<figure class="wp-block-image"><img src="http://d1pz1pwonj8tt2.cloudfront.net/USRMain/USR20.png" alt=""/></figure>



<figure class="wp-block-audio"><audio controls src="https://usr-pdf.s3.amazonaws.com/USR-EPISODE-20.mp3"></audio></figure>




*
NOTE *




All
phrases intended for translating/listening practice have been
deleted.



This
is it, guys. Episode 20&#8230; the final exam of Understanding Spoken
Russian. As a warm up, we&#8217;re going to start by listening to a long
monologue from Alex. There won&#8217;t be any follow up questions. This is
just to listen to and follow along.



&#8211;
&#8211; &#8211;



It&#8217;s
a cool feeling, isn&#8217;t it, to listen to a long passage entirely in
Russian and understand everything the person is saying? Anyway, let&#8217;s
get to our first test. Try to say the following&#8230;



Mom
works in a store.



Tomorrow
I&#8217;m going to work. (on foot)



Is
there milk in the refrigerator?



Anton
is going to a cafe. (on foot)



Maria
is heading to the university. (by vehicle)



Greg
is now at a concert.



Oleg
is traveling to Moscow.



I
was watching a video on youtube.



I
was in the gym.



During
this episode, to break things up, I&#8217;ll be putting in random music
quizzes. Here&#8217;s the first one:



Can
you say, in Russian, the name of this instrument?



Это
было Нил Пирт на барабанах.



Next&#8230;Listen
to these Russian phrases and translate into English..




&#8211;
&#8211; &#8211;




Привет
Дарина. Мне сказали что ты играешь на
гитаре. 





Да.
И на бас-гитаре. Смотри&#8230;




Back
to it. Try your best to translate the following phrases into
Russian&#8230;




Yesterday
I saw grandma in the library.




Yesterday
in the park I saw your dog.




I
was on the balcony, reading a book.




In
August, in Berlin, my brother bought a new Volkswagen.




I
gave Anton the T-shirt.




Svetlana
gave James your number.




Galya
gave Mom the telephone.




Today
in the supermarket I saw your mom.




I
read the recipe in the magazine Cosmopolitan.



At
the disco I saw Svetlana.



I
was on the couch, reading a magazine.




Grandpa
worked as a manager in a supermarket.



&#8211;
&#8211; &#8211;



Я
люблю эту музыку, Марк. На каком инструменте
он играет?



Это
банджо. Музыка называется блюграсс. .



Back
to biz. Let&#8217;s again try to translate into English&#8230;.



&#8211;
&#8211; &#8211;



Привет,
Алексей. Что ты делаешь?



Ничего,
просто слушаю музыку и отвечаю имейлы.



Это
красивая музыка. 




Ну,
да. Я люблю Рахманинова. 





Next:
Translate the following into Russian&#8230;



He
tried the pelmeni.



They
watched (and finished watching) the new film of James Cameron.



In
August I am traveling to Moscow.



Are
you traveling to London?



Your
brother is traveling to Rome?



They
didn&#8217;t want to wait.



Are
you going to the pharmacy?



Dad
gave Erik all our documents. Use все for
the word all



Greg
cant wait. For him its time to go to work.



I&#8217;m
cold.



I
like your guitar.



At
the office party, tell your boss: Try the cake.



Oleg,
give me the Scotch tape.



Tell
me, please&#8230;Where is the Bolshoi Theater?



I
have a motorcycle.



Galina
has a cat.



&#8211;
&#8211; &#8211;



И,
Дарина&#8230;У тебя есть балалайка, да? Будешь
играть?



Хорошо.



The
balalaika is, of course, a popular Russian folk instrument.



Before
getting to our last round, let&#8217;s listen to another monologue, like we
did at the start today. No pressure, no questions. Just the fun of
listening&#8230;



&#8211;
&#8211; &#8211;



Alright&#8230;for
our final round, let&#8217;s listen again to Alex&#8217;s monologue, and try to
translate line by line. You ready?



Привет.
Меня зовут Олег. 




Hi.
My name is Oleg. Literally&#8230;what? Me they call Oleg.



Я
живу в Киеве. 




I
live in Kiev.



Я
работаю менеджером в супермаркете. 




I
work as a manager in a supermarket.



Есть
стресс на работе, но что делать? 




At
work there&#8217;s stress, but what to do? meaning&#8230;What can ya do about
it?



У
меня есть брат и сестра. 




I
have a brother and a sister.



Брата
зовут Михайл. 




My
brother&#8217;s name is Mixhail. lit: Brother&#8230;they call..Mixhail.



Он
живёт в Одессе. 




He
lives in Odessa.



Он
музыкант, и играет джаз и блюз на гитаре,
в ресторане.



He&#8217;s
a musician and plays jazz and blues on the guitar, in a restaurant.



Мою
сестру зовут Таня. 




My
sister&#8217;s name is Tanya.



Она
живёт в Германии&#8230;в Франкфурте.



She
lives in Germany, in Frankfurt.




Она
работает в банке. 




She
works in a bank.



У
Тани есть сын и дочка. 




Tanya
has a son and a daughter.



Я
их очень люблю. 




I
really love them.



В
мае, Таня купила мне новый ноутбук&#8230;Дэлл.





In
May Tanya bought for me a new laptop. A Dell.



Теперь
я могу говорить с ними через Скайп. 




Now
I can talk with them via Skype.



В
августе, я еду в Одессу. 




In
August I&#8217;m going to Odessa.



Я
хочу видеть Михайла и&#8211;(telephone
rings)



I
want to see Mixhail and&#8230;



Ой,
простите. Мне пора&#8230;Михайл звонит.



Oi,
forgive me. It&#8217;s time for me to go&#8230;Mixhail is calling.



Time for us to go, too. If you enjoyed this series, please give it a brief review on whatever platform you found it. I look forward to welcoming you to my <a href="http://russianaccelerator.com/why-it-works.html">Russian Accelerator course.</a>

<description>This is it, guys. Episode 20... the final exam of Understanding Spoken Russian. As a warm up, we're going to start by listening to a long monologue from Alex. There won't be any follow up questions. This is just to listen to and follow along.</description>

This is it, guys. Episode 20... the final exam of Understanding Spoken Russian. As a warm up, we're going to start by listening to a long monologue from Alex. There won't be any follow up questions. This is just to listen to and follow along.

Understanding Spoken Russian – Learn Russian Ep. 20

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*
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All
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deleted.



