<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 16. Before you started this course, you probably
encountered the phrase: My name is…For ex: My name is Steve.
Меня
зовут Стив. We’ve
used it quite a bit in these podcasts, but I never actually broke
that down for you.

Now,
despite what you may have heard online, меня
зовут does not translate as “My name is…”

Not
even close. Yes, it is the Russian equivalent of that phrase.
It’s indeed a way of telling someone your name. But the word меня
does not mean “my”. And зовут
doesn’t mean “name.”

When
you say: Меня зовут….you’re
literally saying: “Me they call….”

Here’s
the important part…the topic, in fact, of this whole episode:
“calling” someone—as in, they call me Mark—counts as
doing something to someone. So, imagine you’re telling someone the
names of people in your family.

Mom
they call Linda.

Маму
зовут Линда.

See
how Mama changed to Mamu? How might you say: My sister they call
Michele. (We’ll leave off the word “my” because it’s
understood.)

Сестру
зовут Мишель.

Сестра
changed to сестру

Do
you recall how to say ‘dog’ in Russian?

Собака

So
try to say: The dog is called Fido.

Собаку
зовут Файдо.

Again,
we see that sobaka has changed to sobakU.

So
far so good? Now here’s something interesting about
Russian…something I’ve gone out of my way to avoid during this
entire course. But we’re ready for it, now: When we do
something to a man his name will change.

For
ex, take the names: Steve, Jeff, Marvin

Стив,
Джеф, Марвин

The
speaker will say: I know Steve. I saw Jeff. I love Marvin.

Listen
to how their names change.

Я
знаю Стива. Я увидела Джефа. Я люблю
Марвина.

Did
you hear those ‘a’s at the end? Стива,
Джефа,
Марвина?

Your
turn. Try to say…”I know Anton.”

Я
знаю Антона.

I
saw Maxim.

Я
увидел Максима.

She
loves Greg.

Она
любит Грега.

That
doesn’t happen to masculine objects, right? I love your phone: Я
люблю твой телефон.

No
change. The phone’s not alive. And actually, it goes beyond people.
Any masculine creature that is
animate will change. So, not plants. They’re alive, but don’t move
about on their own.

But
a giraffe is animate…Жираф

I
saw a giraffe.

Я
увидела жирафа.

Let’s
say you’re in a rock band and before a big gig, the guitarist falls
ill. гитарист is the word for
guitarist. So you say, Hey…I know a guitarist.

Я
знаю гитариста.

So,
jumping back to when we were naming the people in our family. Now we
point to a picture of our brother and say: My brother they call Erik.
(Again, we leave off ‘my’. It’s understood.)

Брата
зовут Эрик.

Брат
becomes брата because
calling him counts as doing something to him.

Let
that sink in as we review some main points from the last episode. Can
you translate the following phrases?

–
– –

We
got our grammar point out of the way, next up is our official new
word for the lesson.

ждать

So,
you’ve got a train to catch. Meanwhile, your mom says, “Don’t go
yet. Aunt Yana wanted to say goodbye.” But you look at your
watch and shake your head…

Мама…Я
не могу ждать.

So
you pick up your suitcase and step outside, then Mom tugs your coat
from behind. She’s pointing to Yana’s car pulling up.

Жди,
жди! Видишь? Яна приехала.

So,
he said: Я не могу ждать.

I
can not wait…as in, I’m unable to wait. So what kind of word is it?

ждать
is a verb infinitive. We hear that T+soft sign.
And what was mom saying as Yana pulled up?

Жди!
is the command form. She was saying, Wait!

Let’s
say you go to a restaurant and they tell you it’ll be an hour before
you get a table. Tell your friend: I don’t want to wait.

Я
не хочу ждать.

Imagine
you’re in a cafe and you still haven’t gotten your food. Listen as
the speaker tells the waitress…Девушка…

I’m
waiting for my salad.

Я
жду салат.

My
brother is waiting for his soup.

Мой
брат ждёт суп.

And
you, Darina. You’re waiting for pizza, yes?

А
ты, Дарина…Ты ждёшь пиццу, да?

Let’s
hear those again: I’m waiting…You’re waiting…He’s waiting…

Я
жду, ты ждёшь, он ждёт

Since
‘waiting for something’ counts as doing something to it, we notice
that the feminine word ‘pizza’ changed to ‘pizzu.’ Whereas things
like soup and salad didn’t change because they’re inanimate masculine
nouns. But how would you say: I’m waiting for Jeff.

Я
жду Джефа.

The
word for a client in Russian is a cognate. Listen: клиент

Ask
your friend: Are you waiting for a client?

Ты
ждёшь клиента?

No.
I’m waiting for Yana.

Нет.
Я жду Яну.

Out
of curiosity…Can you guess what the past tense might be? How would
a guy say:

I
was waiting and waiting…

Я
ждал и ждал…

How
would a woman say that?

Я
ждала и ждала..

Before
the break…this is just for fun…the name for this pattern is the
Animate Accusative.

You
don’t have to learn it. Heck, forget I even told you. You guys know I
loathe grammar terms.

But
this one’s fun to toss around. So the next time you’re hanging with
some friends and they ask what you’ve been up to, just say…”Eh,
same old stuff. Just getting a handle on Russian’s animate accusative
rule. What about you?” Then look at your watch and say, For me
it’s time…

Мне
пора.

<<TIP
OF THE DAY>>

I’m
sure you’ve noticed…since the midterm episode, we’ve been doing
more and more speaking. Compare that to the early episodes, where
almost all we did was listen. It’s because our model through all of
this has been my kids, and the way they so efficiently are learning
three totally different languages. At first, they listened, picking
up the patterns. Like….’Whenever someone says Я
there’s a word that ends either with an L sound, or an U. Я
ждал…or…Я жду. Я
смотрел….or…Я смотрю.
Again, they had little idea what the things meant, but
they were categorizing like crazy. That’s some kind of action.
That’s some kind of location. клиент must
be a person, because it changed to клиента
and so on.

But
then came their first trials at speaking. As I write, William is far
ahead of his sister Sophia who still mostly listens quietly. But
she’s on the verge now. Words are starting to come.

As
they are with us. So let them flow. Use all the Russian you know.
Please don’t worry about making mistakes. My kids sure don’t. Heck,
I’m a native speaker of English and I make mistakes. We all do. Who
hasn’t said: There’s lot of cars in the garage.

That’s
wrong. It should be: There ARE lots of cars…not There is…

Don’t
let the fear of mistakes stop you from practicing your Russian, okay?

And
if you’re looking for a course that will help you with that…that
will do all the work for you, and turn you into a confident
conversational Russian speaker, then I hope you check out Russian
Accelerator. It’s my premium course…All video, with over a dozen
native speakers. Videos that really clarify the meaning of things.
It’s all there, in ninety lessons. Plus a podcast I made exclusively
for Russian Accelerator members.

You’ve come this far, and we’ve got a few more episodes left. But after that, I hope you’ll join my Accelerator course. I think you’ll love it.

(TIP
OUT)

Alright…let’s
do our Russian Immersion section. So, Irina comes into the mall and
sees me sitting on a bench…

–
– –

In
today’s tip I mentioned how, as we progress in the language, we
inevitably begin speaking more and more…just as kids do. So for
today’s final, let’s practice some of our recent vocab.

Try
to say the following phrases….

–
– –

If
you got most of those, you’re doing awesome. Keep up the great work
and I’ll see you in the next episode.