Colloquial Russian

Unit 18: Equal rights 257

Слова�рь

бе�дствие misfortune

ведро� bucket

ве�чный eternal

винова�тый guilty

вино�вный culprit

до�ля share

лить to pour

на протяже�нии during

отве�тстве- responsibility

нность

охвати�ть to seize

руководи�тель leader

своди�тьII/ to reduce to

свести� I к

(+ dat)

сия�ть to shine

Грамма�тика

Participles

Participles can be used in Russian to replace clauses beginning with
кото�рый:

Я зна�ю же�нщину, кото�рая чита�ет газе�ту

‘I know the woman who is reading the newspaper’.

Я зна�ю же�нщину, чита�ющую (participle) газе�ту

‘I know the woman reading the newspaper’.

The participle чита�ющую ‘reading’ conveys the same idea as кото�рая
чита�ет ‘who is reading’.

Present active participle

There are four different types of participle in Russian: present and
past active and present and past passive. The example чита�ющую
used above is called a present active participle; it was used in place
of кото�рая чита�ет, i.e. in place of a кото�рый clause containing the
present tense of an active verb. The English equivalent of a Russian
present active participle usually ends in -ing.

Formation of the present active participle

To form the present active participle, take the third person plural (они�
form) of the present tense of the verb, remove the -т from the end