Welcome to Ep 19.Today&#8217;s episode will focus on one of the most intimidating aspects of the Russian language: The notorious Verbs of Motion. It&#8217;s a topic worthy of it own podcast, and in my <a href="http://russianaccelerator.com/sign-up.html">Accelerator course </a>there are ten in-depth lessons—two full weeks of material—dedicated to mastering them. So what, you might be wondering, can we possibly hope to cover in one little podcast? Well, let&#8217;s just see.



For
now, repeat after the speaker&#8230;Я еду



Without
any setup, I still wonder if you can get the meaning. Can you
translate these phrases?



В
мае я еду в Лондон. 




В
августе я еду в Москву.



He
said: In May, ya yedu to London.



And
she said: In August, ya yedu to Moscow.



So
what&#8217;s your best guess on я еду? It
translates as I&#8217;m going, I&#8217;m heading to, I&#8217;m traveling to



Like:
In May, I&#8217;m going to London&#8230;or&#8230;In August, I&#8217;m
traveling to Moscow



Let&#8217;s
turn those into questions. Just for fun—again, making your best
guess—How would you ask a friend: You&#8217;re traveling to London?



Ты
едешь в Лондон?



You&#8217;re
traveling to Moscow?



Ты
едешь в Москву?



Your
brother is traveling to Rome?



Твой
брат едет в Рим?



Your
sister is traveling to Paris?



Твоя
сестра едет в Париж?



I&#8217;m
traveling, you&#8217;re traveling, he&#8217;s traveling.



Я
еду, ты едешь, он едет



You
know the drill. File it away and let&#8217;s do some review. Imagine your
daughter comes out of her grandparents home carrying a balloon and
some gifts, and it wasn&#8217;t even her birthday. Ask: 




&#8220;They
made a surprise for you?&#8221; Lit: They made for you a surprise?



Они
сделали тебе сюрприз?



Tell
your friend: Your drums are in the podval.



Твои
барабаны в подвале.



Ask:
Where are my guitars?



Где
мои гитары?



&#8230;did
you get that &#8220;ee&#8221; sound at the end of guitars&#8230;to make it
plural?



Try
to say: They didn&#8217;t want to wait.



Они
не хотели ждать.



They
said that you worked in a bank.



Они
сказали, что ты работал в банке.



You
get those? Good job. Ok..back to our main topic&#8230;



Imagine
Vlad is on a business trip. A friend calls and asks about his travel
plans. So Vlad tells him&#8230;



Я
сейчас в Бостоне, но завтра я еду в
Питсбург.



What
do you think he said? I&#8217;m now in Boston but zaftra I&#8217;m heading to
Pittsburgh.



You
probably got that&#8230;it translates as tomorrow.



Try
to say the opposite. I&#8217;m now in Pittsburgh, but tomorrow I&#8217;m heading
to Boston.



Я
сейчас в Питсбурге, но завтра я еду в
Бостон.



Let&#8217;s
run through some common constructions with these. In this first
round, imagine you&#8217;re stepping to the door with a suitcase in hand.
You roommate asks where you&#8217;re going. Say&#8230;



I&#8217;m
traveling to Minsk&#8230;.to Portland&#8230;to Berlin.



Я
еду&#8230;в Минск. / &#8230;в Портленд. / &#8230;в Берлин.
/



Anton
is traveling to Sydney&#8230;.to San Diego&#8230;to Sevastopol



Антон
едет &#8230;в Сидней&#8230;.в Сан Диего&#8230;в Севастополь



Quick
question..In English, is there any real difference between saying,
I&#8217;m going to Las Vegas?



vs&#8230;I&#8217;m
traveling to Las Vegas? Well, for one, the word &#8216;going&#8217; is way more
common. But is there a difference in meaning? Imagine you step
to the door, your roommate asks where you&#8217;re going, and you say: &#8220;I
am traveling to the grocery store.&#8221; &#8212; &#8220;Oh? Fare thee
well, young explorer. Godspeed on your journey.&#8221; Right?
&#8220;traveling&#8221; is a pretty dramatic word just for some trip
across town.



Well,
in Russian, я еду means I&#8217;m traveling
**in some vehicle**.



As
soon as someone hears it, they envision a long trip. Depending on how
far you&#8217;re going, they will envision you either inside a car, a
train, a plane&#8230;maybe a bus. And that comes to them in an instant as
soon as they hear еду. It comes to them
before you even say your destination.



English
doesn&#8217;t work like that. If I open the door and I tell my roommate,
I&#8217;m going to ******



Whoops&#8230;
he didn&#8217;t catch my last word. He has no idea, now, if I&#8217;m going just
around the corner, or if I&#8217;m flying across the country. Because in
English, the word &#8216;going&#8217; doesn&#8217;t tell us much.



But
in Russian, the verb of motion that you use conveys TONS of
information. It&#8217;s incredible.



(music)



Let
me really test your memory. This is from Episode #4. Can you
translate these two phrases?



Я
сейчас в парке.



Я
иду в парк. 




Since
we didn&#8217;t hear a &#8216;yeh&#8217; at the end, we assume that second one means:
I&#8217;m going to the park. 




Which
it does. But, being a verb of motion, it means a lot more than just
&#8220;going.&#8221; It means, in fact, &#8216;going on foot.&#8217; It&#8217;s the
walking version of я еду



Let&#8217;s
practice spotting them. Just say whether the person is going on foot
or by vehicle. Ready?



&#8211;
&#8211; &#8211;



So,
as you open the door, if you tell your Russian roommate: Я
иду
в Москву.



He
might joke with you&#8230;&#8221;Seriously? You&#8217;re going there on foot?&#8221;



Серьёзно?
Ты идёшь туда пешком?!



So,
again: я иду means I&#8217;m going on foot



&#8230;but
it also means you&#8217;re on your way there&#8230;that you&#8217;re en
route



English
makes this difference, too. A kid says&#8230;I go to school. He means,
He&#8217;s old enough, now, and he goes to school. vs a kid hefting his
school bag&#8230;Mom, I&#8217;m going to school. He means he&#8217;s on his way
there right now. I go&#8230;vs I&#8217;m going&#8230;



In
Russian, you&#8217;d need a totally different verb. Think of it this way.
You&#8217;re on the phone with a Russian friend, and at some point you
mention: Я иду в спортзал.



You
think you&#8217;re telling them&#8230;I go to the gym.



