Learning Russian

Noun Gender

There are three genders in Russian: masculine, feminine and neuter. You can usually determine the gender of a noun by its ending. Here are some basic rules, though exceptions exist:

Word	Ending
äîì	in a consonant
÷àé	in -é

Ó ìåíÿ åñòü äîì. - I have a house.
ß ïüþ ÷àé. - I'm drinking tea.

Feminine:

Word	Ending
ìàøèíà	in -a
ñåìüÿ	in -ÿ

Ó ìåíÿ åñòü ìàøèíà - I have a car.
Ó ìåíÿ åñòü ñåìüÿ - I have a family.

Neuter:

Word	Ending
ïèñüìo	in -o
ïëàòüe	in -e

ß ïîëó÷èë ïèñüìî. - I've got a letter.
Ó ìîåé æåíû åñòü ïëàòüå. - My wife has a dress.

Number

English plurals end in -s. In Russian, there are more endings to make plurals. They are all summed up in the table:

Noun type	Ending for plural	Example
masculine ending in a hard consonant	-û	ñòîë - ñòîëû
any nouns ending in -ü, -é, -ÿ	-è	äâeðü - äâåðè
masculine and feminine ending in -k, -ã, -x, -÷, -ù, -æ, -ø,	-è	íîãà - íîãè
neuter ending in -o	-a	îêíî - îêía
neuter ending in -e	-ÿ	ìoðå - ìîðÿ

 êîìíàòå åñòü ñòîë. - There is a table in a room.
 îôèñå ñòîÿò ñòîëû. - There are tables in an office.
 êîìíàòå åñòü äâåðü. - There is a door in a room.
Îíè îòêðûëè âñå äâåðè. - They opened all the doors.
Îäíà íîãà. - One leg.
Äâå íîãè. - Two legs.
 êîìíàòå åñòü îêíî. - There is a window in a room.
Îíè îòêðûëè âñå îêía. - They opened all the windows.
ß ëþáëþ ìîðå. - I love a sea.
Îí çíàåò âñå ìîðÿ. - He knows all the seas.

Some nouns are always singular. These are nouns that designate substances (oxygen, copper), products (cheese, fish), a block of objects (furniture), some actions (hunting, clearing up), feelings (love, health), some vegetables and berries (potato, carrots).
You will have to know the genders and plurals, because they influence the use of adjectives and pronounces.

savyonok, let us know what nouns and verbs you know and we start sentence formation with them...
You can also tell us genders of nouns you know...

Okay, few queries..

есть - to be..right?

Are these sentences correct?
меня машина есть тюда.
ета меня семья.

Here are few nouns:
года - (year, fem.)
погода - (weather, fem.)
город - (city, mas.)
кино - (movie, neu.)
картошка - (potato, fem.)
кюрица - (chicken, fem.)
ромидор - (tomato, mas.)
малина - (raspberry, fem.)
неба - (sky, fem.)
бремья - (time, fem.)

Some verbs:
чнтает (read)
гобарят (speak)
гюлает (make a trip, stroll)
скажьят (tell)
пюбнт (love)

Please correct the spellings and meanings. I am having a hard time finding the letters on the keyboard

savyonok wrote:

Okay, few queries..
åñòü - to be..right?

About åñòü - very useful word!!!
1. to eat - ß õî÷ó åñòü. - I want to eat.
2. to have - Ó ìåíÿ åñòü äîì. - I have a house. Ó ìåíÿ åñòü ìàøèíà - I have a car.

savyonok wrote:

Are these sentences correct?
ìåíÿ ìàøèíà åñòü òþäà.
åòà ìåíÿ ñåìüÿ.

ìåíÿ ìàøèíà åñòü òþäà - no, you cannot say like that...you can say: Ó ìåíÿ åñòü ìàøèíà - I have a car.
what is òþäà??? there is no word like that...tell me what you meant...
åòà ìåíÿ ñåìüÿ the correct one: Ýòî ìîÿ ñåìüÿ. - this is my family.

savyonok wrote:

Here are few nouns:
ãîäà - (year, fem.)
êþðèöà - (chicken, fem.)
ðîìèäîð - (tomato, mas.)
íåáà - (sky, fem.)
áðåìüÿ - (time, fem.)

