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It is a fact that an ever-increasing number of people all over the world and also English speaking people of all ages are now learning the Russian language. As W. Schapiro wrote in his Preface to Russian-English and English-Russian dictionary in 1963, “Russian is the fascinating subject”.

It is the easiest in the difficult languages and very logical.

Here there are some grammatical notes to Russian language.

 

The Verbs and Verbal aspects

 

There are only three tenses in Russian – Present, Past and Future – and to compensate for this deficiency the verb has two forms of Aspects: the Imperfective and the Perfective. The Imperfective is used to express continuity of action and the Perfective expresses an action, which has been completed.

 

For example:

Imperfective                Perfective

читать                         прочитать        to read

делать                         сделать           to do, make

изучать                        изучить           to learn, study

отдыхать                      отдохнуть         to rest

 

Verbs of the Imperfective aspect have the three above-mentioned tenses: Present, Past and Future. However, Perfective verbs have only the past and future tense.

 

The Infinitive of the verb (e.g. to see - видеть) is the form used to cite Russian verbs in dictionaries. Most Russian verbs have the infinitive endings –ть (читать - to read), less common are -ти (идти – to go, нести – to carry), –чь (мочь – to be able, печь – to bake).

 

The Present Tense is formed by removing the infinitive particle –ть and adding the following endings:

                               -ать  -ять         -ить

1^st person sing.            –ю                -ю (-у)

2^nd     “       “                -ешь             -ишь 

3^rd     “        “               -ет                -ит

1^st     “        plur.          –ем              -им

2^nd     “        “               -ете              -ите

3^rd     “         “               -ют (-ут)     -ят (-ат)

 

For the Past Tense, in both aspects, all one has to do is to change the infinitive ending to – л in the singular and –ли in the plural; the third person singular has a feminine ending –ла and a neuter one –ло. Some irregulars and other verbs undergo various changes.

 

The Future Tense in the imperfective aspect is formed by conjugation the future of the verb “to be – быть”, with the infinitive, e.g.:

 

1^st person sing.      я буду читать       I shall/will read

2^nd                            ты будешь           You will read/thou wilt read

3^rd                            он будет              He will read

1^st plur.                 мы будем             We shall/will read

2^nd                       вы будете            You will read

3^rd                        они будут            They will read 

 

 The future of the perfective aspect is conjugated like the present tense of imperfective verbs.

The auxiliary verb to be – быть. In the present tense only the third person singular and rarely the third person plural are used, and then only for  emphasis or when it is translated into English by has and not is:

В этом городе есть вокзал. – There is a station in this town.

У меня есть словарь. – I have a dictionary (lit. at me is).

The personal pronouns я (1) etc. may also mean “I am”, etc.

 

The Genders

There are three genders in Russian: masculine, feminine and neuter. Apart from the exceptions, which are few, genders are easily recognized.

1. All nouns ending with a consonant or the semi-vowel –й are masculine: there are no exceptions. A few words ending in –ь (the “soft sign”, which palatalizes the preceding consonant and is normally a feminine ending) are masculine.

 

 These include:

a)      Nine names of months: январь - January, февраль - February, апрель -April, июнь - June, июль - July, сентябрь - September, октябрь -October, ноябрь -November, декабрь - December; – the other three have normal masculine endings: март -March, май -May, август- August.

b)      Nouns formed from infinitive of verbs by replacing the ending –ть with the suffix–тель; e.g. to read (читать) becomes reader (читатель).

c)      Nouns formed from other nouns by addition the suffix -арь: аптека - аптекарь (chemist’s shop, drugstore – chemist, druggist); звон – звонарь (ring - bell ringer).

