana: Right. Of course no one expects you to remember them all now. It will come with practice, just listen to them several times, try to get used to the sound so you can recognize them in the text and don’t get confused. |
| Eddie: And don’t forget about the PDFs. Ok, that was pronouns. See you next time. |
| Oksana: [Пока! До встречи!] |
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