But
what does your Russian friend think? They&#8217;ll say something like,
&#8220;Shoot, I didn&#8217;t realize. I&#8217;ll let you go.&#8221; Because what
you actually said is, &#8220;I&#8217;m going to the gym..&#8221; or &#8220;I&#8217;m
heading to the gym.&#8221;



If
you want to convey that you go to the gym in general, like the kid
who &#8220;goes to school&#8221;&#8230;you need a totally different verb in
Russian. Я хожу в спортзал.



No
need to learn that right now. Like I said, there are ten video
lessons in Russian Accelerator that will lead you through all these
versions. And really, video is the only way to explain it anyway,
because we&#8217;re describing motion&#8230;It&#8217;s so much easier to grasp when
you can see it.



But
for now, just know: Russian conveys much more information with its
verbs than English does.



Earlier,
you listened to phrases and had to say whether the person was going
by foot or by vehicle. Let&#8217;s see if you can say similar
phrases now. First, say just the word &#8216;library&#8217;:



библиотека



Now
say: I&#8217;m heading to the library&#8230;implying, on foot. Heading there
counts as doing something to the library, so its ending changes to an
&#8221;u&#8221; sound. Listen again.



Я
иду в библиотеку.



Do
you recall the word for pharmacy?



аптека



Now
say: I&#8217;m heading to the pharmacy. 




Я
иду в аптеку.



And
discotheque is a cognate. Like the other two, it&#8217;s feminine. Listen. 
 дискотека



Я
иду на дискотеку.



Ask
your friend: Are you going to Starbucks? 




Ты
идёшь в Старбакс?



Are
you going to the store? 




Ты
идёшь в магазин?



Are
you going to the concert?



Ты
идёшь на концерт?



We
used the &#8216;on foot&#8217; versions, because those are places about town. But
now say&#8230;



I&#8217;m
going to Kiev&#8230;I&#8217;m going to St. Petersburg&#8230;I&#8217;m going to Odessa



Я
еду в Киев&#8230;в Санкт Петербург&#8230;в Одессу



We
had to use the &#8216;by vehicle&#8217; forms for those. And with these next
ones, too. Try to ask&#8230;



Are
you going to the seminar? Are you going to a conference?



Ты
едешь&#8230;на семинар?&#8230;на конференцию?



Why
are some of these getting &#8216;V&#8217; (в) and
others get &#8216;Na&#8217; (на) ? 




Like,
why is it: Я иду в магазин.



but



Я
иду на концерт.



I
could give you the textbook explanation about &#8216;enclosed spaces&#8217;
versus &#8216;open air&#8217; locations, but there are just too many exceptions.
The way I learned them was to assume I needed to use &#8216;V&#8217;&#8211;because
it&#8217;s the more common one&#8211;and then compile a list in my head of
locations that actually require Na. It&#8217;s such a small thing, please
don&#8217;t let it keep you from using your Russian.



Alright&#8230;.Russian
Immersion time&#8230;.



&lt;&lt;
TIP OF THE DAY &gt;&gt;



Despite
my dire warning at the start of today&#8217;s episode—that the Russian
Verbs of Motion are notoriously intimidating—you probably don&#8217;t
feel that yet. But let me lead you a bit deeper in. Imagine you&#8217;re
traveling with friends and someone calls asking you what everyone&#8217;s
up to. In English, we can use the verb &#8220;went&#8221; for almost
everything&#8230;



Jim
went to the pharmacy. Sara went to the mall. Roger went to a fair.



Oh,
but in Russian&#8230;? In Russian, before you say a single word, you need
to decide: How did Jim go to the pharmacy&#8230;On foot or by vehicle?
&#8230;and then&#8230;.Is he still out, or did he get back? 




That&#8217;s
four possibilities, each needing a different verb. Listen&#8230;



Джим
пошёл в аптеку.



That
means: Jim headed off to the pharmacy on foot and he is not back yet.



Джим
ходил в аптеку.



That
one means: Jim went to the pharmacy and he&#8217;s back home.



Джим
поехал в аптеку.



Jim
headed to the pharmacy by vehicle. He is not back yet.



Джим
ездил в аптеку.



Jim
went to the pharmacy and is back now. He went by vehicle.



In
English, we say &#8220;went&#8221; without even thinking. Jim went to
the pharmacy. In Russian, in that same microsecond before I answer my
friend&#8217;s question, I have four combinations that I have to I
have to consider. 




So
what&#8217;s the tip? Well, the trick is to assign those four
possibilities to people&#8217;s actions as they happen. If Jim
leaves on foot, I tell myself..Джим пошёл&#8230;I
hold onto that right until he gets back, when I adjust it to: Джим
ходил. (Meaning he left and returned). This way you&#8217;re
doing all that calculating long before anyone anyone ever asks you a
question about who went where. It&#8217;s one of the tricks we cover in
Russian Accelerator. So don&#8217;t let the verbs of motion scare you.
Believe me, with the right exercises, they will absolutely become
second nature for you.



&lt;&lt;
TIP OUT &gt;&gt;



Ok&#8230;time
for our final exam. I&#8217;ll prompt you to
recite today&#8217;s three dialogs. You wont know all the words. It&#8217;s ok.
After a replay or two you&#8217;ll get them all. You ready?



Hi
Andrei, are you going to the pharmacy?



Привет,
Андрей. Ты идёшь в аптеку? 




Can
you buy me aspirin?



Можешь
купить мне аспирин?



Of
course.



Конечно.



Hi
Galina. Are you going now to McDonalds?



Привет,
Галина. Ты идёшь сейчас в Макдоналдс?



Can
you buy me a double-cheeseburger and potato-fries?



А
можешь купить мне дабл-чизбургер&#8230;и
картошку-фри?



Of
course.



Конечно.



Wow&#8230;Passport,
suitcase&#8230;Where are you going?



Ого&#8230;Пасспорт,
чемодан&#8230;Куда ты едешь?



I&#8217;m
going to Munich, to a conference.



Я
еду в Мюнхен, на конференцию.



But
you were in Munich in August, no?



А
ты была в Мюнхене в августе, нет?



No.
I was in Berlin. I bought a car.



Нет.
Я была в Берлине. Машину купила.



Alright.
Great job. The next episode, #20, is our last one. Our final exam.
See you there!

