Lesson 1 :: Russian Online Lessons

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Lesson 1. Airport

Dialogues

Here you can work with dialogues of the lesson

I. Welcome to Russia!

a) Listen to the dialogue and read the translation

Listen to the dialogue between a tourist and the passport control officer. The tourist, named John Brown, has just arrived to Russia from America. After his passport is checked, John asks the officer where the baggage claim area is. Then he thanks the officer and says goodbye.

Dialogue 1-1. In the airport

Transcription

- Добрый день.

[dobriy dyen]

- Hello

- Здравствуйте.

[zdrastvooyti]

- Hello

- Ваш паспорт, пожалуйста.

[vash paspart, pajaloosta]

- Your passport, please.

- Извините?

[izviniti?]

- Pardon?

- Паспорт.

[paspart]

- Your passport

- А! Вот, пожалуйста.

[a! vot, pajaloosta]

- Oh! Here it is.

- Вы господин Браун?

[vi gaspadin braoon?]

- Are you Mr. Brown?

- Да, я Джон Браун.

[da, ya djon braoon]

- Yes, I'm John Brown.

- Вы из Америки?

[vi iz amyeriki?]

- Are you from America?

- Да, всё верно.

[da, fsyo vyerna]

- Yes, right.

- Хорошо. Всё в порядке. Добро пожаловать в Россию, господин Браун.

[harasho. fsyo f paryatkye. dabro pajalavat v rassiyoo, gaspadin braoon]

- Good, everything's all right. Welcome to Russia, Mr. Brown.

- Спасибо. Извините, пожалуйста, а где находится выдача багажа?

[spasiba. izviniti, pajaloosta, a gdye nahoditsa vidacha bagaja?]

- Thanks. Excuse me, please, where is the baggage claim area?

- Это там.

[eta tam]

- It is there.

- Спасибо! До свидания!

[spasiba. da svidaniya]

- Thank you! Goodbye!

- До свидания!

[da svidanya]

- Goodbye!

b) Listen and repeat the dialogue phrase by phrase

II. First contacts

a) Find the translation of Russian phrases

Listen to the phrases. Drag the English phrases from the list below
and drop them into the corresponding fields.

Phrase 1
Phrase 2
Phrase 3
Phrase 4
Phrase 5
Phrase 6
Phrase 7
Phrase 8

5Hello.
1Thank you!
8Your passport, please.
3Welcome to Russia!

4Where is the baggage claim area?
6Excuse me.
7Good bye!
2Are you from America?

Vocabulary

Here you can learn words and expressions of the lesson.

I. Addressing other people

Polite forms of address

The Russian language has respectful and familiar forms of address to other people. The polite form is used in formal situations or if you are you talking to someone you don't know very well. Russian familiar form is generally used among friends and relatives.

In this course, we mainly use polite phrases for formal situations.

a) Learn Russian words:

Transcription
я [ya]	I
вы [vi]	you (formal)
господин [gaspadin]	mister
госпожа [gaspaja]	missis, miss

b) Build phrases in Russian:

Particularities of Russian sentences

Absence of the present tense of "to be"
In Russian, the present tense of "to be" (like in English: am, is, are) is not used.

Read the following examples:

Я Джон Браун. – I am John Brown.
Вы из Канады. – You are from Canada.
Это Александр. – This is Alexander.

So, building phrases in Russian, you can just omit the present tense of "to be".

Drag and drop the following words to build phrases. You can read correct answers by clicking the button "Display answers"

я	господин	Стив	Тайлер
вы	госпожа	Браун	Реббекка

c0101212

I'm Rebbecca

Я Реббекка

Я Реббекка.

Are you Steve?

Вы Стив

Вы Стив?

Are you Mr Brown?

Вы господин Браун

Вы господин Браун?

Are you Mrs Tyler?

Вы госпожа Тайлер?

Вы госпожа Тайлер?

II. Where are you from?

a) Learn the following Russian words:

Transcription
американец [amirikanits]	American (for a man)
американка [amirikanka]	American (for a man)
канадец [kanadits]	Canadian (for a man)
канадка [kanatka]	Canadian (for a woman)
англичанин [anglichanin]	Englishman
англичанка [anglichanka]	Englishwoman

b) Translate phrases from English into Russian

Particularities of Russian sentences

Absence of articles
In English, there are articles "the" and "a". The Russian language has no articles.

