Learn how to use diminutive forms
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Jo: Hello everyone and welcome to RussianPod101.com. This is the Upper Beginner Series, season 1, lesson 2, All Diets Start Tomorrow in Russia. I’m Jo. |
| Svetlana: And I’m Svetlana. Privet. |
| Jo: In this lesson, we're going to learn imperative verbs in Russian. And we will also get to know a little bit about Elena’s relationship with her husband. |
| Svetlana: The conversation is between Elena and her husband, and it takes place in their home. |
| Jo: Since the speakers are married, they will be using casual Russian. Let's listen to the conversation |
| DIALOGUE |
| Еlena: Я решила записаться в спортзал. Вот похудею, и ты меня ещё сильнее полюбишь. |
| Hus: Да я тебя и такую люблю. Хорошего человека должно быть много. |
| Еlena: Ну да... То-то ты заглядываешься на стройненьких девушек. |
| Hus: Эээ... Ну что ты... |
| Еlena:Всё решено, с завтрашнего дня сажусь на диету. |
| Hus: Ага, все диеты начинаются завтра... |
| Jo: Let's hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Еlena: Ya reshila zapisat 'sya v sportzal. Vot pohudeyu, i ty menya yeschyo sil 'neye polyubish '. |
| Hus: Da Ya tebya i takuyu lyublyu. Horoshego cheloveka dolzhno byt ' mnogo. |
| Еlena: Nu da... To to ty zaglyadyvayesh 'sya na stroynen 'kih devushek. |
| Hus: Eee... Nu chto ty... |
| Еlena: Vsyo resheno, s zavtrashnego dnya sazhus ' na diyetu. |
| Hus: Aga, vse diyety nachinayutsya zavtra... |
| Jo: Now, let's hear it with English translation. |
| Еlena: I decided to sign up for fitness classes. I'm going to lose weight and you will love me even more. |
| Hus: I love you anyway. The bigger you are, the more there is to love. |
| Еlena: Oh yeah?! So then, why can't you stop staring at skinny girls, huh? |
| Hus: Eeeh, that's not true... |
| Еlena: No! I have decided. I'm starting my diet tomorrow. |
| Hus: Yeah, all diets start tomorrow... |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Jo: Elena’s husband is so funny. He makes it sound like Elena always changes her mind because he sounds so sarcastic about her new interest in fitness. |
| Svetlana: Yeah, it seems like her fads cost her husband a lot of money! But you can see how persistent she is about losing weight, so her husband has no choice but to go along with it. |
| Jo: Yeah, I’ve heard that Russian women are very strong. Some people say that they have a special kind of stamina from having gone through all the difficulties in their military history. |
| Svetlana: Yes, but it wasn’t only that. They sometimes also had to be patient and put up with their husbands, who were really heavy drinkers. |
| Jo: Right. There is that stereotype. |
| Svetlana: There is a line from the very famous poem written by Nekrasov - “She would enter a house on fire, she would hold up a galloping horse”. Every Russian knows it by heart. |
| Jo: Would you say it is an accurate picture of Russian women? |
| Svetlana: Yeah, but we are also good at admitting our weaknesses, forgiving others, struggling for our families, and keeping ourselves beautiful despite the worst life conditions! |
| Jo: That’s impressive! |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Jo: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is... |
| Svetlana: полюбить (polyubit') [natural native speed] |
| Jo: to fall in love |
| Svetlana: полюбить (polyubit') [slowly - broken down by syllable] полюбить (polyubit') [natural native speed] |
| Jo: Next |
| Svetlana: любить (lyubit') [natural native speed] |
| Jo: to love, to like, to be fond of |
| Svetlana: любить (lyubit') [slowly - broken down by syllable] любить (lyubit') [natural native speed] |
| Jo: Next |
| Svetlana: заглядываться (zaglyagivat'sya) [natural native speed] |
| Jo: to stare at |
| Svetlana: заглядываться (zaglyagivat'sya) [slowly - broken down by syllable] заглядываться (zaglyagivat'sya) [natural native speed] |
| Jo: Next |
| Svetlana: стройный (stroyniy) [natural native speed] |
| Jo: slim |
| Svetlana: стройный (stroyniy) [slowly - broken down by syllable] стройный (stroyniy) [natural native speed] |
| Jo: Next |
| Svetlana: всё решено (vsyo resheno) [natural native speed] |
| Jo: it is decided |
| Svetlana: всё решено (vsyo resheno) [slowly - broken down by syllable] всё решено (vsyo resheno) [natural native speed] |
| Jo: Next |
| Svetlana: завтрашний (zavtrashniy) [natural native speed] |
| Jo: tomorrow’s |
| Svetlana: завтрашний (zavtrashniy) [slowly - broken down by syllable] завтрашний (zavtrashniy) [natural native speed] |
| Jo: Next |
| Svetlana: садиться на диету (sadit'sya na diyetu) [natural native speed] |
| Jo: to start a diet |
| Svetlana: садиться на диету (sadit'sya na diyetu) [slowly - broken down by syllable] садиться на диету (sadit'sya na diyetu) [natural native speed] |
| Jo: Next |
| Svetlana: начинаться (nachinat'sya) [natural native speed] |
