C1 learners, fear not! Unlock versatile vocabulary with the prefix “без-,” meaning “without.” Describe novels as “безвкусный” (tasteless) or “беспристрастный” (unbiased). Explore dark worlds with “безрадостный” (joyless) or lighthearted ones with “безобидный” (harmless). Find treasures with “бесценный” (invaluable) and classics with “бессмертный” (immortal). Master these and conquer advanced vocabulary!
I couldn’t resist the madness of Valentine’s Day and prepared a list of words that originate from love. In my defense, these are not just words about love and romance, these are words that literally have the root -люб-, i.e., love. And all the words are verbs, so once again you’ll learn how prefixes change
Jokes about “what if people spoke a language taken from textbooks” abound. Clichés, awkward dialogue, nonsense – these are all things that learners of any language encounter on a daily basis. One reason textbooks lack authenticity is that they only show us how to name and describe things, whereas in real life, we almost never
Amidst the quest for linguistic prowess, learners often overlook specific vocabulary crucial for expressing actions’ commencement and conclusion—elements that native Russian speakers effortlessly integrate into their daily conversations. In this article, we’ll delve into the Russian verbs that encapsulate the essence of starting and stopping actions. To start doing: To stop doing: I don’t have
I don’t know if you have a chance to take a week or two off for the winter holidays, but here are some words that describe what people do during those lazy days at the beginning of the year (besides eating and drinking what’s left over from the lavish New Year’s meal).
Over the past few weeks, several of my students have shared their frustration with me: “I’ve been studying Russian for so long and I still can’t use basic vocabulary! When I asked what kind of vocabulary they were referring to, they mentioned specific cooking verbs (e.g., verbs for cutting ingredients in different ways), words describing
I believe that every book finds us at the right moment. Arkady Ostrovsky’s hardcover book The Invention of Russia: From Gorbachev’s Freedom to Putin’s War sat on my bookshelf for several years until I realized I needed to read it. That happened earlier this year, when Mr. Ostrovsky published his 8-part podcast, Next Year in
My first first encounter with Barbie as a Soviet kid offers a glimpse into the past, providing a clear picture of the stark contrast between the Soviet dolls and the magical allure of Barbie, a symbol of beauty and sophistication. This story is about the innocence of childhood friendships and how a simple toy can evoke strong emotions and leave lasting memories.
Amateur language learners are horrified by long words in the target language. This is especially true for learners of Russian, because words in Russian are usually longer. Experienced language learners know that the really scary words are the short ones. There are many little words in Russian that don’t even make any special sense on
When I was working on a vocabulary list describing facial features, I realized that one word stood apart from all the others: beard, or борода in Russian. The word itself is fairly common. Etymologically, the beard comes from the Proto-Indo-European root *bhar-dha, like English beard, German bart, French barbe, Spanish and Italian barba and so
