Learn about some cases of usage of the instrumental case and the preposition перед
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Yuriy: Hello and welcome back to RussianPod101.com. This is Lower Intermediate, season 2, lesson 11 - You Should Read This Russian Fiction! I’m Yuriy. |
| Elena: А я Елена. Привет. I’m Elena. |
| Yuriy: In this lesson, you'll learn how to use the Instrumental case and the preposition “перед”. |
| Elena: This conversation takes place at home and is between Nika and Misha. |
| Yuriy: The speakers are brother and sister, so they’ll be using informal Russian. Okay! Let’s listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Ника: Миша, что ты читаешь? |
| Миша: Фантастику! |
| Ника: “Конец вечности”? Не знала, что ты увлекаешься фантастикой, а тем более Айзеком Азимовым! |
| Миша: Раньше никогда не интересовался подобной литературой, но после хвалебных отзывов друзей решил все-таки прочесть этот роман. И ты знаешь, не могу оторваться. Роман читается на одном дыхании. |
| Ника: Я тоже фантастику люблю. Но мне больше нравятся братья Стругацкие. Особенно мне нравится их роман “Пикник на обочине”. Также рекомендую книгу Сергея Лукьяненко “Дневной дозор”. |
| Миша: Хорошо, я прочитаю, а потом поделюсь впечатлениями. |
| Yuriy: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Ника: Миша, что ты читаешь? |
| Yuriy: Misha, what are you reading? |
| Миша: Фантастику! |
| Yuriy: Fiction! |
| Ника: “Конец вечности”? Не знала, что ты увлекаешься фантастикой, а тем более Айзеком Азимовым! |
| Yuriy: The End of Eternity? I didn’t know that you were fond of fiction, especially Isaac Asimov! |
| Миша: Раньше никогда не интересовался подобной литературой, но после хвалебных отзывов друзей решил все-таки прочесть этот роман. И ты знаешь, не могу оторваться. Роман читается на одном дыхании. |
| Yuriy: I had never been interested in such literature before, but after the laudatory comments from my friends I finally decided to read this novel. And you know, I can't tear myself away. The novel is read in one breath. |
| Ника: Я тоже фантастику люблю. Но мне больше нравятся братья Стругацкие. Особенно мне нравится их роман “Пикник на обочине”. Также рекомендую книгу Сергея Лукьяненко “Дневной дозор”. |
| Yuriy: I also love fiction. But I prefer the Strugatsky brothers. I especially like their novel Roadside Picnic. I also recommend the book by Sergei Lukyanenko, Day Watch. |
| Миша: Хорошо, я прочитаю, а потом поделюсь впечатлениями. |
| Yuriy: I'll read it, and then I'll share my impressions. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Yuriy: Elena, to be honest, I also don't know much about Russian fiction... |
| Elena: Actually, Russian literature is rich in famous and well-known fiction authors. Do you remember the famous children's character Alisa Selezneva? |
| Yuriy: Ah yes, there was an extremely famous movie from Soviet times called “Guest from the Future”. |
| Elena: That’s right. It was an adaption of a novel by Kir Bulychov, a noted writer. Have you seen the movies “Day Watch” and “Night watch”? |
| Yuriy: Yes, they were based on some great fantasy novels by Sergei Lukyanenko. So Elena, what would you recommend to our listeners? |
| Elena: I'm fond of Strugatsky brothers’ novels, so I think that many of our listeners would find such books as “Hard to be a God”, “The Inhabited Island”, and of course “Roadside Picnic” very interesting. |
| Yuriy: Why not check them out, listeners. You could even try reading them in Russian to practice! Ok, now it's time for the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Yuriy: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| : The first word we shall see is: |
| Elena: увлекаться [natural native speed] |
| Yuriy: to take a great interest; to be keen; to be fond of |
| Elena: увлекаться [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elena: увлекаться [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Elena: интересоваться [natural native speed] |
| Yuriy: to be interested in |
| Elena: интересоваться [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elena: интересоваться [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Elena: подобный [natural native speed] |
| Yuriy: like, alike, similar, such as |
| Elena: подобный [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elena: подобный [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Elena: хвалебный [natural native speed] |
| Yuriy: laudatory |
| Elena: хвалебный [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elena: хвалебный [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Elena: отзыв [natural native speed] |
| Yuriy: comment, review, opinion |
| Elena: отзыв [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elena: отзыв [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Elena: на одном дыхании [natural native speed] |
| Yuriy: in a burst of inspiration; in one breath |
| Elena: на одном дыхании [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elena: на одном дыхании [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Elena: поделиться [natural native speed] |
| Yuriy: to share |
