Elementary Russian | Сегодня в лингaфонном кабинете... | Unit 3 Week 2... Какие языки вы знаете? (Урок второй, неделя 2)

In this unit, we're using a few important PowerPoints that explain the formation and use of the prepositional case, and another couple that describe Jakobson's "single stem system" of verb conjugations. Here they are. (We'll work through some of these this week... This is just a "for your convenience" link....... )

Что сегодня наготове...

What's in store today...

First ten minutes:

Spend 10 minutes practicing the words and phrases. Here's the Memrise link to the tomorrow's vocab quiz material to review. 

Please print it out or get today's handout.   

1) Listen and read along as the диктор reads numbers 1-50. Here is the recording.

Next ten minutes:

Now do this exercise, jotting down the prices in the handout. I only want you to do the first 10. Don't listen more than three times. Here are the questions (they're also on the handout).

Next twenty minutes:

When you're done with the числительные (numbers), consider the verb говори́ть, to speak. It is very similar to verbs like читать, знать, жить that we've already studied, the sole difference being the vowel  in the ending. 

Important rule! There are only two conjugational patterns in Russian, 1st (mostly verbs ending in -ать) and 2nd conjugation (mostly verbs ending in -ить). 

Сравните! 

	читáть (1st conjugation)	говорить (2nd)
я	читáю	говорю́
ты	читáешь	говори́шь
он	читáет	говори́т
мы	читáем	говори́м
вы	читáете	говори́те
они	читáют	говоря́т

In говорить and other verbs ending in -ить, the ending vowel is -и- where there's a -е- in verbs like читать that end in -ать. (Complicating things (or not!), the и and the е are pronounced the same /и/ in these verbs because they are NOT under accent.) The most important distinction: The они form is -ят instead of -ют.

Listen to the two verbs. What's important to take away: There are only two conjugational patterns in Russian, 1st and 2nd conjugation. And these two patterns have very similar endings, they differentiate ONLY IN THE VOWELS. THE VOWELS!

RULE: Comparing first and second conjugational patterns, we can note: Vowels change, consonants stay the same. In almost every respect, all verbs in Russian conjugate similarly. 

Last ten minutes:

Finally: Look through this PowerPoint on the prepositional case. We've already encountered it: Я живу во Флориде. Иван живёт в Москве. Now, we'll learn how to change modifiers so they reflect the function and gender of the nouns. "He lives in a BIG CITY." "She studies in a SMALL UNIVERSITY." 

Read through the presentation a couple of times, and work with the tutors on the relevant grammar exercises (on the handout) at the tables or at home.  If you need help, reach out to one of the tutors or to an instructor: Send an image of your work (screenshot or your phone) and we can help you!