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Russian for English speakers 49


Lesson 49

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Сорок девятый (49-й) урок

Forty ninth lesson

     
 

УРОК НОМЕР СОРОК ДЕВЯТЬ (№49)

Lesson number forty nine (#49)


REVISION AND NOTES
1 Verbs, as we have seen, go by pairs ; imperfective and perfective.
While the imperfective gives us the present and the progressive (or frequentative) preterit, the perfective provides us with the future and preterit.
We have for instance :
Делать, to do (imperfective); я делаю, I do, я делал, я делала (fem.) : I was doing.

And correspondingly :
Сделать, to do (perfective) ; я сделаю, I shall do, я сделал, я сделала(fern.), I did (or have done).

Or again :
Гулять, to walk about (Imperfective); я гуляю, I walk about; я гулял, я гуляла (fem.), I was walking about.

Corresponding to :
Погулять, to walk about (perfective); я погуляю, I shall walk about; я погулял, я погуляла (fem.), I walked about.

Or
Терять, to lose (imperfective); я теряю, I lose; я терял, я теряла (fem.), I was losing.

Corresponding to :
Потерять, to lose (perfective) ; я потеряю, I shall lose; я потерял (потеряла), I lost.

In the above examples, the perfective is formed by adding a preposition as prefix to the imperfective (с, по).

We have, on the other hand :
Находить, to find (imperfective); я нахожу, I find; я находил, я находила (fem.), I was finding.
And :
Найти, to find (perfective) ; я найду, I shall find; я нашёл, я нашла (fem.), I found.
Then :
Понимать, to understand (imperfective) ; я понимаю, I understand; я понимал, я понимала(fеm.), I was understanding.
And :
Понять, to understand (perfective); я пойму, I shall understand; я понял, я поняла (fem.), I understood.

In the two previous examples, the preposition is common to both verbs, and it is the radical that changes; the perfective is shorter than the imperfective.

We have not yet finished with the aspects of verbs neither shall we try to finish at the first shot. Let's go on observing them as we come across them.
 
2 The comparative can be obtained by changing the final ый or ой into ее or е, or also by using the adverb более, more:
скорый
, swift, скорее or более скорый, swifter.
Белый, white; белее, whiter.
Чёрный, black; чернее, blacker.

But there are numerous irregularities, such as :
Хороший, good; лучше, better.
Молодой, young; моложе, younger, or младший (of a brother).
Малый, small; меньше, smaller.
Старый, old; старее, older or старше, elder.
 
3 Порядок, order; в порядке, in order.
- Он порядочный человек: he is an honest man, a good man.
Шутка, the fun, the joke; без (or кроме) шуток? You're not joking?
Подарок, the gift, подарки, the gifts.

We see that the о is either inserted or left out, according to the case.
 
4 Тяжёлый (adjective) : heavy, difficult;
тяжело (adverb) : heavily, with difficulty.
тяжёлая работа, a difficult work.
Тяжело мне думать об этом, it is painful to me to think of it.
Тяжёлая болезнь. : a serious illness.
Он тяжело ранен: he is seriously wounded.
Лёгкий, easy, light; легко, easily, lightly; легче (pron. l'egtche) : easier or lighter.
- Тёплый, warm; тепло, warmly; теплее (t'epl'eie:) : warmer.


The ё (io) of the adjective changes into е (ie) in the adverb and comparative :
тяжелее (tiajel'eie), heavier;
теплее (t'epl'eie), warmer;
легче (l'egtche), an irregular comparative, lighter.
 

5 Знать: to know (radical зна), imperfective : я знаю, I know.
I shall know will be: я буду знать, because the perfective узнать means to recognize.
Он её не узнает - he will not recognize her,
Я его сразу узнал, I recognized him at once.

The same root provides : знак, sign;
когда я дам знак, when I (shall) give the signal;
вопросительный знак, question mark;
знание, knowledge; знакомство, acquaintance;
знакомый, known, acquainted.
- Что это значит? what does this mean?
Это значительно, this is significant.
Значительное количество, a considerable quantity.
Незначительный факт, an unimportant fact.
Значение, the meaning.
Знаменитый, famous; знаменитость, a celebrity.