Look at the following examples:

Я англичанин. – I am an Englishman.
Я из США. – I am from the USA.
Это билет. – This is a ticket.

So, building phrases in Russian, you can just omit all articles.

Phrases to translate

1. I am Canadian. (for a man)	Check yourself
2. I am an Englishman.	Check yourself
3. I'm American. (for a man)	Check yourself
4. I'm English. (for a woman)	Check yourself
5. I'm American. (for a woman)	Check yourself

c) Lear the following expressions:

Transcription
из Великобритании [iz vilikabritani]	from Great Britain
из США [is se she a]	from the USA
из Канады [anglichanka]	from Canada
из Австралии [iz afstralii]	from Australia
из России [iz rassii]	from Russia

d) Build phrases in Russian:

Drag and drop the following words to build phrases. You can listen and read correct answers by clicking the button "Display answers"

Я	Великобритании		США
из	Канады	Австралии	России

c0101024.II.d)

I'm from Russia.

Я из России

Я из России.

I'm from Great Britain.

я из Великобритании

Я из Великобритании.

I'm from Australia.

я из Австралии

Я из Австралии.

I'm from the USA.

Я из США

Я из США.

I'm an from Canada.

Я из Канады

Я из Канады.

III. In the airport

a) Learn Russian words:

Transcription
паспорт [paspart]	passport
виза [viza]	visa
билет [bilyet]	ticket
багаж [bagash]	luggage
такси [taksi]	taxi
автобус [aftoboos]	bus
метро [mitro]	subway
выход [vihat]	exit
вход [fhot]	entrance
бар [bar]	bar
кафе [kafe]	café
туалет [tooalyet]	W.C.
справочная [spavachnaya]	information office

b) Listen and find the corresponding English word:

Go to next automatically

Is this translated as:

[ Use virtual keyboard ]220

Practice

Here you can learn grammar and lexical rules of the lesson.

I. Let me introduce myself

Simple questions and answers

In the dialogue you could learn the following constructions:

Are you Mr. Brown?	-	Yes, I'm John Brown.
Вы господин Браун? [vi gaspadin braoon?]	-	Да, я Джон Браун. [da, ya djon braoon]

In Russian, simple questions do not use special constructions. So, in most cases, questions are marked only by intonation.

As previously mentioned, building phrases in Russian, you can omit all articles and the present tense of "to be".

a) Listen and repeat the following examples

Вы госпожа Браун? [vi gaspaja braoon?]	-	Да, я Джоана Браун. [da, ya djoana braoon]	Are you Mrs. Brown? - Yes, I'm Joana Brown.
Вы американец? [vi amirikanits?]	-	Да, я американец. [da, ya amirikanits]	Are you an American? - Yes, I'm an American.
Вы из США? [vi is se she a?]	-	Да, я из США. [da, ya is se she a]	Are you from the USA? - Yes, I'm from the USA.

b) Answer the questions in Russian following the model and check yourself:

Model:

Вы господин Сэм Блэк?
[vi gaspadin sem blek?]

Да, я Сэм Блэк.
[da, ya sem blek]

Are you Mister Sam Black? - Yes, I'm Sam Black.

Questions

Вы господин Сэм Блэк? - ... [vi gaspadin sem blek?]	Check yourself
Вы госпожа Мэрилин Блэк? - ... [vi gaspaja merilin blek?]	Check yourself
Вы Сэм Уайт? - ... [vi sem ooayt?]	Check yourself
Вы Джина Грей? - ... [vi djina grey?]	Check yourself
Вы Линда Стоун? - ... [vi linda stooon?]	Check yourself

II. Where are you from?

b) Listen to the phrases and find out where the speaking person is from:

Drag and drop the flags and press "Check answers"

Person 1
Person 2
Person 3
Person 4
Person 5

III. It is a passport

Construction Это ...

In the dialogue you could see the Russian word это [eta] which means "it" or "this". This word may be used in the following construction:

It is a passport.

Это паспорт.
[eta paspart]

a) Give a positive answer following the model and check yourself:

Model:

Это паспорт?
[eta paspart?]

Да, это паспорт.
[da, eta paspart]

Is it a pasport? - Yes, it is a passport.

