Overview
This lecture provides a comprehensive overview of Russian language fundamentals, including its grammatical concepts, cases, verb aspects and conjugations, sentence structure, and essential vocabulary, enabling students to systematically understand and build proficiency in Russian.
Essential Concepts Before Grammar
- Russian distinguishes between literal (written) and spoken (colloquial) forms.
- There is a difference between typed (printed) and handwritten (cursive) Russian; this course focuses on printed Russian.
- Russian lacks articles (the, a/an) and progressive/perfect tenses found in English.
- The verb "to be" is not used in present tense in Russian.
- Russian has only three tenses: past, present, and future, each with perfective (completed action) and imperfective (ongoing/habitual) aspects.
- Nouns are gendered: masculine, feminine, or neuter.
- Consonant devoicing and vowel reduction occur in pronunciation.
- Word stress can change a word's meaning.
- Russian uses flexible sentence structures and relies on context and word endings (declensions).
- There are six cases (“expressions”): nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, prepositional.
Russian Alphabet & Pronunciation
- The Russian alphabet has 33 letters: 21 consonants, 10 vowels, and 2 pronunciation letters (hard and soft signs).
- Hard and soft signs modify the pronunciation of preceding consonants.
- Vowel and consonant sounds can change depending on word position and stress.
- Many words change pronunciation due to historical spelling traditions.
Nouns: Gender & Plurality
- Masculine nouns: end in consonant or -й; pluralize with -ы/-и.
- Feminine nouns: end in -a or -я; pluralize with -ы/-и or drop ending.
- Neuter nouns: end in -о, -е, -ё; pluralize with -a or -я.
- Some exceptions and foreign-origin words do not follow standard patterns.
The Six Russian Cases (Declensions)
- Nominative: subject of the sentence (who/what).
- Genitive: possession, absence, “of/from whom/what.”
- Dative: indirect object or direction, “to whom/what.”
- Accusative: direct object, “whom/what.”
- Instrumental: means by which an action is done, “with whom/what.”
- Prepositional: used after certain prepositions, “about/in/on whom/what.”
- Cases are shown by modifying noun and adjective endings.
Sentence Structure & Word Order
- Russian sentences can use various word orders (SVO, OVS, etc.) to change emphasis.
- Intonation often determines meaning rather than strict word order.
Basic Russian Fundamentals
- Key areas: question words, prepositions, adverbs, pronouns, days/months, time words, greetings, numbers.
- Pronouns and adjectives must agree in gender, case, and number.
- Russian numbers influence the case of the following noun.
Verb Conjugations & Aspects
- Two main verb conjugations: -ать (1st) and -ить (2nd).
- Present tense: endings vary by pronoun.
- Past tense: formed with -л (-ла, -ло, -ли) based on gender/number.
- Future tense: perfective verbs (simple future), imperfective verbs (compound future with быть).
- Conditional mood: use бы + past tense verb for "would (have)" statements.
- Verbs can be reflexive, indicating actions done to oneself.
- Verbs of motion have special rules with unidirectional and multidirectional forms.
Adjectives & Participles
- Adjectives change endings to match the noun’s gender, case, and number.
- Short, comparative, superlative, and participle forms exist; each with specific usage and endings.
Pronouns
- Possessive, demonstrative, personal object, reflexive, and possessive reflexive pronouns change with case, gender, and number.
- Reflexive pronouns indicate actions or possession relating back to the subject.
Negation
- Negation uses не (not) before verbs/adjectives and нет (there is not) for absence.
- Double negatives are required in Russian (e.g., "I don’t see anything" uses two negatives).
Commands & Imperative Mood
- The imperative form has two types: singular (ты) and plural/formal (вы), built from the verb stem with -й/-и endings.
- Add -тесь/-тесь for reflexive verbs.
The Russian Subjunctive
- Subjunctive mood expresses wishes, hypotheses, advice, and is built with бы + past tense verb.
- Used for complex "if" sentences, emotional desire, requests, and suggestions.
Key Terms & Definitions
- Aspect — Distinguishes between completed (perfective) and ongoing/habitual (imperfective) actions.
- Case (Declension) — Grammar system modifying nouns/pronouns/adjectives to express function.
- Perfective/Imperfective — Verb forms for completed and ongoing actions.
- Instrumental Case — Indicates means/instrument of an action.
- Reflexive Verb — Verb form indicating the action impacts the subject itself.
Action Items / Next Steps
- Review the Russian alphabet and pronunciation.
- Memorize noun gender rules and pluralization patterns.
- Practice using the six cases with sample nouns and adjectives.
- Conjugate regular and irregular verbs in present, past, and future tenses.
- Practice forming sentences with different word orders for emphasis.
- Complete exercises on using pronouns, adjectives, and participles across cases.
- Apply the imperative, negation, and subjunctive moods in sample sentences.
- Suggested: Explore recommended external links for further practice if needed.