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

Note that nahina´t; / naha´t; s + genitive means ‘to begin with’ as well as ‘begin from’:

naha´t; s bu´kvy A

begin with the letter A

naha´t; s nahaĺa

begin from the beginning

C + genitive combines with storona´ ‘side’ in several expressions: s odno´j storony

´ . . . s drugo´j storony´

on one hand . . . on the other hand

s moe´j storony

´

on my part

s le´voj storony

ót + genitive

to the left of

C is used with sda´ha ‘change’:

sda´ha s rublq´

change from a rouble

C + instrumental means ‘with, together with, accompanied by’: My s mu´'em poe´xali tuda´

My husband and I went there

Ona´ ponimaét s trudo´m

She understands with difficulty

haj s moloko´m

tea with milk

govori´t; s ruśskim akceńtom

to speak with a Russian accent

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This use of s should not be confused with the use of the instrumental 2

without a preposition to mean ‘with’ in the sense of ‘by means of’: 3

reźat; no'o´m

4

to cut with a knife

5

6

Note also:

7

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S Ro'destvo´m

Merry Christmas

9

S dne¨m ro'deńiq

Happy Birthday

10

1

Ot + genitive

2

3

In expressions of place ot is used to mean ‘from a person’: 4

Q poluhiĺa pis;moót nego´

5

I received a letter from him

6

7

On uwe¨l ot 'eny

´

8

He left his wife

9

It also means ‘away from’, often after verbs prefixed with ot-: 20111

1

Teploxo´d otply

ĺ ot priśtani

2

The boat moved away from the quay

3

4

Note some other expressions of place using ot:

5

dalekoót goŕoda

6

far from the town

7

8

v desqti´ kilome´trax ot goŕoda

9

ten miles from the town

30

In expressions of time

1

s + genitive . . . do + genitive is used to mean

‘from . . . to . . .’:

2

3

s peŕvogo fevralq´ do peŕvogo maŕta

4

from 1st February to 1st March

5

6

s dvux do pqti´

7

from two o’clock till five o’clock

8

S . . . po . . . + accusative has the slightly different meaning of up 9

to (and including):

40

1

s peŕvogo fevralq´ po peŕvoe maŕta

421111

from 1st February to 1st March inclusive

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Ot . . . do . . . ‘from . . . to’ is used to express distance: rasstoqńie ot Moskvy

´ do Peterbuŕga

the distance from Moscow to St Petersburg

Note some other expressions of time using ot:

vre´mq ot vre´meni

from time to time

den; oto dnq

from day to day

In expressions of cause ot means ‘from’ and can refer to both physical and emotional reasons:

My umiraém ot goĺoda

We are dying from hunger

Oni zasmeqĺis; ot ra´dosti

They burst out laughing from joy

Note also the following expressions:

bez umaót \´toj de´vuwki

crazy about this girl

v vostoŕge ot podaŕka