<description>Welcome to Ep 19.Today's episode will focus on one of the most intimidating aspects of the Russian language: The notorious Verbs of Motion. It's a topic worthy of it own podcast, and in my Accelerator course there are ten in-depth lessons—two full weeks of material—dedicated to mastering them.</description>

Welcome to Ep 19.Today's episode will focus on one of the most intimidating aspects of the Russian language: The notorious Verbs of Motion. It's a topic worthy of it own podcast, and in my Accelerator course there are ten in-depth lessons—two full week...

Welcome to Ep 19.Today's episode will focus on one of the most intimidating aspects of the Russian language: The notorious Verbs of Motion. It's a topic worthy of it own podcast, and in my Accelerator course there are ten in-depth lessons—two full weeks of material—dedicated to mastering them.

Understanding Spoken Russian – Learn Russian Ep. 19

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*
NOTE *




All
phrases intended for translating/listening practice have been
deleted.



Welcome
to Ep18. Let&#8217;s start with a brief conversation. Along with trying to
get the gist of what they&#8217;re saying, try to listen for words that end
with an &#8220;и&#8221; sound. Ready?



Где
мама и папа? 




Они
пошли в магазин. (door opens) О!
Вот они. Привет мама, привет папа. Что
купили?



Мы
купили игрушки.



Let&#8217;s
listen again&#8230;This time, try to translate after each line.



Где
мама и папа? 




Where
are mom and dad?



Они
пошли в магазин.



We
heard the word магазин,
 which is a store. In fact, we heard в
магазин&#8230;so they must be going there. After all, if
they were in the store, it&#8217;d be в магазине
right? Anyway&#8230;




(door
opens) О! Вот они. 




Oh,
There they are.



I
get into this in great detail in Russian Accelerator, but вот
 doesn&#8217;t actually mean &#8220;there&#8221;&#8230;



What
it is is a way of calling attention to someone or something.
But the word I want to focus on today is that word они.
Вот они&#8230;I&#8217;m
calling your attention to&#8230;.they.



Or
that earlier phrase: Они
пошли в магазин&#8230; they headed off
to the store. 




Let&#8217;s
keep going&#8230;



Привет
мама, привет папа. Что купили?



Hi
mom, hi dad. What did you buy?



Мы
купили игрушки.



We
bought toys.



So&#8230;.I
asked you to keep an ear out for И sounds.
Let me point them out&#8230;



Они
пошли



Вот
они. 




Что
купили?



Мы
купили игрушки.



What
does it signify? Well, that&#8217;s the topic of today&#8217;s lesson. Let&#8217;s try
this&#8230;How would you say:



He
bought a laptop. &lt;&#8212;- In Russian, they say &#8216;notebook&#8217; (ноутбук)



Он
купил ноутбук.



She
bought an i-Phone.



Она
купила ай-фон.



They
bought a printer.



Они
купили принтер.



Let&#8217;s
try another round&#8230;He bought corn. 




Он
купил кукурузу.



She
bought pelmeni (little Russian raviolis).



Она
купила пельмени.



They
bought wine.



Они
купили вино.



Look&#8230;.more
rhyming. She bought&#8230;.она купила&#8230;.THEY
bought&#8230;ОнИ купилИ



Let&#8217;s
try a different verb. How would you say&#8230;He worked in Rome.



Он
работал в Риме.



She
worked in Paris.



Она
работала в Париже.



Now
ask: Where did they work?



Где
они работали?



There&#8217;s
our И … И rhyme again. Где
 они 
работали?



Another
one: He tried the pelmeni.



Он
попробовал пельмени.



She
tried the corn.



Она
попробовала кукурузу. 




Now
ask: What did they try&#8230;or sample?



Что
они попробовали?



As
that sinks in, let&#8217;s review the core material from the last episode.
Our speakers are going to say who they were speaking with. I&#8217;d like
you to say the person&#8217;s name in its most basic form. Ready?



&#8211;
&#8211; &#8211;



Good
job.



Alright,
back to our main topic&#8230;Try to say: They read (and finished reading)
my book.



Они
прочитали мою книгу.



They
watched (and finished watching) your video.



Они
посмотрели твоё видео.



They
gave me your rucksack.



Они
дали мне твой рюкзак.



This
one&#8217;s a little tougher. They wanted to buy for me a saxophone.



Они
хотели купить мне&#8230;саксофон. / &#8230; барабан.
/ &#8230; гитару. /



Try
that again. They wanted to buy for me a drum. One more,&#8230;change drum
to guitar



But
wait&#8230;Who buys just one drum? Who even says, &#8220;I play the drum?&#8221;
Right? &#8220;I play the drums&#8230;&#8221;



Listen
to this phrase: I love the drums.



Я
люблю барабаны.



Our
&#8216;ee&#8217; sound is back. Listen again: drum&#8230;drums



барабан&#8230;барабаны



Book&#8230;.books



Книга&#8230;книги



watermelon&#8230;watermelons
 (remember that from the Hoho Panda cartoon?)



арбуз&#8230;арбузы



Remember
how, at the very start of today&#8217;s lesson, I had you keep an ear out
for those &#8216;и&#8217; sounds.



First
we concentrated on words like они&#8230;and&#8230;.купили



But
it was there at the end, too. The parents bought TOYS&#8230;plural&#8230;and
that word ended with an &#8216;И



Listen:
toy&#8230;.toys



игрушка&#8230;.игрушки



That
&#8216;ee&#8217; sound at the end of words often—but certainly not
always—indicates more than one. In fancy grammar terms? It
indicates plurality. Think about it. THEY is more than one person,
right?



Они.
So it has an &#8216;ee&#8217; sound at the end. 




It&#8217;s
a bit like saying, the &#8216;s&#8217; sound at the end of English words
often—but certainly not always—indicates more than one. 
book&#8230;books. drum&#8230;.drums



Imagine
this scenario. My kids are sorting through a pile of books in the
playroom. When Andrei tries to take one from Sophia&#8217;s pile, Sophia
hunches over her books and says simply: They are mine.



Они
мои.



Then
Andrei looks at William, who doesn&#8217;t seem to have collected any
books. Andrei asks him&#8230;



Уильям,
где твои?



William,
where are yours?



Your
turn. Imagine you&#8217;re divvying up a bag of potato chips. With just two
words, say:



They&#8230;
are yours.



Они
твои.



Next&#8230;try
to translate what the speaker is saying&#8230;



Где
мои&#8230;чипсы? / &#8230;пельмени? / &#8230;конфеты? /



Where
are my chips? Where are my pelmeni&#8211;raviolis? Where are my candies?