1. ãîä - so it's gonna be a different gender...
2. êyðèöà - correct spelling
3. ïîìèäîð - u just used English p...
4. íåáo - so it's gonna be a different gender now...
5. âðåìÿ - correct spelling

áðåìÿ - there is a word like that...it means burden...

All other nouns are correct...

savyonok wrote:

Some verbs:
÷íòàåò (read)
ãîáàðÿò (speak)
ãþëàåò (make a trip, stroll)
ñêàæüÿò (tell)
ïþáíò (love)

1. ÷èòàåò - reading. Infinitive - ÷èòàòü
Let's start using infinitives of verbs first:
ß ëþáëþ ÷èòàòü. - I love to read.
2. ãîâoðÿò - people say. Infinitive - ãîâoðèòü
Îí ëþáèò ãîâîðèòü. - He likes to talk.
3. ãóëÿåò - strolling. Infinitive - ãóëÿòü
ß ëþáëþ ãóëÿòü. - I like taking walks.
4. ñêàæåò/óò - Infinitive - ñêàçàòü
×òî òû õî÷åøü ñêàçàòü? - What do you want to say?
5. ëþáèòü - to love
Õî÷ó ëþáèòü. - I want to love.

savyonok wrote:

I am having a hard time finding the letters on the keyboard

Same here......that's why I use this site to write in Russian: http://www.translit.ru/

Quote :

У меня есть дом

What does 'У' stand for?

Quote :

what is тюда?

I meant 'there'..how you write it? there are two words like suda and tuda...

When to use 'ìîÿ' and 'ìåíÿ'?

Like you say 'ìåíÿ çîâóò' but 'ìîÿ ñåìüÿ'...

savyonok wrote:

Quote :

Ó ìåíÿ åñòü äîì

What does 'Ó' stand for?

It's a preposition, that usually stands for by; with; about

ó äâåðè - at the door
ó äîìà - next to the house
ó Äæîíà - at John's place
ó ìåíÿ äîìà - at my place
ó ìåíÿ - I have

Here: Ó ìåíÿ åñòü äîì...it's like I owe a house, something belongs to me...

savyonok wrote:

Quote :

what is òþäà?

I meant 'there'..how you write it? there are two words like suda and tuda...

òyäà - ñþäà

What did u mean to say when wrote: ìåíÿ ìàøèíà åñòü òþäà

savyonok wrote:

When to use 'ìîÿ' and 'ìåíÿ'?
Like you say 'ìåíÿ çîâóò' but 'ìîÿ ñåìüÿ'...

ìîÿ is a possessive pronoun.
In Russian words ìîé (my), òâîé (familiar your), íàø (our), âàø (polite your), ñâîé are possessive pronouns. The possessive pronouns indicate that things belong to somebody or something else.

English possessive pronouns have two forms: my - mine, her - hers, your - yours. In Russian, there is only one form of possessive pronouns. For instance, both "my" and "mine" are always translated as ìîé.

ìîé äîì (m) - my house
ìîé îôèñå (m) - my office
ìîÿ ñåìüÿ (f) - my family
ìîÿ ìàøèíà (f) - my car
ìîå îêíî (n) - my window
ìîå ïèñüìî (n) - my letter

savyonok wrote:

When to use 'ìîÿ' and 'ìåíÿ'?
Like you say 'ìåíÿ çîâóò' but 'ìîÿ ñåìüÿ'...

ìåíÿ means me:
ìåíÿ çîâóò actually means "people call me"
áåç ìåíÿ - without me
äëÿ ìåíÿ - for me
ìåíÿ íå ëþáÿò - nobody loves me
ó ìåíÿ åñòü äîì - I have a house (it belongs to me)
ó ìåíÿ åñòü ìàøèíà - I have a car (it belongs to me)
ó ìåíÿ åñòü æåíà - I have a wife (she belongs to me)
but:
ìîÿ æåíà - my wife
ìîÿ ìàøèíà - my car
ìîé äîì - my house
ìîå îêíî - my window

Quote :

What did u mean to say when wrote: меня машина есть тюда

There is my car.