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

1 Ba´jkery ne (veŕit;) (gorodskié vlaśti), hto goŕnye velosipe´dy poŕtqt grunt. 2 K so'aleńi[, \tot rejs ne (podxodi´t;) (my).

3 |ta wlq´pa o´hen; (idti´) (moj oteć). 4 Vrah (sove´tovat;) (bol;no´j) zanq´t;sq spoŕtom. 5 Ona ne (razrewa´t;) (svoi´ de´ti) igra´t; na doro´ge. 6 Kak mo´'no (doverq´t;) (tako´j helove´k)?

7 On (ra´dovat;sq) (vozmo´'nost;) uhaśtvovat; v sorevnovańiqx.

8 Q (udivlq´t;sq) (tvoj vy´bor). 9 On vsegda´ (pomoga´t;) (mat;).

10 Q tak (sohu´vstvovat;) (be´'ency). 11 Mne ka´'etsq, (Rossi´q) ne (grozi´t;) ute´hka mozgo´v. 12 Q (zavi´dovat;) (sovremeńnaq molode¨';):

bu´du]ee (prinadle'a´t;) (oni´). 13

My vsegda´

(sle´dovat;) (sove´ty) instru´ktora.

Language points ♦

Stress

One of the greatest problems that Russian gives to the foreign speaker is identifying the stressed syllable of each word. There is a considerable difference in the pronunciation of stressed and unstressed vowels.

For example, in xorowo´ each ‘o’ is pronounced quite differently. The

Sport

|

109

1111

first is ‘e’ as in father, the second is ‘a’ and only the final, stressed 2

‘o’ is pronounced as an ‘o’. To misplace the stress renders words unin-3

telligible to a Russian listener. The situation is further complicated 4

by the fact that stress on words alters when their case or ending 5

changes. This is the first of a series of guides to common stress 6

patterns on different parts of speech in Russian.

7

8111

Masculine nouns

9

Fixed stress – stress remains on the same syllable throughout the 10

declension, singular and plural:

1

avto´bus ‘bus’; velosipe´d ‘bicycle’;

2

universite´t ‘university’. This groups contains a large number of 3

nouns with three or more syllables, but also some one and two 4

syllable nouns: vid, a´vtor.

5

Fixed final stress – the stress moves from the final syllable in the 6

nominative singular to the ending in all other cases: stol ‘table’

7

(gen. sing. stola´; nom. pl. stoly´; gen. pl. stolo´v); no' ‘knife’; um 8

‘mind, intelligence’. This group includes several nouns with suffixes 9

i´k, ić, o´k, a´' , aŕ; : gruzovi´k ‘lorry’; dvoreć ‘palace’ (dvorca´, 20111

dvorcy

´ , dvorco´v); koneć ‘end’ (konca´, koncy´, konco´v); kuso´k 1

‘piece’ (kuska´, kuski´, kusko´v); baga´' ‘luggage’; slovaŕ; ‘dictio-2

nary’.

3

4

Mobile stress – there are three different patterns of mobile stress on 5

masculine nouns.

6

Type 1 – stress on the stem in the singular and on the ending in the 7

plural: krug ‘circle’ (sing. kru´ga, etc; pl. krugi´, krugo´v, etc.); drug 8

‘friend’ (dru´ga, druz;q´, druze´j); most ‘bridge’ (mośta, mosty´, 9

mosto´v). Many masuline nouns with their nominative plural in -a´

30

follow this pattern: goŕod ‘town’ (goŕoda, goroda´, gorodo´v); a´dres 1

‘address’; poézd ‘train’; dom ‘house’.

2

3

Type 2 – stress on the stem in the singular and nominative plural 4

(and accusative plural if it takes the same form as the nominative), 5

on the ending in all other plurals: volk ‘wolf’ (voĺka, voĺki, 6

volko´v); u´xo ‘ear’ (u´xa,

u´wi,

uwe´j); zub ‘tooth’ (zu´ba,

zu´by,

7

zubo´v).

8

Type 3 – a very small number of masculine nouns have the stress on 9

40

the ending, except in the nominative plural: kon; ‘steed’ (konq´, końi, 1

kone´j); gvozd; ‘nail’ (gvozdq´, gvoźdi, gvozde´j).

421111

110

|

Sport

Exercise 11

Translate into Russian.

1 I was advised by my doctor to take up sport and join a sports club. He says that sport will help me to relieve stress.

2 Can you recommend sports classes that will suit me?

3 When you are young, you are ready to risk everything. You do not think about danger.

4 He became a stuntman when he was twenty, and, even at the age of forty, he still performs the most dangerous stunts.

5 There are no high mountains around Moscow from which one can parachute.

6 The city authorities have a lot of problems with Moscow bikers who damage the soil in city parks.

1111

2

6 KUL:TURNAQ @IZN: V