<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 Ep. 17. Glad you tuned in because I think this episode will prove
to be instrumental to your success in Russian. Yeah, I know…You’re
thinking: Why did he use that particular word, instrumental?
You guys are on to me. Hang around and you’ll see. For now, listen as
our speaker tells you who he was talking with…

Я
говорил…с Владом. / …с Марком. / …с
доктором. / с Толиком.

A
lot of “Oms” there. You catch that? And that ‘C’ by the way
translates as “with”. Anyway, you try it. Say: Mom was
talking with Chris.

Мама
говорила…с Крисом.

You
added that ‘s’ sound before the name, right? S krisom

Say:
Mom was talking with Andrei…with William…

Мама
говорила с Андреем. Мама говорила с
Уильямом.

Now
you might be wondering: Wait…Doesn’t ‘talking with someone’ count
as doing something to them? Why aren’t we saying:
Криса…Андрея…Уильяма

Well,
because we’re not talking at them. We’re talking with
them. In Russian that makes a big difference. Here’re some more
examples…Some female names now…

I’m
talking with Karina….with mom…with Nina.

Я
говорю…с Кариной. / …с мамой. / …с Ниной.
/

Interesting
sound there at the end. That ой sound.
Let’s do more…

I
work with Franklin….with John….with Christina….with Olga.

Я
работаю с Франклином. / …с Джоном. / …с
Кристиной. / …с Ольгой /

I
live with Greg…with a musician….with grandpa…with Yana

Я
живу с Грегом. / …с музыкантом. / …с
дедушкой. / с Яной. /

So
far so good? Now let’s listen to some more complex phrases that use
these new forms. See if you can get the gist…

Я
говорил с официанткой, и сказал что ты
ещё ждёшь омлет.

I
was speaking with the waitress, and said that you are still waiting
for the omelet.

Я
говорила с барменом, и сказала что ты
ещё ждёшь вино.

I
was speaking with the bartender—lit: barman—and said that you are
still waiting for the wine.

Это
моя мама и это мой папа. Сегодня я говорил
с ними через Скайп.

This
is my mom and this is my dad. Today I was talking with them via
Skype.

Это
моя сестра Сара, и мой брат Эрик. Сегодня
я говорила с ними через Фейстайм.

This
is my sister Sara, and my brother Erik. Today I was talking with them
via Facetime.

с
ними…with them One more:

Это
мой друг Чарли и моя подруга Настя. Я
жила с ними в Лондоне.

This
is my friend Charlie, and my female friend Nastya. I was living with
them in London.

You
try it. Say…I lived with them in Moscow.

Я
жил с ними в Москве.

I
worked with them in Epicenter.

Я
работал с ними в Эпицентре.

Next,
let’s listen to our speakers. They’re going to pretend to be my kids.
First, Alex will say:

“Mom,
Andrei hit me with…”

Then
see if you can guess what he was hit with. It’ll be the
last word each time.

Мама!
Андрей ударил меня…телефоном. / …рюкзаком.
/ …магнитом / Вини-пухом

Mom,
Andrei hit me with a telephone…with a rucksack…with a
magnet…with Winnie the Pooh

Same
“om” ending we heard earlier. Like: I was talking with
John. Я говорил с Джоном.

One
more round…

Папа!
София ударила меня…книгой / …игрушкой.
/ …вилкой. /

Dad!
Sophia hit me with a book…with a toy…with a fork

Those
were all feminine objects…книга игрушка
вилка…and they got that ОЙ ending
we heard earlier with feminine names. So, what’s going on here?

Well,
those endings—OM with masculine nouns and ОЙ with
feminine ones—those are “instrument markers.” They tell a
Russian person how something was done.
If English did this, it would sound like this:

What
did Andrei hit you with? – A pillow-om

How’d
you open that rusty door? – A crowbar-om

What’d
you use to smash the glass? – A hammer-om

What’d
you use to wash away the chalk? – SodOI

To
bust out another fancy grammar term, words with these endings are in
their instrumental form. Or the instrumental case. No need to
memorize that, but I wanted to toss it out there.

And
when we say who we did something with…that person’s name
also goes into its instrumental form. That’s what we were doing at
the start of the lesson. In both situations, there’s this idea of
“with.” I broke it with a brick. I was talking with Jim.