d)     An alphabetical list of other exceptions: алтарь - altar; бемоль – (musical) flat; бинокль – opera-glasses; бредень – drag-net; букварь –ABC book; вексель – bill of exchange; витязь – knight; вождь – chieftain; голубь – pigeon; гость – guest; гребень – comb; день – day; дождь – rain; зверь – wild animal; календарь – calendar; картофель – potatoes; кашель – cough; кисель – fruit jelly; козырь – trump; контроль – control; корабль – ship; корень – root; король – king; кремль – citadel; лагерь – camp; ливень – downpour; локоть – elbow; ломоть – chunk, large flat slice; миндаль – almond; ноль – nil; огонь – fire;  пекарь – baker; погибель -  perdition; портфель – brief case;  поршень – piston; псалтырь – Psalter; путь – way, track;  рояль -  (grand) piano; рубль – rouble; секретарь – secretary;  словарь – vocabulary; соболь – sable; студень – meat-jelly; уголь – coal;  фестиваль – festival; фитиль- wick; хрусталь – crystal; циркуль – (pair of ) compasses; щавель –sorrel; якорь – anchor; янтарь – amber; ясень – ash-tree.

e)      A few words ending in –я and describing a male, such as дядя – uncle.

2. Words ending in –а, -ь, and -я are feminine.

There are a few exceptions with the –a termination. The exceptions with –ь and  -я   are those given as masculine or neuter in 1 and 3.

3. The neuter terminations

 

are –е, -ё, -о and very few in –я, usually preceded by м, such as

семя – seed, знамя – banner, flag.

 

Articles

 

Russian has no articles; the meaning of  “definite” or “indefinite” is expressed in Russian   through context, by word order or other means. Consequently, when translating into Russian, articles are simply ignored.

 

 

Prefixes and suffixes

 

Russian may be described as a language of prefixes, inflexions and suffixes, and aided by this a Russian can express his thoughts with great accuracy and indicate precise shades of meaning.

 

Prefixes. These are used principally to form the perfective aspect of imperfective verbs.

The following examples will show how very useful they are:

 Prefix                                         Implication

в-                                   inward movement

вс-                                 upward movement

вы-                                outward movement

за-                                 beginning, starting

на-                                 sense of quantity, sufficiency

о-, об- обо-                   sense of movement around or about

от-, ото-                        sense of movement away from

пере-                             expresses repetition

по-                                 denotes an action completed

под-                               motion under or towards

при-                               sense of arriving

про-                               through

раз-, рас-                       finality

у-                                    denotes losing sight of, disappearing

 

There are at least several hundreds words beginning with без-, бес- or не-  (in-, im-, without, less, free, non): безатомный – nuclear free, бессердечный – heartless, неаккуратный –inaccuracy, неагрессивный - non-aggressive. In such cases look for the word minus the prefix and then add to its meaning the equivalent appropriate negative particle.

 

Suffixes. Apart from those used as endings declensions, suffixes are usually employed to denote augmentations or diminution. By adding, for instance, the particles –ище or -ина to some nouns, enormity or unreasonable dimensions are imputed; whereas by adding the particles –ец, -ик, -ок, -чик the object is reduced to a minute size in one’s imagination, and words so formed often serve as an expression of endearment.

 

Declensions

 

Nouns, adjectives and pronouns are declined in Russian.

There are six cases:

Nominative, used for the subject of a sentence.

Genitive, showing possession.

Dative, used for the indirect object of a sentence.

Accusative, used for the object of a sentence.

Instrumental, denoting means instrument or agency.

Prepositional. This case is always preceded by a preposition. It should be noted that such prepositions as в (in), на (on), when governing this case, answer the question “where”, but when governing the accusative case, they answer the question “whither”.

 

Adjectives

 

There are two forms of adjectives: the attributive, which precedes the noun, and the predicative, which follows it. It is the attributive form, which declines, and it agrees in number, gender and case with the noun it qualifies.

The masculine nominative endings are –ый and  –ий: быстрый – quick, синий – dark blue; the feminine, –ая and –яя красивая – beautiful; зимняя - wintry; and the neuter,  –ое and –ее светлое – light; синее - dark blue.

 

Adverbs

 

Adverbs are indeclinable words that can modify a verb, adjective, noun or another adverb. For example: хорошо – well; умно – intelligently; умоляюще – imploringly; братски/ по-братски – brotherly/ like a brother; по-английски – in English; по-другому – in a different way, otherwise; босиком – barefoot; верхом –on horseback; пешком –on foot.

 

In conclusion it is stressed that a Grammar should be consulted for amplification of the points already mentioned, in particular for information, regarding moods, participles, gerunds, etc., which it has not been possible to view in such a short grammatical summary

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