| Jo: to begin |
| Svetlana: начинаться (nachinat'sya) [slowly - broken down by syllable] начинаться (nachinat'sya) [natural native speed] |
| Jo: And last... |
| Svetlana: такой (takoy) [natural native speed] |
| Jo: such |
| Svetlana: такой (takoy) [slowly - broken down by syllable] такой (takoy) [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Jo: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Svetlana: The first word is “заглядываться”. |
| Jo: “To stare at”. However, a more precise interpretation of this verb would be “to stare at something or somebody with great interest” or “to admire something or somebody”. |
| Svetlana: Correct. The prefix ЗА- added to the verb глядеть, “to look at”, means “doing something with interest and intense concentration.” |
| Jo: Can you give us more examples of verbs with the prefix ЗА-? |
| Svetlana: Sure. Another example is Читать - Зачитаться |
| Jo: “Read” - “To be engrossed in reading” |
| Svetlana: Играть - Заиграться |
| Jo: “Play” - “to be absorbed in a game or games”. Okay. I think the pattern is clear. What is the next word? |
| Svetlana: Next, we have a phrase which is relevant to our topic of health and fitness. It is садиться на диету. |
| Jo: “To start a diet” |
| Svetlana: Actually the literal meaning of the verb “садиться” is “to sit”. |
| Jo: So this phrase literally means “to sit on a diet”? |
| Svetlana: Yes. Sounds funny, right? You also can say “сесть на диету” which means exactly the same thing. The verbs “садиться” and “сесть” are translated as “to sit” and they are synonyms. |
| Jo: Okay, what is the last keyword for this lesson? |
| Svetlana: It is “завтрашний”. |
| Jo: “Tomorrow’s”. This is an adjective in Russian which originates from the adverb “tomorrow”. |
| Svetlana: Right. The adverb “tomorrow” is “завтра”. We simply add the suffix ~шн~ and the ending ~ий to the noun to make an adjective. We will be using this grammar in a future lesson. |
| Jo: Okay. But what if I want to talk about something that happened yesterday? |
| Svetlana: It is very easy. You simply add the previously mentioned suffix ~шн~ and the ~ий ending to the adverb “yesterday”, “вчера”, and we have “вчерашний”. |
| A. In other words, “Yesterday’s”. Okay, now let’s move on to the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Jo: In this lesson, we’re going to learn about the diminutive forms of Russian adjectives. We will take a look at how to build diminutive forms by using special suffixes. |
| Svetlana: Diminutive forms are used a lot in Russian, mostly because Russian people are very emotional and expressive. |
| Jo: If I’m not mistaken, Elena used the adjective “slim” in the diminutive form, right? |
| Svetlana: Right. She said Стройненький which is different from the adjective стройный. |
| Jo: So, you use diminutive forms to show your attitude - both positive and negative - towards something or somebody? |
| Svetlana: That’s right. In this case, Elena was jealous that her husband was looking at slim girls. So she put the adjective стройный into the diminutive form Стройненький by using the suffix -еньк- to show her jealousy. |
| Jo: So that’s how it works; we need to add a suffix? |
| Svetlana: Yes, the suffixes that are used the most are -еньк- and -оньк-. For example, “слабый - слабенький “ |
| Jo: “weak - feeble” |
| Svetlana: простой - простенький |
| Jo: “simple -plain” |
| Svetlana: Let’s see how it works in a given context. Он слишком слабенький для этого задания. |
| Jo: “He is too feeble for this task.” |
| Svetlana: Это платье слишком простенькое, тебя в нём никто не заметит. |
| Jo: “This dress looks plain. Nobody will notice you if you wear it.” I see how it works, but we have seen the diminutive adjectives only in their negative forms. |
| Svetlana: Yes, they usually take on a form of sarcasm or disregard. |
| Jo: Can you give us an example of the positive usage of diminutive adjectives? |
| Svetlana: Sure. We can also use them to show our feelings of endearment. For example “хороший - хорошенький“ |
| Jo: “nice - pretty” |
| Svetlana: милый - миленький |
| Jo: “cute - lovely” So instead of something being simply good or nice, the diminutive form makes it a more affectionate way of speaking about a certain something. |
| Svetlana: Exactly! Let’s put them into sentences. |
| Друзья мне подарили маленького хорошенького котёнка. |
| Jo: “My friends gave me a small and pretty kitten”. |
| Svetlana: Ребёнок получился очень миленьким на этой фотографии. |
| Jo: “This child looks lovely in this picture”. |
| Okay, that’s it for this lesson. Make sure you check our lesson notes for more examples and information. |
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Outro |
| Jo: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thanks for listening, everyone. |
| Svetlana: poka poka |
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