Course of Russian language: Lesson 2 - Learn Russian for Free

RUSSIAN COURSE
-Basic Russian for beginners-

LESSON 2: I SPEAK RUSSIAN VERY WELL

In this lesson you will learn:
- the personal pronouns "he", "she" and "it".
- basic rules of verbs in the present tense.
- new Russian vocabulary.

1. USEFUL PHRASE IN RUSSIAN
Listen and repeat the following sentence:

- I SPEAK RUSSIAN VERY WELL - Я ГОВОРЮ ПО-РУССКИ ОЧЕНЬ ХОРОШО
(ya ga-va-ryu pa-rus-ki o-chyen ha-ra-sho)

Pronunciation: You have now heard the word "хорошо" (well). It is not pronounced "ho-ro-sho" but "ha-ra-sho". Why? In Russian, the vowel "o" is pronounced "o" only when it is stressed. Otherwise it is pronounced "a".

2. RUSSIAN VOCABULARY

Read, listen and repeat the basic Russian vocabulary of this lesson:

ENGLISH

To speak
Very
But
Thank you
He
She
And
To speak Russian
Well

RUSSIAN

Говорить
Очень
Но
Спасибо
Он
Она
И
Говорить по-русски
Хорошо

PRONUNCIATION

ga-va-rit'
o-chen
no
spa-si-ba
on
a-na
i
ga-va-rit' pa-rus-ki
ha-ra-sho

3. DIALOGUES IN RUSSIAN
These Russian dialogues will help you memorise this lesson's vocabulary:

DIALOGUE 1:

ENGLISH

- Hi Michael!

- Hi Helen Elena! How are you?

- Very well, thanks.

RUSSIAN

- Привет, Майкл!

- Привет, Елена! Как дела?

- Очень хорошо, спасибо.

PRONUNCIATION

- pri-vyet maj-kl

- pri-vyet ye-lye-na. kak dye-La?

- o-chyen ha-ra-sho spa-si-ba.

DIALOGUE 2:

ENGLISH

- Hi, are you Russian?

- No, I am American, but I speak Russian.

- Wow, you speak Russian very well!

- Thank you!

RUSSIAN

- Привет. Ты русский?

- Нет, я американец, но я говорю по-русски.

- Ого, ты говоришь по-русски очень хорошо.

- Спасибо!

PRONUNCIATION

- pri-vyet. Ty rus-kij?

- nyet, ya a-me-ri-ka-nyets, no ya ga-va-ryu pa-rus-ki.

- o-go, ty ga-va-rish pa-rus-ki o-chyen ha-ra-sho.

- spa-si-ba.

DIALOGUE 3:

ENGLISH

- He is American, but he speaks Russian very well.

- She is American, but she speaks Russian very well.

RUSSIAN

- Он американец, но он говорит по-русски очень хорошо.

- Она американка, но она говорит по-русски очень хорошо.

PRONUNCIATION

- on a-mye-ri-ka-nyets, no on ga-va-rit pa-rus-ki o-chyen ha-ra-sho.

- a-na a-mye-ri-kan-ka, no a-na ga-va-rit pa-rus-ki o-chyen ha-ra-sho.

4. RUSSIAN GRAMMAR

Read the following grammar explanations for this lesson:

Personal pronouns: third person

In this lessons you have learnt 3rd person singular pronouns in Russian. As in English, the verb does not change for masculine and feminine in the present tense:

- Он говорит (he speaks)
- Она говорит (she speaks).

In future lessons we will see that this does not happen in the past tense: there are different forms for masculine and feminine.

In the previous lesson you have learnt that in Russian there is a neuter gender. There is also a personal pronoun for this gender: оно (it is pronounced "a-no").

Attention: оно is not used in the same situations and as often as "it" in English.

Verb conjugation: present tense

After the first two lessons, you have already seen the conjugation of the present tense in singular (я, ты, он). Verbs in Russian are built adding different endings to a common root.

Have a look to this example:

Verb: to speak

I speak
You speak
He / she speaks

Verb: говорить

Я говорю
Ты говоришь
Он / она говорит

In the next lessons you will learn new Russian verbs and you will see the different endings used.

5. TEST

Check how much you have learnt in this lesson:

go to lesson 3