Svetlana Flemming - Colloquial Russian - The Next Step in Language Learning

Staŕoe zdańie; no´vaq texnolo´giq; glubo´koe oźero; prosto´j voproś; 2

wiro´kaq reka´;

krasi´voe i´mq;

va´'naq zada´ha;

hiśtyj vid

3

trańsporta;

ser;e¨znyj slu´haj;

slo´'naq proble´ma;

opaśnaq

4

5

boleźn;; veli´kij pisa´tel;.

6

7

Superlative of adverbs and short superlative

8

The superlative of the adverb is formed by adding vsego´ ‘of anything/

9

everything’ or vsex ‘of anyone / everyone / all’ after the comparative: 40

1

On pry

´ gaet vy´we vsex.

421111

He jumps highest (higher than anyone).

102

|

Sport

Mne nra´vitsq \´ta rabo´ta boĺ;we vsego´.

I like this work best (better than anything).

This same construction may also be used as the superlative of the short form adjective:

|ta kni´ga intereśnee vsex.

This book is the most interesting.

Exercise 8

Examine the advertisement (shown on page 103) for the stuntsmen’s festival and answer the questions in English.

1 Where does the stuntmen’s festival take place?

2 Which teams are taking part in the show?

3 Why are Russian stuntmen the strongest in the world?

4 Who will appear as well as the stuntmen?

5 How will the show end?

Language points ♦

Preposition corner

S, ot and iz ‘from’

S + genitive

In expressions of place s is the opposite of na and means ‘from’. Use it to translate ‘from’ with those categories of nouns which use na to mean ‘to’ or ‘at, on’:

s se´vera

from the north

s vokzaĺa

from the station

s uĺicy

from the street

s Uraĺa

from the Urals

s konceŕta

from the concert

s rabo´ty

from work

s poézda

from the train

s velosipe´da

off a bike

Sport

|

103

1111

2

3

4

5

6

7

8111

9

10

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

20111

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

После своего выступления каскадеры

9

споют вместе со звездами рока.

30

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

40

N.B. kaskade¨r – stunt man; smerteĺ;no opaśnyj – deadly dangerous; 1

ste´pen; riśka – level of risk; zaverwa´t; – to finish; meropriq´tie – event; 421111

zvezdaŕo´ka – rock star; ubedi´t;sq – to be convinced

104

|

Sport

S is commonly used to translate ‘from, since’ in expressions of time: s apreĺq

since April

s tre¨x haso´v

since 3 o’clock

s utra´

since morning

s le´ta

since summer

S may also translate ‘from’ in the sense of cause: s goŕq

from grief

so sku´ki

from boredom

However, ot is a safer choice in this type of context, as it is less colloquial: ot ra´dosti ‘from joy’.