Learn some common Russian phrases for getting to know someone better, including one flirtatious phrase
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Erik: Erik here. Newbie series, season 1, Lesson 9. Let’s Get To Know Each Other A Little Better in Russia. Hi, my name is Erik and I am joined here by. |
| Anna: Anna. |
| Erik:[Привет, Анна!] |
| Anna: [Привет, Эрик!] |
| Erik:[Как дела?] |
| Anna: [Отлично. Как у тебя?] |
| Erik: [Очень хорошо, Анна.] |
| Anna: In previous lessons, we’ve gone from greetings to talking about hunger to inviting someone out to eat and finally to ordering food and drinks at a restaurant or a café. |
| Erik: So now that you’ve ordered, you’ve got to talk about something. That’s what we are going to focus on in this lesson. |
| Anna: That’s right Erik. We will focus on expressions and questions for getting to know someone better. |
| Erik:This conversation takes place right after ordering food at the restaurant. |
| Anna: The conversation is between me and Erik. |
| Erik: And the speakers are friends. So we will be speaking informally. |
| Anna: So let’s listen to today’s conversation. I will play myself and Erik will play himself. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Эрик: [Анна, давй познакомимся поближе.] |
| Erik: Anna, davai poznakomimsya poblizhe. |
| Анна: [Давай.] |
| Anna: Davai |
| Эрик: [Чем ты любишь заниматься?] |
| Erik: Chem ty lyubish’ zanimat’sya? |
| Анна: [Я люблю бегать.] |
| Anna: Ya lyublyu begat’ |
| Эрик:Классно, я тоже. |
| Erik: Klassno, ya tozhe. |
| Erik: : One time slowly. |
| Anna: Ещё раз, медленней. |
| Эрик: [Анна, давй познакомимся поближе.] |
| Erik: Anna, davai poznakomimsya poblizhe. |
| Анна: [Давай.] |
| Anna: Davai |
| Эрик: [Чем ты любишь заниматься?] |
| Erik: Chem ty lyubish’ zanimat’sya? |
| Анна: [Я люблю бегать.] |
| Anna: Ya lyublyu begat’ |
| Эрик:Классно, я тоже. |
| Erik: Klassno, ya tozhe. |
| Erik: One time natural native speed with the translation. |
| Anna: Ещё раз с переводом. |
| Anna: Анна, давй познакомимся поближе. |
| Erik: Anna, let’s get to know each other better. |
| Anna: Давай |
| Erik: Okay let’s |
| Anna: [Чем ты любишь заниматься?] |
| Erik: What do you like to do? |
| Anna: Я люблю бегать. |
| Erik:I love to run. |
| Anna: Классно, я тоже. |
| Erik: Cool, me too. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Erik: All right Anna, be honest here. Do you think it’s a little corny or odd to say to someone, [Давай познакомимся поближе.] or let’s get to know each other better. |
| Anna: Erik, I guess it all depends on the person who says that to you. The tone of the voice and the situation but I can agree that sometimes that can be considered as a little flirty but why are you asking Erik? |
| Erik:Yeah the only reason I mentioned this is because in English, I probably wouldn’t say this to someone but I have said this in Russian. |
| Anna: Oh really? |
| Erik: Maybe that’s revealing. Anna, question for you. Has anyone ever said this to you or have you said this phrase to anyone before? |
| Anna: I don’t remember really. The only situation I can think of now is the one I saw in a TV commercial. That was about a guy in the nightclub who wanted to get a girl. |
| Erik: Oh my! |
| Anna: So he started talking to her using this phrase and in a very deep and intimate voice you know. |
| Erik: Wow! Something like [Давай познакомимся поближе] |
| Anna:Yes and then she slapped him. |
| Erik: Oh that’s what happened to me you know. |
| Anna: So can you tell us when did you use this phrase? |
| Erik: Umm actually it was in a flirty situation. It was a cute Russian girl. |
| Anna: I see! |
| Erik: And we just met and I said, you know, I think the cheesiness is just that much more in a different language. Does it seem cheesy because it’s in Russian, ah I can say anything right? |
| Anna: No for you – I think for you, like for a foreigner, you can say whatever you want in Russian, I mean. |
| Erik: Well, wait a second. That’s quite a free range there Anna. Maybe that’s not the best thing to talk for our listeners. Whatever you want, go ahead. You are foreigner, it’s okay. |
| Anna: I think you could give it away with more as a foreigner. |
| Erik: So do you think Russians use this expression? |
| Anna: I wouldn’t use this actually. |
| Erik: Okay. |
| Anna: I would just ask the question I want to ask without this phrase you know. The reason some Russians don’t usually use this phrase is because they don’t want to reveal their feelings but listeners, please don’t be afraid to use this phrase because it all depends on the voice and on the tone. So if you want to be friend with someone, just say [давай познакомимся поближе] in a friendly voice and I think it should be okay. |
| Erik: Great. |
| Anna: So Erik, no, no Erik stop |
| Erik: On to the vocabulary. |
| Anna:No Erik. One more question for you. So you told us about this Russian girl right? |
| Erik:Yes. |
| Anna: So what is the result? |
| Erik: We had a nice chat and then she told me she had a boyfriend. |
| Anna:Okay. I see. |
| Erik: What are you going to do? |
| Anna: Oh there are so many cute Russian girls there. So don’t be so sad. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Erik: All right. Vocabulary time. Okay let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. Our first phrase is |
| Anna: [давай познакомимся поближе] |
| Erik: Let’s get to know each other better. |
