<figure class="wp-block-image"></figure>

Full Episode Audio

<figure class="wp-block-audio"></figure>

Exercises Only Audio

<figure class="wp-block-audio"></figure>

Download Full Episode (right click save-as)

Download Exercises

*
NOTE *

All
phrases intended for translating/listening practice have been
deleted.

Welcome
to Episode 13. So, you’re visiting a Russian family. Dedushka has
been in the kitchen, preparing
something. Finally he comes out carrying a tray of little meat
slices, and he tells you: Попробуй.

Not
hungry, you wave it off. So dedushka turns to you, Melissa, and again
offers…

Мелисса,
пожалуйста…попробуй.

Hmm….What
could that mean: попробуй

Well,
we know this form of the word: Хочешь
попробовать?

So,
попробуй is what’s known as the
command form. Dedushka is commanding us to try the meat.

Listen
to just the ending of the word: –буй

In
these podcasts we’ve heard at least one other command form…just
briefly. In that episode of Sam and Cat, Cat made a big breakfast and
tells Sam: “Смотри!”
It’s a command to “Look!”

Let’s
have you try those. Hold out a food item and tell your friend: Try
it!

Попробуй!

Next,
you’re about to demonstrate something for your friend. Tell them:
“Watch!”

Смотри!

Imagine,
now, that Melissa
is in the kitchen making something for her Russian hosts. So she
comes out with a tray of veges and hummus, and offers it to Babushka.
Listen to what Melissa says: Бабушка,
попробуйте.

Michael,
too, was making crackers and Cheeze Whiz. And he holds the tray to
dedushka. Listen…

Дедушка,
попробуйте.

Listen
to that ending again…уйте

Hmm.
Why does grandma get to say just попробуй
to us, but we have to say попробуйте
to her?

I’ll
tell you why: Respect.

Lots
of languages use different word forms depending on the person you’re
speaking with. In Japanese, for example, speakers must often use a
totally different word to express the exact same idea, depending on
how respectful they need to be. We have to do this in English, too,
of course, but we do it with tone and with an added Sir or Ma’am.
Like…”Hey, Billy, wanna try some cake?”

vs
“Mr. President, would you like to try some cake?”

Russian
shows respect via the word ending.

You’re
turn. Offer your vege platter to my boy Andrusha….

Андрюша,
попробуй.

Now
offer it to Vladimir Ivanovich…

Владимир
Иванович, попробуйте.

You’re
at the beach when you see some dolphins. Tap little Sophia on her
shoulder and say:

Sophia,
look!

София,
смотри! Дельфины.

Then
take Babushka’s hand and point for her…Grandma, look. Dolphins.

Бабушка,
смотрите! Дельфины.

Seemingly
random quiz here. How would a guy say: I gave the T-shirt to Fred.

Я
дал футболку Фреду.

And
a woman would phrase that…

Я
дала футболку Фреду.

That
was from Episode 6, of course. Well, let’s learn the command
form of that verb.

Listen
as our speaker asks Jim to give him various things…

Джим,
дай мне…книгу. / …воду / …ключ

Here
they are again: Jim, give to me the book…give to me the
water…give to me the key

So
the word was “дай”

It
sounds very much like the English word “die” doesn’t it?
Let’s listen to a few more.

Маша,
дай мне…фотоаппарат. / …телефон / …нож

Masha,
give me the camera (lit: foto-apparatus), give me the phone, give me
the knife.

So,
the million ruble question: What do you think the formal version
would be? Like:

Vladimir
Mixailovich, give me the key, please.

Hit
pause and think about it.

Think
you got it?

Here,
listen…

Владимир
Михайлович, дайте мне ключ, пожалуйста.

So
the word was: Дайте.

For
this next exercise, instead of the idea of “formal” vs
“informal” speech, let’s think of the division as Friend
vs Stranger. That is, we can speak informally with friends,
but need to speak respectfully with strangers. So try to translate
the following phrases, and say out loud: Friend or Stranger. Ready?

–
– –

<<tip
of the day>>

Today’s
tip is simple: Get into the habit of playing with the
language…playing with the Russian you know. By playing, I mean
using without trying to express a real truth. We
learned in the previous episode a construction that’s perfect for
playing. Do you remember it? Try to say: I have a dog.

У
меня есть собака.

Now,
here’s what I might do. What my kids would do. I’ll demonstrate in
English…I have a dog. Do you have a dog? Does George have a dog?
No. George has a cat. Do you have a cat?

With
just that one simple construction, you could play for a long
time. I wasn’t trying to make sense, or say true things. It was just
speaking for the fun of it. Here’s the same kind of thing in
Russian….

У
меня есть собака. У тебя есть собака? У
Джорджа есть собака? Нет. У Джорджа есть
кошка. У тебя есть кошка?

It’s
another parallel with learning guitar. I remember learning something
called ‘two hand tapping’ when I was just getting started. Eddie Van
Halen was the master of this…(demo)

Anyway,
the original phrase I learned was these three notes. And immediately
I played with it. (demo) I didn’t care if I was making “musical
sense” or not. It didn’t even seem like practice. That’s really
important. It was fun.

That’s
what we want to do with our Russian. Have fun with it. Not all the
time. But some times.

<<end
tip>>

Ok,
let’s do our Russian Immersion section now.

–
– –

Ok…on
to our final. Try to translate the gist of these phrases:

–
– –

How’d
you do? Keep those emails coming, and I’ll see you in the next
episode.