Где
твои&#8230;барабаны? / &#8230;джинсы? / &#8230;документы?
/



Where
are your drums? Where are your jeans? Where are your documents?



If
you&#8217;re getting all these, you&#8217;re doing great.



&lt;&lt;
(tip of the day) &gt;&gt;



Today&#8217;s
tip is just four words: You. Can. Do. This. You can become
conversational in Russian. You know how I know? Because you&#8217;re still
here. You&#8217;ve made it through eighteen of these podcasts, full of some
very complex material, high speed audio clips, long Russian Immersion
sections&#8230;and you are still here. That is an awesome
display of will power on your part. And to quote Andy Dufresne, from
Shawshank Redemption: If you&#8217;ve come this far, maybe you&#8217;re
willing to come a little further.



Because
with all you&#8217;ve put in, what&#8217;s a few more months of learning? I&#8217;ve
had students finish my Accelerator course in four months. But even if
it takes you six, that&#8217;s nothing. Six months are going to pass in any
case. And at the end, imagine being conversational in Russian. Think
of the opportunities that would give you. Think of the value of
adding that to your resume:



Additional
Skills: Speaks Russian.



You&#8217;ve
made it this far. I know you can do this. And I look forward
to helping you get there.



&lt;&lt;
END TIP &gt;&gt;



Alright,
time for our Russian Immersion.



&#8211;
&#8211; &#8211;



Alright,
for our final exam, I&#8217;m going to prompt you to say almost all
of that conversation we just heard. I realize there are words we
don&#8217;t know. That&#8217;s ok&#8230;.I&#8217;ll give those to you. Let&#8217;s do it&#8230;



Say:
Hi, Neal.



Tell
me: These drums are yours? use&#8230;эти for
&#8216;these&#8217;



Yes.
They&#8217;re mine.



Then
she says: Значит, ты умеешь играть
на барабанах? 




Literally:
That means, you know how to play the drums?



Then
she adds: I didn&#8217;t know. 




He
answers: I play not very well&#8230;



Играю
не очень хорошо&#8230;



but
I love to play



но
люблю играть.



She
commands him: Play!



Играй.



Now?



Сейчас?



She
says: Почему бы и нет?



That
translates as: Why not?



Да
ладно. &#8230;Ok, fine.



The
word for &#8216;sticks&#8217; is палочки&#8230;of
course ending with our plural &#8216;и&#8217;&#8230;So
with two words, tell her:



Give
the sticks.



Дай
палочки.



На&#8230;.she
says, as she hand them to Neal.



He
asks: А какую песню тебе играть?



So,
which song for you to play? 




Say:
I don&#8217;t know. How you want. meaning: Play whatever you want to.



Не
знаю. Как хочешь.



Hmm&#8230;ok.



Хммм&#8230;.Хорошо.



She
must&#8217;ve made a weird expression, because he stops and says:



You
what, don&#8217;t know Led Zeppelin?



Ты
что, не знаешь Лед Зе́ппелин? 




Don
t know John Bonham. 




Не
знаешь Джона Бонэма?



Did
you put those &#8216;a&#8217;s at the end&#8230;because John Bonham is a person&#8230;we
need our cool, animate accusative ending.



She
asks: Who?



Кого?



Oh,
gosh&#8230;



О
боже&#8230;



Alright.
I hope you enjoyed that one. And I hope you did well. I&#8217;ll see you in
Ep 19&#8230;

<description>Welcome to Ep18. Let's start with a brief conversation. Along with trying to get the gist of what they're saying, try to listen for words that end with an "и" sound. Ready?
Где мама и папа? 
Они пошли в магазин. (door opens) О! Вот они. Привет мама, привет папа. Что купили?</description>

Welcome to Ep18. Let's start with a brief conversation. Along with trying to get the gist of what they're saying, try to listen for words that end with an "и" sound. Ready? Где мама и папа?  Они пошли в магазин. (door opens) О! Вот они. Привет мама,

Welcome to Ep18. Let's start with a brief conversation. Along with trying to get the gist of what they're saying, try to listen for words that end with an "и" sound. Ready? 
Где мама и папа? 
Они пошли в магазин. (door opens) О! Вот они. Привет мама, привет папа. Что купили?

Understanding Spoken Russian – Learn Russian Ep. 18

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*
NOTE *




All
phrases intended for translating/listening practice have been
deleted.



Welcome
to Ep. 17. Glad you tuned in because I think this episode will prove
to be instrumental to your success in Russian. Yeah, I know&#8230;You&#8217;re
thinking: Why did he use that particular word, instrumental?
You guys are on to me. Hang around and you&#8217;ll see. For now, listen as
our speaker tells you who he was talking with&#8230;



Я
говорил&#8230;с Владом. / &#8230;с Марком. / &#8230;с
доктором. / с Толиком.



A
lot of &#8220;Oms&#8221; there. You catch that? And that &#8216;C&#8217; by the way
translates as &#8220;with&#8221;. Anyway, you try it. Say: Mom was
talking with Chris. 




Мама
говорила&#8230;с Крисом. 




You
added that &#8216;s&#8217; sound before the name, right? S krisom



Say:
Mom was talking with Andrei&#8230;with William&#8230;



Мама
говорила с Андреем. Мама говорила с
Уильямом. 




Now
you might be wondering: Wait&#8230;Doesn&#8217;t &#8216;talking with someone&#8217; count
as doing something to them? Why aren&#8217;t we saying:
Криса&#8230;Андрея&#8230;Уильяма



Well,
because we&#8217;re not talking at them. We&#8217;re talking with
them. In Russian that makes a big difference. Here&#8217;re some more
examples&#8230;Some female names now&#8230;



I&#8217;m
talking with Karina&#8230;.with mom&#8230;with Nina.



Я
говорю&#8230;с Кариной. / &#8230;с мамой. / &#8230;с Ниной.
/



Interesting
sound there at the end. That ой sound. 
Let&#8217;s do more&#8230;



I
work with Franklin&#8230;.with John&#8230;.with Christina&#8230;.with Olga.



Я
работаю с Франклином. / &#8230;с Джоном. / &#8230;с
Кристиной. / &#8230;с Ольгой /



I
live with Greg&#8230;with a musician&#8230;.with grandpa&#8230;with Yana



Я
живу с Грегом. / &#8230;с музыкантом. / &#8230;с
дедушкой. / с Яной. /



So
far so good? Now let&#8217;s listen to some more complex phrases that use
these new forms. See if you can get the gist&#8230;



Я
говорил с официанткой, и сказал что ты
ещё ждёшь омлет.



