Building Sentences in Russian

Building Sentences in Russian Fundamentals of Russian Grammar: Russian Sentence Structure ChaptersBasic Russian Sentence StructureModifying Nouns and Verbs in RussianHow to Place Emphasis in a Russian SentenceAsking Questions in RussianTaking Russian language course London  or trying to learn Russian on your own? Then you know that when you learn a new language, it involves more than simply thumbing through a Russian dictionary or memorizing the Russian numbers and days of the week. You need to learn Russian grammar rules in order to build understandable sentences.Of course, you can learn some Russian words and phrases from your textbooks or phrase book, but at some point you will want to go beyond saying hello, pleased to meet you, giving a rote compliment and asking “Do you speak English?” If you want to speak Russian halfway fluently, Russian vocabulary is not the only aspect you need to work on: you will also need to study pronunciation, reading the Cyrillic alphabet and, of course, sentence structure.So here is a small guide on how to properly structure Russian p hrases, so that the next time you travel to St. Petersburg, Moscow or elsewhere in the former USSR you will be understood. LavaRussian Teacher 5.00 (8) £25/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors LarisaRussian Teacher 5.00 (2) £30/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors InaRussian Teacher 4.88 (8) £30/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors IrynaRussian Teacher 5.00 (8) £12/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors EvgeniaRussian Teacher £30/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors AnastassiaRussian Teacher 5.00 (2) £30/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors NikolaRussian Teacher 5.00 (4) £20/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors MargaritaRussian Teacher 5.00 (3) £18/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutorsBasic Russian Sentence StructureIn English, the basic sentence structure is:Subject + Verb + ObjectThis is true in Russian grammar as well. Whether you are taking   Russian lessons online or in a classroom, most phrases you learn will be set up this way:? ??? ? ???????? I have a cold.The subject is in the nominative case (the form of the noun you will find first in a dictionary) whereas the direct object is in the accusative.  You will need to conjugate Russian verbs in the proper tense, of course.Knowing grammar rules can help you translate full Russian sentences. Photo credit: quinn.anya on Visualhunt.comIntroducing indirect objectsIndirect objects (in English, they are introduced by “to” or “by”) usually come after the verb, but whereas in English they come:After the direct object if a preposition (”to”, “for”, “by”) is used (I gave a book to Sanya.)Before the direct object if none is used (I gave Sanya a book.)Russian words - in this case, the nouns - are declined. We have seen that subjects are in the nominative case and direct objects in the accusative case. This means that the indirect object can be placed either before or after the direct object without anyone becoming confused, as it will be in the dative cas e.You can say:?? ????? ?????? ?????????. He wrote a letter to his parents.Or:?? ????? ?????? ????????? He wrote his parents a letter.Here is a table with the dative declension for the most common noun endings in Russian:GenderEndingDative singularDative pluralMasculineconsonantadd -yadd -??Masculine-?replace -? with -?replace -? with -??Masculine-?replace -? with -?replace -? with -??Feminine-?replace -? with -?replace -? with -??Feminine-? (except for -??)replace -? with -?replace -? with -??Feminine-??replace -?? with -?replace -? with -?? (keep the ?)Feminine-?replace -? with -?replace -? with -??Neuter-?replace -? with -yreplace -? with -??Neuter-? (except for examples below)replace -? with -?replace -? with -??Neuter-??, -??, -??, -??replace -? with -yreplace -? with -??Pronouns in Russian word orderWhile generally, objects come after the verb, when an object is a pronoun they always come before the verb.? ??? ???? I know him.There are all sorts of Russian sentences - each with their own rules. Photo credit: strogoscope on VisualhuntModifying Nouns and Verbs in RussianAdjectives and other noun modifiersAdjectives come before the noun they modify:??????? ?????? A red flower??????? ??? A big houseGenitives and other noun modifiers usually only come after the noun.Adverbs and adverbial phrasesAdverbial phrases indicating time, place, mode etc. are generally at the end of the sentence.? ??? ? ????? I am going to school.Make learning Russian fun with Russian language games to practise sentence structure.How to Place Emphasis in a Russian SentenceNow that we have talked about the order of Russian words in a sentence, here’s something you need to know: the subject+verb+objects order is optional.Because Russian has cases, word order is not quite as important for determining the role of each noun in the sentence. This means that nouns can be moved around for emphasis.New information tends to come at the end of a sentence. For example, in English we might differe ntiate between:My sister is an architect. The important information is not the sister, but the fact that she’s an architect.My sister is the architect. The sister is the more important information here. There was talk of architects and the sister is named as one.When you speak Russian, you can do this by reversing the word order.??? ?????? ?????????? corresponds to “my sister is an architect.”?????????? ??? ?????? is the equivalent of “my sister is the architect.”This means that everything we said before is only one way of learning basic Russian sentence structure. It is the most usual way, and it’s good to remember these tips as they will help you focus on what you want to say without worrying about emphasis.Expressing yourself in Russian means understanding grammar rules. Photo credit: RSNY on Visual HuntHowever, as you progress from beginner to intermediate level or even advanced levels and learn to read Russian literature in the original rather than translations, you will notice that many authors such as Pushkin or Tolstoy will switch around words in a sentence. That’s why it’s so important to gain proficiency in the declensions of Russian nouns, so you always know what function a word has in a sentence.If you travel to Russia and your listening comprehension increases, you will also notice people doing it in common speech and as you gain fluency, you can try it out as well as you figure out what works and what doesn’t. This is something you can practise in Russian lessons with your teacher.Asking Questions in RussianThere are two types of questions:Questions that can be answered by either yes or noQuestions that need a more comprehensive answer and generally need question wordsAsking yes or no questions in RussianSimple questions in the Russian language course are just that: simple. You don’t need to change anything about the word order, simply add a question mark when writing or raise your voice at the end when speaking.?? ????? ????? ? He is writing a letter?? ????? ??????? Is he writing a letter?Asking questions in Russian is an important part of learning the language. Photo credit: hehheh78 on VisualHuntAsking questions using question wordsCommon question words in English are:Who?What?When?Where?Why?How?But there are many more, compound question tags that also have Russian counterparts, such as:Whose?How many?How much?What kind/ what sort?Also, Russian uses its own question words for “where to” (????) and where from (??????).Here are some of the most frequently used question words in Russian:EnglishRussianWho???What??????When?????Where???Why???How???How much/how many???????You can pair them with common Russian verbs to form useful questions.Though most aspects of Russian sentences are permutable, question words are always at the beginning of a sentence.??? ??? What is this???? ??? Who is it???? ??? Where is it?Now, some of these need to be declined to suit their grammatical role in the sentence. For exampl e, both ??? (what?) and ??? (who?) are declined:NominativeAccusative DativeGenitiveInstrumentalPrepositional?????????????????????????????????????????Also, whose? (???) needs to agree in number, case and gender to the object or the person it refers to.