Thread: Confusion about Russian

Originally Posted by iCake

Well, I don't know where you have seen по русский because it's hard to imagine it to be used properly as an adjective (which it is) with such a preposition in front of it.
По-русски is an adverb, in other words its describes a verb.
Я говорю по-русски, not по-русский because it's an adjective and not an adverb, and Russian never uses adjectives to describe verbs unlike English.

She/he... has is conveyed with this construction - у меня/него/её/них есть + nominative noun Let's see how we form tenses with this construction:
у меня есть - present tense
у меня был/была/были/было (depends on the gender (были is for plurals) of the nominative noun) - past tense
у меня будет/будут - future tense
She/he.. doesn't have is formed the following way: у меня нет + genetive noun. E.G.
у меня нет - present tense
у меня не было - past tense
у меня не будет - future tense



Here you should come to terms with the fact that Russian doesn't have this construction English has. In substance, a verb + adjective to describe that a subject changes from one state to another. E.G. to fall asleep, to go stale, to get ready. All those things are conveyed with particular verbs, you just have to know and remember them. There is no other way, I'm gonna translate the bolded examples for you to see what I mean
заснуть - to fall asleep
зачерстветь - to go stale
приготовиться - to get ready


Another time, Russian doesn't have gerund, it only has participles Although, you can make up some verbal nouns, and they would even convey almost the same thing Gerund does in English. In other words, a noun which implies an action, but this is rather a rare phenomenon in Russian and not many verbal nouns exist in Russian and sound naturally



We don't really use я имею to imply possession, of course, you would be understood if you say я имею instead of у меня есть, but that would sound unnatural and this would likely provoke others to taunt you about that phrase, because я имею creates an opportunity for others to make an "unpleasant" pun.
So я имею is mostly used in set phrases such as иметь совесть (have a conscience), иметь дело (have a business), which you have to know and remember.



Well, it won't be suprise if I say the key is practising your skills. And when I say it I mean all skills: reading, speaking, writing, listening. You can practice writing skills here in our cozy chat, there are always some Russians there who are willing to ask your questions or just to chat.

I have another tip for you. Don't learn a language on and off. That doesn't work. Try to fit in at least 15 minutes for the disired language. That's not so long and more than that it keeps your language in shape, so that it wouldn't just fade away from your brain or in the most lucky case would get rusty.

As for speaking skills it's obvious that the most efficient way to train them is to speak with native speakers. There are plenty language exchange sites out there, you just need to find google them. Also, you can contact me for language exchanging If you're interested, send me a private message and we will work something out. Anyway, good luck on your learning journey

I am also having confusion about Российский and Русский. They both refer to Russian and being of Russia, but I do not know which one to use in the correct context, Российский or Русский in which context. Which one do I use? Which one is more proper? I've seen Русский be used in place of Российский. What does Российский mean? Which context do you use Русский, as opposed to Российский? Where do you use Российский in a sentence, as opposed to Русский? Which one is more correct? I have confusion about both Русский and Российский when used in a sentence? I am confused and this is highly confusing to use.

Российский and Русский. I assume that Русский refers to the language and Российский refers to Russia itself? Is this correct?

Originally Posted by Patchman123

I am also having confusion about Российский and Русский. They both refer to Russian and being of Russia, but I do not know which one to use in the correct context, Российский or Русский in which context. Which one do I use? Which one is more proper? I've seen Русский be used in place of Российский. What does Российский mean? Which context do you use Русский, as opposed to Российский? Where do you use Российский in a sentence, as opposed to Русский? Which one is more correct? I have confusion about both Русский and Российский when used in a sentence? I am confused and this is highly confusing to use.

Российский and Русский. I assume that Русский refers to the language and Российский refers to Russia itself? Is this correct?

"российский" is used when you are talking about country ("Россия" --> "Российский"). "Русский" is used when you are talking about language or ethnicity. Russian language is widely spoken not only in Russia, but also in Ukraine, Belarus, Kazkhstan and Latvia. By the way, the latter has a good reason: there is a huge (~25%) minority of ethnic Russians ("русские") in Latvia. Obviously, being citizens of Latvia they are not Russian citizens ("россияне" or "российские граждане/граждане России"), and some were born there and have never been anywhere else. The difference is more obvious if you speak language which is native to many speakers in different countries. For example, you may speak English, but still be Australian or Canadian, and maybe you've never even been to England. Or you may consider yourself Frenchman even if you have been living in China for, like, ten years and mostly speak Chinese or English in your everyday life. If you speak French, it is still French as a language. Not in the sence that it belongs to France (remember, you are in China, and still speak it)

P.S. In Russian adjectives do not have their first letter capitalised, even if it is derived from a proper nouns, which starts with a capital letter. So it is "русский" and "российский" Unless the adjective is acting as a proper noun itself (i.e. a name of a station, a street and so on: "Meet me at the Sunny street" is capitalized in Russian and in English for the same reason: "Sunny" is a name of a street, and does not refer to weather). The same goes for nouns which represent people of different countries and ethnicities: there is only one Japan (Япония), but many Japanese (японцы), so no need to capitalize it.