How to say in russian "This is …"? How to ask "What is it?" or "Who is it?". You can find the answers for all these questions in this grammar comment:

• download Grammar comment - What is it?.

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Yes, it’s not that hard. As you could see Что means "What" and Кто means "Who". The only difference is that russians also call animals (to be exact, all animate nouns) with Она (She) or Он (He) as well as in questions use "Who" but not "What".

Home task. Ask a question Кто это? or Что это? for the following statements:

• Это кофе. This is coffee.
• Это собака. This is a dog.
• Это брат. This is brother.
• Это окно. This is a window.
• Это я. This is me.

Answers and questions feel free to send to spoonfedrussian at gmail.com. Всего хорошего и до скорой встречи! All the best and see you soon!

Today podcast is a little different. It’s just a block of new words: first english and then russian equivalent. Since our previous lesson in Bandos Island Resort & Spa was connected with food :), I thought that we can start vocabulary from the "Food" topic.

Before you start:

• download file Episode 8 - Vocabulary "Food" (pdf).
• at first time it’s better to read new words and repeat after me, later you can just listen and remember.

 

 Episode 8 - Vocabulary : Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I wish you good luck! Удачи!

On 12th of June, we had our russian class at Bandos Island Resort & Spa. Unusual candle-lit lesson in a recently-built overwater coffee shop with sound of waves, fresh evening breeze, baby-sharks and playing fish in the light spot of the bar.

Dinner, live-band and its pleasant music, night inspection around the island. Sound of silence, smell of blossoming flowers and chirring song by invisible geckos. Большое спасибо (thank you very much) for the lovely evening, dear students!

Добрый вечер, дорогие друзья! Good evening, dear friends!
Welcome to Spoonfed Russian and Episode N7! Today we will learn how to ask “How are you?” and some polite words.

Before we start:

• download Episode 7 – How are you (pdf);
• and get acquainted with Summary table on the page 2.

 

 Episode 7 - How are you: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Please open the file with the Episode N7 and repeat dialogues after me.

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Спасибо за внимание! Thanks for your attention! If you have any questions I’ll be more than happy to help you out (ask). Пока-пока. Bye-bye.

Всем привет! Hello everyone! Welcome to Spoonfed Russian and the Episode N6! Today we will taste Russian Pronouns and will learn how to identify the gender of Russian nouns.

Before we start:

• Download and open grammar comments: Episode 6 – Pronouns and Gender of Nouns (pdf);

 

 Russian pronouns and Gender of nouns: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Pronouns are used to substitute nouns or names in the sentence. Please open the grammar comments and repeat after me.

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Now let’s practice and do some exercises.

What is the gender of the nouns and how to say “My” for the following words?

• Мама. As we can see: it’s not an exception, ends with vowel “–a”. That means it’s feminine. So “My Mom” will be Моя мама;
• Папа. It ends with vowel but we remember that it’s an exception. Dad is always masculine. And “My Dad” will be Мой папа;
• Брат. Not an exception. Ends with consonant. No doubts – it’s masculine! My brother = Мой брат;
• Сестра. Not an exception. Ends with “-a”. It’s feminine! My sister = Моя сестра;
• Имя. Ends with “-я”. You may think it’s feminine. Check once again. It ends with “–мя”, so it’s neuter. My name = Моё имя;
• Фамилия. Ends with “-я” (not “-мя”). Simple – it’s feminine. My surname = Моя фамилия;
• Отчество. Ends with “-o”. Easy – it’s neuter. My patronymic = Моё отчество.

Homework:

• For all the nouns from the above exercise: how to say “His”, “Her” and “Your” (two versions: official and friendly). You can leave your answers in comment or e-mail me.
• For more practice you can identify the gender for the words from Episode 2 - Exercises (pdf) and Cartoon Vocabulary (pdf).

Good luck and see you! Пока-пока!