Questions

Это такси? - ... [eta taksi?]	Check yourself
Это метро? - ... [eta mitro]	Check yourself
Это багаж? - ... [eta bagash]	Check yourself

b) Give a negative answer following the model and check yourself:

Model:

Это паспорт? (visa)
[eta paspart?]

Нет, это виза.
[nyet eta viza]

Is it a pasport? (visa) - No, it is a visa.

Questions

Это Джон? (Sam) - ... [eta djon?]	Check yourself
Это виза? (passport) - ... [eta viza?]	Check yourself
Это билет? (visa) - ... [eta bilyet?]	Check yourself

IV. This is my ticket

Grammatical gender in Russian

All Russian nouns have gender: masculine, feminine or neuter. It is an important grammatical category in Russian and it is impossible to build a correct phrase in Russian without knowing the gender of nouns. One of the difficulties with gender of nouns consists in the fact that in a phrase the form of adjectives, pronouns, some numbers and some verb tenses will depend of the related noun’s gender.

Look at the following examples with the word мой "my" that will change its form depending on the gender of the modified noun:

мой паспорт - my passport (masculine)
моя виза - my visa (feminine)
моё такси - my taxi (neuter)

For example, if you want to say "interesting book" in Russian, first of all you should know the gender of the Russian noun "книга" (book) and then choose a correct form of the adjective "интересный" from the three forms: "интересный" for masculine, "интересная" for feminine and "интересное" for neuter. The noun "книга" belongs to the feminine, so the correct translation for "interesting book" is "интересная книга".

However, if the form of adjective, pronoun etc. is not correctly chosen and does not correspond to the noun’s gender, the phrase may be not correct, but still understandable for Russian people in most cases.

a) Listen and repeat the following examples :

мой паспорт [moy paspart]	my passport
моя виза [maya viza]	my visa
мой билет [moy bilyet]	my ticket
мой багаж [moy bagash]	my luggage
моё такси [mayo taksi]	my taxi

b) Translate phrases from English into Russian:

Phrases to translate

1. It's my ticket.	Check yourself
2. It's my taxi.	Check yourself
3. It's my passport.	Check yourself
4. It's my luggage.	Check yourself
5. It's my visa.	Check yourself

V. Where is the baggage claim area?

Construction Где находится ... ?

In the dialogue you could see the following construction:

Where is the baggage claim area?

Где находится выдача багажа?
[gdye nahoditsa vidacha bagaja?]

a) Translate phrases from English into Russian:

Phrases to translate

1. Where is the entrance?	Check yourself
2. Where is the bar?	Check yourself
3. Where is the W.C.?	Check yourself
4. Where is the exit?	Check yourself
5. Where is the information office?	Check yourself

b) Ask questions in Russian:

Polite address

If you address yourself to an unknown person with a question, you should begin your question with the following expression:

Excuse me, please, ...

Извините, пожалуйста, ...
[izviniti pajaloosta]

Ask a stranger:

1. - the way to the W.C.	Check yourself
2. - the way to the café	Check yourself
3. - the way to the exit	Check yourself
4. - the way to the bar	Check yourself

Revision

Here you can do exercises for Russian grammar and lexical material of the lesson.

Revise this lesson's materials

a) Listen and find the corresponding English phrases:

Go to next automatically

Is this translated as:

[ Use virtual keyboard ]220

In this lesson you have learned

- Russian expressions to introduce yourself

Я Сэм Браун.
Я американец.
Я из Канады.

- The construction "Это ...":

Это билет.
Это мой багаж.

- How to ask about a location:

Где находится бар?

- How to ask a stranger:

Извините, пожалуйста, где находится выход?

You have encountered some basic terms of courtesy:

- Здравствуйте.
- Добро пожаловать.
- Спасибо.
- Пожалуйста.
- До свидания.

You have also learned general info about polite forms of address and grammatical gender in Russian

In order to make sure you have understood all the material of the lesson and to get some additional information, we recommend you to visit the following pages:

Formulas of politeness
Acquaintance
Airport

Study Russian Online

Dialogues

I. Welcome to Russia!

II. First contacts

Vocabulary

I. Addressing other people

II. Where are you from?

III. In the airport

Practice

I. Let me introduce myself

Model:

II. Where are you from?

III. It is a passport

Model:

Model:

IV. This is my ticket

V. Where is the baggage claim area?

Revision

Revise this lesson's materials