Доброе утро, друзья! Good morning, friends!
Welcome to Episode N5 of Spoonfed Russian! Today we will learn Russian greetings and simple dialogs. You will know the difference between speaking officially and friendly.

Before we start:

• download Episode 5 – Greetings and Farewells (pdf);
• and follow the topic.

 

 Episode 5 - Greetings and Firewells: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

There are two ways of speaking in Russian: formal (official, You = Вы) and informal (friendly, You = Ты).

Official way:

• in places like business meetings;
• in situations where you have never met the person (in shops, bars, in public transport or with taxi drivers);
• if the person is visibly older than you (but of course, if it’s not your granny).

Friendly way:

• with friends;
• if the person is visibly younger than you.

Few guidelines:

• young people move to the informal Ты very quickly even if they don’t know well each other;
• children and teenagers can be addressed using Ты;
• adults usually use the formal Вы when they first meet, and then move to Ты when they become better acquainted. In such case they will use the phrase: Давайте на ты? (Let’s start using ты?) or Можно на ты? (May we use ты?)

Now please open the file with the Episode N5 and repeat dialogues after me.

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This is all for today. If you have any questions, please ask. До скорой встречи! Пока-пока.

Quite recently, on 9th of May, Russia was celebrating Victory Day. It took a while for me to prepare and publish this post but I think that it’ll never be late to tell you about this one of the greatest holidays in Russia.

Victory Day - is a national holiday which remembers the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II and honors all the people who died in the war as well as those who spent days and nights in factories making guns and machines to support Soviet Army.

My grandparents were very small at those times but they have seen this War and still remember it. My grandmother told me terrible stories how she and her mother spent several years in concentration camp (death camp) in Ukraine.

Parades, festivals, flowers to the graves and eternal flame, movies, songs (see useful links below), TV programs about veterans - this is the holiday when you get goose bumps and tears just after reading, watching and imagining how it was.

 

 Victory Day: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Let’s learn some phrases which we use to congratulate each other and thank veterans:

• Дорогие ветераны! Большое вам спасибо! Dear veterans! Thank you very much!
• С Днем Победы! Happy Victory Day!
• С Праздником Победы! Happy Victory Holiday!
• Поздравляем [вас] с праздником Победы! We congratulate [you] with Victory Holiday!

Common phrases which can be said for any holiday:

• С праздником! Happy Holiday!
• Поздравляем! Congratulations! (plural, from a group of people)
• Поздравляю! Congratulations! (singular)

Useful links:

• About Victory Day - the article I’ve found, quite detailed and touching;
• you can download the famous Victory Day song (mp3) which I used in podcast from the article in Wikipedia about this song with lyrics both in Russian and English and translation.

Всем привет! Hello everyone!

Today I would like to introduce you one of the best Russian cartoon series “Ну, погоди!” - “Nu, pogodi!” (English translation: Well, Just Wait!). Almost all Russian kids and adults love this cartoon for sure. I hope you will like it too and by the way we can learn some new words and practice what we have already learned.

It’s a series of animated shorts directed by Vyacheslav Kotyonochkin, produced at the Soyuzmultfilm studio in Moscow between 1969 and 1986. Additional series were produced in 1993 and 2004. The plot of the series follows the mischievous and artistic Wolf trying to catch the Hare.

Before watching:

• get acquainted with the Cartoon Vocabulary (pdf);
• unknown words you will see in cartoon you can translate with any online translators, for example www.multitran.ru.

While watching try to answer the following questions:

• what do the heroes say? P.S. Don’t worry, there are only few words
• what’s written on the arrow when the Wolf is on the way to beach?
• what’s written on the fence poster near the picture of the Hare?
• the Wolf saw the poster with Hare. How is he counting: from 1 to 9 or from 9 to 1?
• and which word did he say when finished counting?

To check your answers feel free to send me a mail or leave a comment to this post. I hope you will enjoy!

Here is a direct link to this video on www.raajje.tv

Добрый день, дорогие слушатели! Good afternoon, dear listeners! Nice to meet you at www.SpoonfedRussian.com and the Episode N3! What do we use every day and almost everywhere? Without them we wouldn’t be able to be on time, measure and calculate things… Being in train station, in shops or even explaining the price of some services to the Russian guests at your resort you will definitely need to know them. Yes, that’s Russian numbers!

Before we start:

• download Episode 3 - Russian Numbers.pdf;
• and follow the topic.

 

 Episode 3 - Russian numbers: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Please open the file with numbers and let’s count!

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It’s very important to know the numbers. Since they are everywhere in our life, it’s very easy to practice them. Practice on the bus, train station or ferry terminal. Paying the bills or getting the salary - practice in counting ;). I wish you a Good Luck! The more we know in Russian the more activities are coming! Keep in touch at www.spoonfedrussian.com! See you! Пока-пока!

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Useful links:

Learn Russian numbers - flash game with pronunciation.

How many names does every Russian have? What does the patronymic mean? You can find the answers for all these questions in this grammar comment:

• About russian names.pdf - the structure of Russian names, how they are formed and how to address the others;
• List of Russian names.pdf - the list of the most popular Russian male and female names.

A small home task for you. Write your name in Russian letters and try to make your patronymic in a Russian way :). Good Luck!