Podcasts to learn Russian with free lessons. Each episode of Russian language podcasts is good on its way. Episode 3 of Olya Dee podcast will help you practice the most common words in Russian. It teaches you how to be polite in Russian and how to buy food or drinks in the simplest way!
Actually, I have got a question for you. What are the most popular two words in the Russian language? Of course, these words are ‘yes’ and ‘no’. You should say ‘да’ for ‘yes’ and ‘нет’ for ‘no’. Another useful word which you have already learnt in the first episode of Russian podcast for beginners is ‘хорошо’ which means ‘good’. One more way to agree is to say ‘ага’. It’s sort of ‘yeah’ in English.
да - yes,
нет - no,
хорошо - good,
дай - give it to me,
на - here you go,
And the sixth one is ‘ага’ - yeah
QUESTIONS:
Кто это? - Who is this/it?
Что это? - What is this/it?
Кто is used for a living thing, a person, a job or an animal. However, что is applied to a non-living thing such as ‘a chair - стул’ or ‘a table - стол’.
The word ‘это’ is quite frequent in the Russian language. It is referred to a thing which is located not far from you and can be translated as ‘this’. You can also point to something which is far from you, saying ‘то’ - ‘that’.
Это кот. - This is a cat.
То кот. - That is a cat.
It is soooo easy to make a negative sentence in Russian. You just should say the particle ‘не’. Don’t forget that ‘НЕТ’ is ‘’NO, but ‘НE’ helps to negate your statement.
Это не кот, это собака. - This is not a cat, this is a dog.
То не кот, то собака. - That is not a cat, that is a dog.
Это Анна. Анна студентка. - This is Anna. Anna is a student.
То Борис. Борис не студент, он доктор. - That is Boris. Boris is not a student, he is a doctor.
It’s time to practise what we have learnt. I am going to read short dialogues and you can repeat them after me to work on your pronunciation.
Привет, Иван. Кто это?
Это Борис.
Что это?
Это кот.
Что то?
То собака.
Why is ‘можно’ a magic word? Because you can translate is as ‘you are allowed to’, ‘you can do it’ or as a question ‘Can I…’ / ‘ Can I have…’ Shall we practise it now?
Можно мне хот-дог? Can I have a hotdog?
Можно мне салат? Can I have a salad?
Да, можно. Yes, you can.
Нет, нельзя. No, you can’t.
Нельзя is such a common word. It means you aren’t permitted or you cannot have it. To be polite in Russian, use the words ‘спасибо’ - ‘thank you’ and ‘пожалуйста’ which can mean both ‘you are welcome’ and ‘please’. The word ‘извините’ means ‘’excuse me’.
Извините, можно мне кофе? (Excuse me, can I have coffee?)
Да, пожалуйта. (Yes, there you go)
Спасибо. (Thank you)
Say ‘большое спасибо’ if you feel really grateful and happy about something a person have done for you.
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Можно мне кофе, пожалуйста? - CanI have a coffee, please?
Можно мне чай, пожалуйста? - Can I have a tea, please?
Дайте is the same word as дай. The only difference between them is that you should add the part ‘те’ if you want to be more polite when you meet a new person like a waiter or a waitress.
Дайте, пожалуйста, салат и стейк. - Give me, please, a salad and a steak.
Дайте, пожалуйста, бургер и фри. - Give me, please, a burger and a French fries.
And now to sound really advanced just say these phrases together.
Извините, дайте меню, пожалуйста. Можно сэндвич и вино? Спасибо.
Excuse me, give me a menu, please. Can I have a sandwich and wine? Thank you.
You rock it! Пока, хорошие мои!