| Elena: поделиться [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elena: поделиться [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Elena: оторваться [natural native speed] |
| Yuriy: tear oneself away, to come off, to be torn off |
| Elena: оторваться [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elena: оторваться [natural native speed] |
| : And Last: |
| Elena: рекомендовать [natural native speed] |
| Yuriy: to recommend |
| Elena: рекомендовать [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elena: рекомендовать [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Yuriy: Let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word for this lesson is... |
| Elena: “оторваться”, which is translated into English as “tear oneself away”, “to come off” or “to be torn off”. The verb “оторваться” requires the preposition “от” meaning "from". |
| Yuriy: Let's have a closer look at the usage of this verb in the meaning “tear oneself away,” or in other words, “to force yourself to leave some activity”. |
| Elena: Good idea! Ты можешь оторваться от телевизора и помочь мне с уборкой? |
| Yuriy: "Can you tear yourself away from the TV and help me with cleaning?" |
| Elena: По “Дискавери” идет очень интересная программа про НЛО. Просто невозможно оторваться. |
| Yuriy: "There's a very interesting program about UFOs on Discovery channel. It's simply impossible to tear myself away from it." Ok, what's the next word? |
| Elena: Next up is the phrase “на одном дыхании”. |
| Yuriy: Let’s break this down. |
| Elena: The preposition “на” means “on,” the numeral “одном” means “one” in the Prepositional case, and lastly, the noun “дыхании” means “breath”, again in the Prepositional case. |
| Yuriy: So, the phrase literally means “on one breath”. This idiomatic expression is used when we want to emphasize that something is so interesting that we did it in a burst of inspiration, very quickly, without noticing the time. For example... |
| Elena: Я прочитал книгу "Граф Монте Кристо" на одном дыхании. |
| Yuriy: "I read the book "The Count of Monte Cristo" in one breath." Probably the book was so interesting that it was hard to tear yourself away from it. |
| Elena: I read it when I was a kid. The book is big, but I read it in only two nights. Прочитала на одном дыхании, просто не могла оторваться. |
| Yuriy: (laughs) Okay, now onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
| Yuriy: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use the Instrumental case and the preposition “перед”. As you know, you use the Instrumental case to describe by what means or instruments an action is performed, and to emphasize an occupation or profession. However, it has several other usages as well. |
| Elena: The Instrumental case is also used to describe the manner or way in which an action is performed. It answers the question “how”, как? |
| Yuriy: For example... |
| Elena: Папа спит, говори, пожалуйста, шёпотом. |
| Yuriy: “Father is sleeping, so please speak in a whisper.” The word “шёпотом” is in the Instrumental case, because it describes in what manner one should speak, in other words, how. |
| Elena: Мужчина шёл быстрым шагом. |
| Yuriy: “The man walked at a brisk pace.” The man walked how? - at a brisk pace, therefore the words “быстрый” and “шагом” were in the Instrumental case. |
| Elena: The Instrumental case is used after certain groups of verbs. |
| Yuriy: The first group is... |
| Elena: быть meaning "to be", стать meaning "to become," являться meaning "to appear," and оказаться meaning "to turn out to be". |
| Yuriy: For example... |
| Elena: Он хочет стать геологом. |
| Yuriy: "He wants to become a geologist." |
| Elena: Россия является родиной Ломоносова. |
| Yuriy: "Russia is the birthplace of Lomonosov." The next group is... |
| Elena: руководить meaning "to be in charge of, direct, manage," управлять meaning "to govern, to rule," заведовать meaning "to manage," and пользоваться meaning "to use." |
| Yuriy: For example... |
| Elena: Господин Танака руководит огромной корпорацией. |
| Yuriy: "Mr. Tanaka manages a huge corporation." |
| Elena: Ты не знаешь, как пользоваться этим миксером? |
| Yuriy: "You wouldn’t know how to use the mixer, would you?" And one more group of verbs is... |
| Elena: интересоваться meaning "to be interested in," увлекаться meaning "to be fascinated with, to be fond of," заниматься meaning "to be engaged in," and гордиться meaning "to be proud of." |
| Yuriy: For example... |
| Elena: Я горжусь своими детьми. |
| Yuriy: "I'm proud of my children." |
| Elena: Я увлекаюсь историей Греции. |
| Yuriy: "I'm fond of the history of Greece." The Instrumental case is used to indicate the agent of the action in passive constructions. For example... |
| Elena: Исследование проводится ученым. |
| Yuriy: "The research is conducted by a scientist." |
| Elena: Статья была написана журналистом. |
| Yuriy: "The article was written by a journalist." Ok, that's it for this lesson. For more information, please read the lesson notes. |
Outro |
| Yuriy: Thanks for listening everyone, and we’ll see you next time. Bye! |
| Elena: Спасибо вам большое и до скорой встречи! |
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