Lesson 6 - Don't Get Stressed About Stress and other advice....

Добрый день, дорогие друзья! (Hello, dear friends).

Сегодня суббота, 8-ое октября. The show is still recorded at my temp 'studio' away from my home in New Orleans.

In this podcast you will learn how to say the days of the week in Russian, as well as count from 1-10. You will also find out why you shouldn't get stressed over stress in Russian words. We will take a look at some simple sentence structures and word order within sentences as well....This might be the largest 'Spoonful of Russian' ever, but it's all good!

Correction: In the beginning of the podcast I got the date wrong. The show was being recorded on Friday, Oct, 7th. You will hear me say: "Today is Saturday, 7th of October." Oops!


Just to add to our past lesson - there are noun, adjective and verb cognates in Russian, and they can help you speak smoothly and easily, making you sound very natural. But don't let false cognates trick you into saying something you don't intend!

I'd like to answer a question of one of my listeners. He was asking about the role of the 'hard sign' and the 'soft sign' in the Russian alphabet. The soft sign 'мягкий знак' has no sound of its own. Rather it tells you that the consonant before it is soft. (учитель).....The hard sign 'твердый знак' has no sound of its own as well. It indicates that the preceeding consonant is hard. You make a slight break in the word, immediately after the consonant it follows. (объем - volume - объем).

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- Что это? Это кофе?
- Нет, это не кофе. Это чай.

- What is this? Is this coffee?
- No, it's not coffee. It's tea.

and now a slightly different dialogue:

- Кто это? Это учитель?
- Нет, это не учитель. Это студент.

- Who is this? Is this a teacher?
- No, It is not a teacher. It is a student.

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Forming a negative sentence:

Это хорошо (It is good)
Это не хорошо (It's not good)
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If you don't know how to count from 1 to 10 in Russian, today's the day! Most of these numbers have a soft sign at the end, so don't forget to soften the last consonant!

0 (nol') - ноль
1 (adeen) - один
2 (dva) - два
3 (tree) - три
4 (chyetirye) - четыре
5 (pyat') - пять
6 (shyest') - шесть
7 (syem') - семь
8 (vosyem') - восемь
9 (devyat') - девять
10 (desyat') - десять

Days of the week:


понедельник (pah-neh-DEHL-neek) Monday
вторник (FTOR-neek) Tuesday
среда (sreh-DAH) Wednesday
четверг (chet-VERK) Thursday
пятница (PYAHT-neet-sah) Friday
суббота (soo-BOH-tah) Saturday
воскресенье (vahs-kree-SEHN-yeh) Sunday

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Lyrics of this week's Russian song:

Зачем вы, девушки, красивых любите?
(Е.Птичкин - И.Шаферан)
from the film "My Street"

Ромашки спрятались, поникли лютики,
Когда застыла я от горьких слов:
Зачем вы, девочки, красивых любите,
Непостоянная у них любовь.

Сняла решительно пиджак наброшенный,
Казаться гордою хватило сил,
Ему сказала я: - Всего хорошего, -
А он прощения не попросил.

Ромашки сорваны, завяли лютики,
Вода холодная в реке рябит.
Зачем вы, девочки, красивых любите,
Одни страдания от той любви...

Зачем вы, девочки, красивых любите,
Непостоянная у них любовь.

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