Hello everyone! The Russian language is full of secrets and surprises, and you will never get bored exploring it. Just look at the word please in Russian – «пожалуйста». Generally, it helps us to be polite when we ask, request or demand – both in English and Russian. But there is another meaning of please in Russian. We say «пожалуйста» in the situations, where you would say ‘Here you are’ or ‘Take it’ in English. (далее…)
I have always had a passion for languages. At first, for my native – Russian. I used to read more than any of my classmates at school and my groupmates at university. That’s probably why I have what you could call a natural born literacy, it’s common among those who read voraciously. And would you believe – my first reading lessons were mere hell both for me and my mum. (далее…)
Hello my dear students! Today we are going to have a peep at Maxim again! Erm.. To its headlines, to be exact. As we have already noticed, Maxim writers like to play on words in headings, and that’s exactly what we need – witty puns to study Russian! So here is the Russian pun of the day – «2014. Что ты несёшь?!» What’s funny about this Russian pun? (далее…)
Hello my dear students, I hope you like Maxim! What are we going to do with a magazine that publishes pictures of naked girls? – you might ask. Honestly? I have no idea! You may do anything you like with the magazine (after the lesson only), but I will tell you about the ‘puns’ that are very common in Maxim article headings. (далее…)
Hi guys! Today I am going to tell you about a Russian word that we use when talking about gay couples. Actually, there are many words of this sort and ways to say gay in Russian, but only one of them can be confusing to learners. That is the word «голубой» which, when out of sexual context, is translated as ‘blue’. And yes, when we hear the English expression ‘blue Monday’, we giggle. (далее…)
Hi everyone, this time I’m going to tell you about a word «ничего». In many cases it means nothing in Russian. But how can you understand the phrase «Эта девчонка – ничего»? Will you translate it like ‘this girl is nothing’? To avoid a terrible mistake like this (and possibly a slap) handling the word nothing in Russian, read the rest of the article. (далее…)
Hi everybody, today we are going to talk about the famous Russian alcoholic drink vodka. All foreigners know only one word – ‘vodka’ but in Russian there are dozens of names for it! Among those there are two words derived from «водка» which are commonly used and show who drinks it and who doesn’t! So, the first Russian word for vodka («водка») is «водочка». (далее…)