Colloquial Russian: The Complete Course For Beginners (fourth edition) [Book]

411 Pages·2017·4.714 MB·English

by  Svetlana le Fleming, Suán E. Kay

Colloquial
Russian
Colloquial Russian provides a step-by-step course in Russian as it is
written and spoken today.
Combining a user-friendly approach with a thorough treatment of the
language, it equips learners with the essential skills needed to commu-
nicate confidently and effectively in Russian in a broad range of situa-
tions. No prior knowledge of the language is required.
Features include:
• progressive coverage of speaking, listening, reading and writing skills
• structured, jargon-free explanations of grammar
• an extensive range of focused and stimulating exercises
• realistic and entertaining dialogues covering a broad variety of
scenarios
• useful vocabulary lists throughout the text
• additional resources available at the back of the book, including a
full answer key, a grammar summary and bilingual glossaries
Balanced, comprehensive and rewarding, Colloquial Russian will be
an indispensable resource both for independent learners and students
taking courses in Russian.
Colloquials are now supported by FREE AUDIO available online. All
audio tracks referenced within the text are free to stream or download
from www.routledge.com/cw/colloquials. Recorded by native speakers,
the audio complements the book and will help enhance learners’ listen-
ing and speaking skills.
THE COLLOQUIAL SERIES
Series Adviser: Gary King
The following languages are available in the Colloquial series:
Afrikaans German Romanian
Albanian Greek Russian
Amharic Gujarati Scottish Gaelic
Arabic (Levantine) Hebrew Serbian
Arabic of Egypt Hindi Slovak
Arabic of the Gulf Hungarian Slovene
Basque Icelandic Somali
Bengali Indonesian Spanish
Breton Irish Spanish of Latin
Bulgarian Italian America
Burmese Japanese Swahili
Cambodian Kazakh Swedish
Cantonese Korean Tamil
Catalan Latvian Thai
Chinese (Mandarin) Lithuanian Tibetan
Croatian Malay Turkish
Czech Mongolian Ukrainian
Danish Norwegian Urdu
Dutch Panjabi Vietnamese
English Persian Welsh
Estonian Polish Yiddish
Finnish Portuguese Yoruba
French Portuguese of Brazil Zulu (forthcoming)
COLLOQUIAL 2s series: The Next Step in Language Learning
Chinese German Russian
Dutch Italian Spanish
French Portuguese of Brazil Spanish of Latin America
Colloquials are now supported by FREE AUDIO available online. All audio tracks
referenced within the text are free to stream or download from www.routledge.com/
cw/colloquials.
Colloquial
Russian
The Complete Course
for Beginners
Svetlana le Fleming
and Susan E. Kay
Fourth edition published 2017
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
© 2017 Svetlana le Fleming and Susan E. Kay
The right of Svetlana le Fleming and Susan E. Kay to be identified as
authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or
other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying
and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
First edition published by Routledge 1993
Second edition published by Routledge 1997
Third edition published by Routledge 2010
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-1-138-20852-0 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-45901-1 (ebk)
Typeset in Avant Garde and Helvetica
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents
Introduction 1
Introduction to the Russian language 3
1 Как вас зовýт? 13
What’s your name?
In this unit you will learn how to:
Identify yourself – your name, nationality, profession
and address
Ask simple questions
Describe things using ‘my’, ‘your’ and adjectives
Use the prepositional case
2 Изучáем рýсский язьíк 23
We are studying Russian
In this unit you will learn how to:
Say which languages you can speak
Talk about television and newspapers
Ask more questions
Use personal pronouns
Use verbs in the present tense
Make nouns plural
Form adverbs
Use a wider range of adjectives
vi Contents
3 В гости´нице 36
At the hotel
In this unit you will learn how to:
Ask the way
Find out about hotel services and facilities
Use the accusative case
Use a wider range of possessives and adjectives
Use numbers 1–30
4 Типи´чный день 48
A typical day
In this unit you will learn how to:
Order a meal
Use the genitive case
Use short adjectives
Describe your day
Use ordinal numerals 1–30
5 Семья´ 61
Family
In this unit you will learn how to:
Deal with introductions
Learn about Russian names
Learn about Russian addresses
Talk about your family, their characters, hobbies
and work
Use personal pronouns in the accusative
and genitive
Form expressions for ‘must’ and ‘all’
6 Идём в гóсти! 74
Visiting friends
In this unit you will learn how to:
Receive guests and be a guest yourself
Talk about clothing
Refer to days of the week
Give someone’s age
Use reflexive verbs
Use the dative case
Contents vii
7 Спорт 90
Sport
In this unit you will learn how to:
Talk about sport
Talk about careers
Use the imperfective past tense
Use the instrumental case
Use чей
8 Люби´мый óтдых 104
Favourite holidays
In this unit you will learn how to:
Discuss the weather
Talk about holidays
Refer to months of the year
Use adjectives, possessives, э(cid:1154)тот, тот, весь and
оди(cid:1154)н in cases other than the nominative
Use свой
9 Прáздники 121
Festivals
In this unit you will learn how to:
Describe festivals and celebrations
Use the imperfective future tense
Express dates
10 Арбáт 135
The Arbat
In this unit you will learn how to:
Hold a telephone conversation
Make a date
Use verbs of motion
11 Как снять кварти´ ру в Москвé 148
How to rent a fl at in Moscow
In this unit you will learn how to:
Talk about renting a fl at
Use the perfective past and perfective future tenses
viii Contents
12 Российские СМИ 165
Russian mass media
In this unit you will learn how to:
Talk about the press
Form nominative, accusative and genitive plurals
Use the imperative
Use adjectives with numerals
Ask questions using ли
13 За покупками! 179
Shopping
In this unit you will learn how to:
Make purchases and deal with prices
Use dative, instrumental and prepositional plurals
Use the partitive genitive
Use numerals 40–1,000
Translate the verb ‘to put’
14 Путешéствия 191
Travelling
In this unit you will learn how to:
Buy a rail or air ticket
Describe a journey
Use prefi xed verbs of motion
15 Теáтр 207
The theatre
In this unit you will learn how to:
Book a theatre ticket
Talk about the theatre
Tell the time
Use comparatives
Use котóрый
Contents ix
16 У Здравоохранéние 224
Health care
In this unit you will learn how to:
Talk about health and cope with a visit to the doctor
Use the superlative
Use себя�
Use negatives
17 Петербу�рг 237
St Petersburg
In this unit you will learn how to:
Write a letter
Express dates
Use more numerals
Use the subjunctive/conditional
18 Равнопрáвие 253
Equal rights
In this unit you will learn how to:
Discuss women’s rights in Russia
Form present active and past active participles
Use н´екого and н´ечего
19 Образовáние 266
Education
In this unit you will learn how to:
Talk about education in Russia
Form the passive voice
Form present and past passive participles
Use что-то, что-нибýдь
20 Cиби�рь 280
Siberia
In this unit you will learn how to:
Discuss ecological issues
Use verbal adverbs (gerunds)
Use conjunctions
Use то, что