| F: [давай познакомимся поближе] |
| Erik: Next. |
| Anna: [чем ты любишь заниматься] |
| Erik: What do you like to do? |
| Anna: [чем ты любишь заниматься] |
| Erik: Next |
| Anna: [любить] |
| Erik: To love, to like, to be fond of. |
| Anna: [любить] |
| Erik: Next. |
| Anna:[бегать] |
| Erik: To run. |
| Anna: [бегать] |
| Erik: Next. |
| Anna:[классно] |
| Erik: Cool, slang. |
| Anna: [классно] |
| Erik: Next |
| Anna: [тоже] |
| Erik: To, also. |
| Anna: [тоже] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Erik: Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Anna:Erik, let’s talk about the word [классно] which is similar to [здорово]. A word we’ve learned a few lessons back. |
| Erik: So what’s the difference Anna? Are the meanings the same? |
| Anna: Well, [классно] means cool. [здорово] means nice. So if you want to sound cooler, you use [классно] |
| Erik: So what do you use Anna? |
| Anna: Depends. |
| Erik: Depends. So can you give me a situation where you use [классно] and [здорово] |
| Anna: Can you give me a situation and I will reply… |
| Erik:Okay so you just won the lottery. |
| Anna:Oh I would say [супер] |
| Erik: Oh my! |
| Anna: It’s a different word. |
| Erik: So how about your friend says that she has a ticket for you, a free ticket to a band that you really like and she invites you. What would you say? |
| F1: Ok, if it’s a cool friend, I would say [классно]. But usually, you know, there is not much difference between [классно] and [здорово] |
| Erik: Ok. |
| F1: So I don’t want to confuse our listeners. You can use both [здорово] and [классно]. |
| Erik: Ok. Both “cool, nice, sweet”. |
| Anna:“Sweet, “super”. |
| Erik: Now let’s look at the verb [любить] which can mean “to love”, like [я тебя люблю] or “I love you”. |
| Anna: [спасибо Эрик] but [я тебя не люблю]. “Thank you, Eric, but I don’t love you.” |
| Erik: Anna, I wasn’t talking to you. I was referring to Maria Sharapova. I love the way she plays tennis. |
| Anna:So bad. |
| Erik: Ok. |
| Anna: Ok, so the phrase [чем ты любишь заниматься?] can be translated as “What do you like to do?” in your free time or about your hobbies basically. |
| Erik: Ok, Anna, [ты любишь бегать?] or “You love to run”, right? |
| Anna: Yes, I try to run twice a week or when I have time. How about you, Eric? [ты любишь бегать?] like in the dialogue. |
| Erik: I was just acting. |
| Anna: Ok. |
| Erik: Sometimes I run, but I prefer the [велосипед] or “bicycle” any day over running. |
| Anna: I see. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Erik: Ok, now let’s look at the grammar points for this lesson. there are two verbs in the dialogue with [ся] at the end. For example, [познакомимся] and [заниматься]. |
| Anna: Yes, Eric. The [ся] here has reciprocal or reflexive meaning, for example, with each other as the case of the verb [познакомиться] or “to get to know one another”. And with the verb [заниматься] or “to be occupied”, “engaged in doing something”. |
| Erik: So Anna, without the [ся] at the end, the verb [занимать] can just mean “to occupy”, for example, “to occupy” a room” and not be occupied with something. |
| Anna: Exactly. |
| Erik: Ok. And the verb [познакомить] just means “to meet” without the [ся] at the end. And with the [ся] or [познакомиться], means “to meet with” or “be acquainted with”, right? |
| Anna:[Молодец, Эрик!], Eric. Good job. This relates to our second grammar point for today. The word [чем]. |
| Erik: So we already learned the word for what? Do your remember, listeners? Anna, can you help us? |
| Anna: [что] |
| Erik: [что, exactly. So Anna, what is [чем]? It seems to act in the same way here as [что] or “what”. |
| Anna: Basically, there is a difference in the grammatical cases but for now all you need to remember is that we use the word [чем] with the verbs that finish with the suffix [ся], like the verb [заниматься]. For example, [чем ты любишь заниматься], “What do you like to do?” [что] is used with verbs that do not have this suffix, for example, [что ты любишь делать] or “What do you like to do?” |
| Erik: So Anna, another example we can use is from a verb that we’ve already learned, [кушать]. |
| Anna: Right. |
| Erik: So I can ask you “What do you love to eat?” would be [что ты любишь кушать?]. |
| Anna: Exactly, Eric. |
| Erik: “What do you like to eat”? |
| Anna: Exactly. Thank you. Oh, are you asking me, Eric? |
| Erik: Yes, it’s a real question. |
| Anna:Ok. I thought you were just giving example. [Я люблю кушать блины.] |
| Erik: Ok. And if I asked you [чем ты любишь заниматься?], “What do you like to do, hobbies, in your free time?” That’s the sense I have of this q. |
| Anna:Yeah, I would answer [я люблю танцевать], “I love dancing”. |
| Erik: You love to dance. |
| Anna:I love to dance, yeah. |
| Erik: [Я тоже] “Me too.” I think this is a good place to stop for today. If you’d like to see examples of these sentences, please check out the PDF file for this lesson. |
| Anna: And, as usual, please stop by and leave us a comment. |
| Erik: See you later |
| Anna: Пока, пока! |
| DIALOGUE |
| Эрик: [Анна, давй познакомимся поближе.] |
| Erik: Anna, davai poznakomimsya poblizhe. |
| Анна: [Давай.] |
| Anna: Davai |
| Эрик: [Чем ты любишь заниматься?] |
| Erik: Chem ty lyubish’ zanimat’sya? |
| Анна: [Я люблю бегать.] |
| Anna: Ya lyublyu begat’ |
| Эрик:Классно, я тоже. |
| Erik: Klassno, ya tozhe. |
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