I
was speaking with the waitress, and said that you are still waiting
for the omelet.



Я
говорила с барменом, и сказала что ты
ещё ждёшь вино.



I
was speaking with the bartender—lit: barman—and said that you are
still waiting for the wine.



Это
моя мама и это мой папа. Сегодня я говорил
с ними через Скайп.



This
is my mom and this is my dad. Today I was talking with them via
Skype. 




Это
моя сестра Сара, и мой брат Эрик. Сегодня
я говорила с ними через Фейстайм.



This
is my sister Sara, and my brother Erik. Today I was talking with them
via Facetime.



с
ними&#8230;with them One more:



Это
мой друг Чарли и моя подруга Настя. Я
жила с ними в Лондоне.



This
is my friend Charlie, and my female friend Nastya. I was living with
them in London.



You
try it. Say&#8230;I lived with them in Moscow.



Я
жил с ними в Москве.



I
worked with them in Epicenter.



Я
работал с ними в Эпицентре.



Next,
let&#8217;s listen to our speakers. They&#8217;re going to pretend to be my kids.
First, Alex will say: 




&#8220;Mom,
Andrei hit me with&#8230;&#8221;



Then
see if you can guess what he was hit with. It&#8217;ll be the
last word each time.



Мама!
Андрей ударил меня&#8230;телефоном. / …рюкзаком.
/ &#8230;магнитом / Вини-пухом



Mom,
Andrei hit me with a telephone&#8230;with a rucksack&#8230;with a
magnet&#8230;with Winnie the Pooh



Same
&#8220;om&#8221; ending we heard earlier. Like: I was talking with
John. Я говорил с Джоном. 




One
more round&#8230;



Папа!
София ударила меня&#8230;книгой / &#8230;игрушкой.
/ &#8230;вилкой. / 




Dad!
Sophia hit me with a book&#8230;with a toy&#8230;with a fork



Those
were all feminine objects&#8230;книга игрушка
вилка&#8230;and they got that ОЙ ending
we heard earlier with feminine names. So, what&#8217;s going on here?



Well,
those endings—OM with masculine nouns and ОЙ with
feminine ones—those are &#8220;instrument markers.&#8221; They tell a
Russian person how something was done.
If English did this, it would sound like this: 




What
did Andrei hit you with? – A pillow-om



How&#8217;d
you open that rusty door? – A crowbar-om



What&#8217;d
you use to smash the glass? – A hammer-om



What&#8217;d
you use to wash away the chalk? – SodOI



To
bust out another fancy grammar term, words with these endings are in
their instrumental form. Or the instrumental case. No need to
memorize that, but I wanted to toss it out there. 




And
when we say who we did something with&#8230;that person&#8217;s name
also goes into its instrumental form. That&#8217;s what we were doing at
the start of the lesson. In both situations, there&#8217;s this idea of
&#8220;with.&#8221; I broke it with a brick. I was talking with Jim.



Try
to say: I was working with the manager.



Я
работал с менеджером.



I
was working with a client.



Я
работала с клиентом.



I
was playing with grandma.



Я
играл с бабушкой



I
was playing with Maxim.



Я
играла с Максимом.



I
was waiting with Vladimir.



Я
ждал с Владимиром.



I
was waiting with Larrisa.



Я
ждала с Ларисой.



This
stuff is starting to get pretty advanced, so if you&#8217;re hanging in
there&#8230;.that&#8217;s really impressive.



So
let&#8217;s take a step back and look at the big picture. Specifically, the
different endings of people&#8217;s names
that we&#8217;ve encountered so far. There&#8217;s been a lot. Listen. I wont
translate for now.



Это
Полина.Это Джон.



Я
знаю Полину.Я вижу Джона.



У
Полины есть кошка.У Джона есть собака.



Я
дал книгу Полине.Я дал журнал Джону.



Я
говорил с Полиной.Я играл с Джоном.



In
these last ones, a паук is a spider&#8230;



Есть
паук на Полине. Есть паук на Джоне!



Incredible,
isn&#8217;t it? All those forms of the same name? And what&#8217;s even more
incredible is, now you understand them. You understand what
each version means, and how it functions. I say incredible, because
it&#8217;s so foreign to how we think in English. And yet you&#8217;re getting
it.



Of
course, now it&#8217;s your turn. I&#8217;ll prompt you to say those same
phrases. Ready?



This
is Polina. This is John. I know Polina. I see John. Polina has a cat.
John has a dog.



I
gave the book to Polina. I gave the magazine to John. I was talking
with Polina.



 I
was playing with John. There&#8217;s a spider on Polina. There&#8217;s a spider
on John.



&lt;&lt;TIP
OF THE DAY&gt;&gt;



Today&#8217;s
tip is simple, yet challenging. Try to run other names through all
the forms that we just covered. And here&#8217;s a tip: A lot of names
won&#8217;t work,especially non-Russian girls names.



Jennifer,
Sally, Michele&#8230;pretty much any female name that doesn&#8217;t end with an
&#8216;a&#8217; sound won&#8217;t change. And guy&#8217;s names that end, for ex, with an
O&#8230;.Pablo&#8230;also wont change. Or an &#8216;E&#8217; sound, like Harry. But
still, give it a try. Start with Darina and James.



In
fact, one second&#8230;Andrei, иди сюда. Say
hi everyone.



ANDREI:
Hi, everyone.



How
would you say in Russian&#8230;This is Yana. Say: I know Yana. Yana has a
son. I said to Yana Hi! There&#8217;s a spider on Yana!



Ok&#8230;now
it&#8217;s your turn, guys&#8230;



(END
TIP)



Time
for our Russian Immersion section.



&#8211;
&#8211; &#8211;



What
do you think С кем means? 




C&#8230;.translates
as &#8216;with&#8217;



кем
is &#8216;who&#8217;&#8230;(in its instrumental form.)



Ask
me: Mark, who were you talking with?



Марк,
с кем ты говорил?



Ok&#8230;sorry
for the interruption. Back to our immersion&#8230;



&#8211;
&#8211; &#8211;



Чай
с лимоном&#8230;What does that mean? Tea s lemon-om. 




Tea&#8230;with&#8230;lemon.