Try
to say: I was working with the manager.

Я
работал с менеджером.

I
was working with a client.

Я
работала с клиентом.

I
was playing with grandma.

Я
играл с бабушкой

I
was playing with Maxim.

Я
играла с Максимом.

I
was waiting with Vladimir.

Я
ждал с Владимиром.

I
was waiting with Larrisa.

Я
ждала с Ларисой.

This
stuff is starting to get pretty advanced, so if you’re hanging in
there….that’s really impressive.

So
let’s take a step back and look at the big picture. Specifically, the
different endings of people’s names
that we’ve encountered so far. There’s been a lot. Listen. I wont
translate for now.

Это
Полина.Это Джон.

Я
знаю Полину.Я вижу Джона.

У
Полины есть кошка.У Джона есть собака.

Я
дал книгу Полине.Я дал журнал Джону.

Я
говорил с Полиной.Я играл с Джоном.

In
these last ones, a паук is a spider…

Есть
паук на Полине. Есть паук на Джоне!

Incredible,
isn’t it? All those forms of the same name? And what’s even more
incredible is, now you understand them. You understand what
each version means, and how it functions. I say incredible, because
it’s so foreign to how we think in English. And yet you’re getting
it.

Of
course, now it’s your turn. I’ll prompt you to say those same
phrases. Ready?

This
is Polina. This is John. I know Polina. I see John. Polina has a cat.
John has a dog.

I
gave the book to Polina. I gave the magazine to John. I was talking
with Polina.

I
was playing with John. There’s a spider on Polina. There’s a spider
on John.

<<TIP
OF THE DAY>>

Today’s
tip is simple, yet challenging. Try to run other names through all
the forms that we just covered. And here’s a tip: A lot of names
won’t work,especially non-Russian girls names.

Jennifer,
Sally, Michele…pretty much any female name that doesn’t end with an
‘a’ sound won’t change. And guy’s names that end, for ex, with an
O….Pablo…also wont change. Or an ‘E’ sound, like Harry. But
still, give it a try. Start with Darina and James.

In
fact, one second…Andrei, иди сюда. Say
hi everyone.

ANDREI:
Hi, everyone.

How
would you say in Russian…This is Yana. Say: I know Yana. Yana has a
son. I said to Yana Hi! There’s a spider on Yana!

Ok…now
it’s your turn, guys…

(END
TIP)

Time
for our Russian Immersion section.

–
– –

What
do you think С кем means?

C….translates
as ‘with’

кем
is ‘who’…(in its instrumental form.)

Ask
me: Mark, who were you talking with?

Марк,
с кем ты говорил?

Ok…sorry
for the interruption. Back to our immersion…

–
– –

Чай
с лимоном…What does that mean? Tea s lemon-om.

Tea…with…lemon.

So
what’s the basic form of the word lemon? Take your time on that one.
It must be just: лимон

But
that little word ‘C’…with…forced it into which form? Its
instrumental form. If you got that, you’re doing awesome. Ok, one
more….

–
– –

So,
that word кукуруза…What is it? I
actually did define it for you way back in Episode 11, but I never
tested you on it, so I’m guessing you don’t know what it means. But
here’s a really important point…Perhaps the most important thing I
can convey to you in this whole course. In language, meaning isn’t
all or nothing. What I mean is, It’s not like you either know what
the word means or you don’t. That’s not how language works, and
that’s not how the brain organizes information.

Tell
me. Is кукуруза the word for
“fuzzy”? It’s not? I thought you didn’t know what the word
meant. Is it the word for ‘winter’? No? How about ‘clock’? How do you
know?

You
know it’s none of those things because in the last conversation, Mom
made tort with kukuruzoi.

So
you know it’s some kind of food. And so, you know a whole lot more
about kukuruza than “absolutely nothing.” Right? Because
meaning is a continuum. From having zero clue what a word might mean,
to knowing it so precisely, you could draw a picture of it.

For
so many words—even in our native language, okay—meaning is hazy.
We kind of know what certain words mean. And not knowing them
precisely…it’s no big deal. Can you precisely define the word
capitulate? Like, The other side capitulated. I’m not saying it’s not
use