So
what&#8217;s the basic form of the word lemon? Take your time on that one.
It must be just: лимон
 




But
that little word &#8216;C&#8217;&#8230;with&#8230;forced it into which form? Its
instrumental form. If you got that, you&#8217;re doing awesome. Ok, one
more&#8230;.



&#8211;
&#8211; &#8211;



So,
that word кукуруза&#8230;What is it? I
actually did define it for you way back in Episode 11, but I never
tested you on it, so I&#8217;m guessing you don&#8217;t know what it means. But
here&#8217;s a really important point&#8230;Perhaps the most important thing I
can convey to you in this whole course. In language, meaning isn&#8217;t
all or nothing. What I mean is, It&#8217;s not like you either know what
the word means or you don&#8217;t. That&#8217;s not how language works, and
that&#8217;s not how the brain organizes information.



Tell
me. Is кукуруза the word for
&#8220;fuzzy&#8221;? It&#8217;s not? I thought you didn&#8217;t know what the word
meant. Is it the word for &#8216;winter&#8217;? No? How about &#8216;clock&#8217;? How do you
know? 




You
know it&#8217;s none of those things because in the last conversation, Mom
made tort with kukuruzoi.



So
you know it&#8217;s some kind of food. And so, you know a whole lot more
about kukuruza than &#8220;absolutely nothing.&#8221; Right? Because
meaning is a continuum. From having zero clue what a word might mean,
to knowing it so precisely, you could draw a picture of it.



For
so many words—even in our native language, okay—meaning is hazy.
We kind of know what certain words mean. And not knowing them
precisely&#8230;it&#8217;s no big deal. Can you precisely define the word
capitulate? Like, The other side capitulated. I&#8217;m not saying it&#8217;s not
useful to know the definition. Of course it is. But it doesn&#8217;t stop
us from speaking English, right?



So,
what&#8217;s кукуруза? I&#8217;ll give you a
hint:
It&#8217;s the most important crop in Nebraska. And you usually eat it on
the cob. 




Here,
translate this phrase: Я
люблю кукурузу. 




I
love&#8230;..corn.



Want
a way to remember the word? You&#8217;d have to be cuckoo
not to love corn. Maybe that&#8217;ll help you remember it. 




Alright,
you ready for our final exam? As always, there will be words here we
haven&#8217;t covered. Just try to get the gist.



&#8211;
&#8211; &#8211;



Alright&#8230;how&#8217;d
you do? Hopefully you&#8217;re still doing great. So keep it up and I&#8217;ll
see you in the next episode.

<description>Welcome to Ep. 17. Glad you tuned in because I think this episode will prove to be instrumental to your success in Russian. Yeah, I know...You're thinking: Why did he use that particular word, instrumental? You guys are on to me. Hang around and you'll see. For now, listen as our speaker tells you who he was</description>

Welcome to Ep. 17.  Glad you tuned in because I think this episode will prove to be instrumental to your success in Russian. Yeah, I know...You're thinking: Why did he use that particular word, instrumental? You guys are on to me.

Welcome to Ep. 17.  Glad you tuned in because I think this episode will prove to be instrumental to your success in Russian. Yeah, I know...You're thinking: Why did he use that particular word, instrumental? You guys are on to me. Hang around and you'll see. For now, listen as our speaker tells you who he was

Understanding Spoken Russian – Learn Russian Ep. 17

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*
NOTE *




All
phrases intended for translating/listening practice have been
deleted.



Welcome
to Episode 16. Before you started this course, you probably
encountered the phrase: My name is&#8230;For ex: My name is Steve.
Меня
зовут Стив. We&#8217;ve
used it quite a bit in these podcasts, but I never actually broke
that down for you.



Now,
despite what you may have heard online, меня
зовут does not translate as &#8220;My name is&#8230;&#8221;



Not
even close. Yes, it is the Russian equivalent of that phrase.
It&#8217;s indeed a way of telling someone your name. But the word меня
does not mean &#8220;my&#8221;. And зовут
doesn&#8217;t mean &#8220;name.&#8221; 




When
you say: Меня зовут&#8230;.you&#8217;re
literally saying: &#8220;Me they call&#8230;.&#8221;



Here&#8217;s
the important part&#8230;the topic, in fact, of this whole episode:
&#8220;calling&#8221; someone—as in, they call me Mark—counts as
doing something to someone. So, imagine you&#8217;re telling someone the
names of people in your family.



Mom
they call Linda.



Маму
зовут Линда.



See
how Mama changed to Mamu? How might you say: My sister they call
Michele. (We&#8217;ll leave off the word &#8220;my&#8221; because it&#8217;s
understood.)



Сестру
зовут Мишель.



Сестра
changed to сестру



Do
you recall how to say &#8216;dog&#8217; in Russian? 




Собака



So
try to say: The dog is called Fido.



Собаку
зовут Файдо.



Again,
we see that sobaka has changed to sobakU.



So
far so good? Now here&#8217;s something interesting about
Russian&#8230;something I&#8217;ve gone out of my way to avoid during this
entire course. But we&#8217;re ready for it, now: When we do
something to a man his name will change. 




For
ex, take the names: Steve, Jeff, Marvin



Стив,
Джеф, Марвин



The
speaker will say: I know Steve. I saw Jeff. I love Marvin.



Listen
to how their names change.



Я
знаю Стива. Я увидела Джефа. Я люблю
Марвина. 




Did
you hear those &#8216;a&#8217;s at the end? Стива,
Джефа,
Марвина?





Your
turn. Try to say&#8230;&#8221;I know Anton.&#8221;



Я
знаю Антона.



I
saw Maxim.



Я
увидел Максима. 




She
loves Greg.



Она
любит Грега.



That
doesn&#8217;t happen to masculine objects, right? I love your phone: Я
люблю твой телефон.



No
change. The phone&#8217;s not alive. And actually, it goes beyond people.
Any masculine creature that is
animate will change. So, not plants. They&#8217;re alive, but don&#8217;t move
about on their own. 




But
a giraffe is animate&#8230;Жираф



I
saw a giraffe.



Я
увидела жирафа.



Let&#8217;s
say you&#8217;re in a rock band and before a big gig, the guitarist falls
ill. гитарист is the word for
guitarist. So you say, Hey&#8230;I know a guitarist.



Я
знаю гитариста.



So,
jumping back to when we were naming the people in our family. Now we
point to a picture of our brother and say: My brother they call Erik.
(Again, we leave off &#8216;my&#8217;. It&#8217;s understood.)



Брата
зовут Эрик.



Брат
 becomes брата because
calling him counts as doing something to him.



Let
that sink in as we review some main points from the last episode. Can
you translate the following phrases?



&#8211;
&#8211; &#8211;



We
got our grammar point out of the way, next up is our official new
word for the lesson.



ждать



So,
you&#8217;ve got a train to catch. Meanwhile, your mom says, &#8220;Don&#8217;t go
yet. Aunt Yana wanted to say goodbye.&#8221; But you look at your
watch and shake your head&#8230;



Мама&#8230;Я
не могу ждать.



So
you pick up your suitcase and step outside, then Mom tugs your coat
from behind. She&#8217;s pointing to Yana&#8217;s car pulling up.



Жди,
жди! Видишь? Яна приехала.



So,
he said: Я не могу ждать. 




I
can not wait&#8230;as in, I&#8217;m unable to wait. So what kind of word is it?



ждать
is a verb infinitive. We hear that T+soft sign.
And what was mom saying as Yana pulled up?



Жди!
is the command form. She was saying, Wait!



Let&#8217;s
say you go to a restaurant and they tell you it&#8217;ll be an hour before
you get a table. Tell your friend: I don&#8217;t want to wait.



Я
не хочу ждать.



Imagine
you&#8217;re in a cafe and you still haven&#8217;t gotten your food. Listen as
the speaker tells the waitress&#8230;Девушка&#8230;



I&#8217;m
waiting for my salad.



Я
жду салат.



My
brother is waiting for his soup.



Мой
брат ждёт суп.



And
you, Darina. You&#8217;re waiting for pizza, yes?



А
ты, Дарина&#8230;Ты ждёшь пиццу, да?



Let&#8217;s
hear those again: I&#8217;m waiting&#8230;You&#8217;re waiting&#8230;He&#8217;s waiting&#8230;



Я
жду, ты ждёшь, он ждёт



Since
&#8216;waiting for something&#8217; counts as doing something to it, we notice
that the feminine word &#8216;pizza&#8217; changed to &#8216;pizzu.&#8217; Whereas things
like soup and salad didn&#8217;t change because they&#8217;re inanimate masculine
nouns. But how would you say: I&#8217;m waiting for Jeff.



Я
жду Джефа.



The
word for a client in Russian is a cognate. Listen: клиент



Ask
your friend: Are you waiting for a client?



Ты
ждёшь клиента?



No.
I&#8217;m waiting for Yana.



Нет.
Я жду Яну.



Out
of curiosity&#8230;Can you guess what the past tense might be? How would
a guy say:



I
was waiting and waiting&#8230;



Я
ждал и ждал&#8230;



How
would a woman say that?



Я
ждала и ждала..



Before
the break&#8230;this is just for fun&#8230;the name for this pattern is the
Animate Accusative.



You
don&#8217;t have to learn it. Heck, forget I even told you. You guys know I
loathe grammar terms.



But
this one&#8217;s fun to toss around. So the next time you&#8217;re hanging with
some friends and they ask what you&#8217;ve been up to, just say&#8230;&#8221;Eh,
same old stuff. Just getting a handle on Russian&#8217;s animate accusative
rule. What about you?&#8221; Then look at your watch and say, For me
it&#8217;s time&#8230;



Мне
пора.



&lt;&lt;TIP
OF THE DAY&gt;&gt;



I&#8217;m
sure you&#8217;ve noticed&#8230;since the midterm episode, we&#8217;ve been doing
more and more speaking. Compare that to the early episodes, where
almost all we did was listen. It&#8217;s because our model through all of
this has been my kids, and the way they so efficiently are learning
three totally different languages. At first, they listened, picking
up the patterns. Like&#8230;.&#8217;Whenever someone says Я
there&#8217;s a word that ends either with an L sound, or an U. Я
ждал&#8230;or&#8230;Я жду. Я
смотрел&#8230;.or&#8230;Я смотрю. 
Again, they had little idea what the things meant, but
they were categorizing like crazy. That&#8217;s some kind of action.
That&#8217;s some kind of location. клиент must
be a person, because it changed to клиента 
and so on.



But
then came their first trials at speaking. As I write, William is far
ahead of his sister Sophia who still mostly listens quietly. But
she&#8217;s on the verge now. Words are starting to come.



As
they are with us. So let them flow. Use all the Russian you know.
Please don&#8217;t worry about making mistakes. My kids sure don&#8217;t. Heck,
I&#8217;m a native speaker of English and I make mistakes. We all do. Who
hasn&#8217;t said: There&#8217;s lot of cars in the garage.



That&#8217;s
wrong. It should be: There ARE lots of cars&#8230;not There is&#8230;



Don&#8217;t
let the fear of mistakes stop you from practicing your Russian, okay?



And
if you&#8217;re looking for a course that will help you with that&#8230;that
will do all the work for you, and turn you into a confident
conversational Russian speaker, then I hope you check out Russian
Accelerator. It&#8217;s my premium course&#8230;All video, with over a dozen
native speakers. Videos that really clarify the meaning of things.
It&#8217;s all there, in ninety lessons. Plus a podcast I made exclusively
for Russian Accelerator members.



You&#8217;ve come this far, and we&#8217;ve got a few more episodes left. But after that, I hope you&#8217;ll join my <a href="http://russianaccelerator.com/">Accelerator course</a>. I think you&#8217;ll love it.



(TIP
OUT)



Alright&#8230;let&#8217;s
do our Russian Immersion section. So, Irina comes into the mall and
sees me sitting on a bench&#8230;



&#8211;
&#8211; &#8211;



In
today&#8217;s tip I mentioned how, as we progress in the language, we
inevitably begin speaking more and more&#8230;just as kids do. So for
today&#8217;s final, let&#8217;s practice some of our recent vocab.



Try
to say the following phrases&#8230;.



&#8211;
&#8211; &#8211;



If
you got most of those, you&#8217;re doing awesome. Keep up the great work
and I&#8217;ll see you in the next episode.

<description>Welcome to Episode 16. Before you started this course, you probably encountered the phrase: My name is...For ex: My name is Steve. Меня зовут Стив. We've used it quite a bit in these podcasts, but I never actually broke that down for you.</description>

Welcome to Episode 16. Before you started this course, you probably encountered the phrase: My name is...For ex: My name is Steve. Меня зовут Стив. We've used it quite a bit in these podcasts, but I never actually broke that down for you.

Understanding Spoken Russian

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