Colloquial Russian

Unit 4: A typical day 55

Note that из is the opposite of в and c is the opposite of на: в
общежи�тие ‘to/into the hostel’; из общежи�тия ‘from/out of the
hostel’; на рабо�ту ‘to work’; с рабо�ты ‘from work’.
От translates ‘from’ in the expression далеко� oт ‘far from’ and
also ‘from a person’: oт Мари�ны ‘from Marina’.
(d) The genitive singular is used after the numerals два/две ‘two’, три
‘three’ and четы�ре ‘four’: два бутербро�да ‘two sandwiches’; две
неде�ли ‘two weeks’; три ле�кции ‘three lectures’.
Note that два is used with masculine and neuter nouns and
две with feminine nouns. Compound numerals ending with два/
две, три or четы�ре are also followed by the genitive singular:
два�дцать четы�ре мину�ты ‘twenty-four minutes’.
(e) The genitive is used after мно�го ‘a lot of, much’ and ма�ло ‘little,
few’: мно�го рабо�ты ‘a lot of work’; ма�ло рабо�ты ‘little work’.
(f) The direct object of a negative verb may be put in the genitive instead
of the accusative: Она� нe ecт мя�са ‘She does not eat meat’.
(g) The genitive is used after the word нет ‘there is no, there is not any’:
Нет ры�бы ‘There is no fish’.
(h) The genitive is used after the preposition y ‘in the possession of, to have’:
У Марины ле� �кция ‘Marina has a lecture’ (lit. ‘In the possession of
Marina is a lecture’). This is the most usual way to translate ‘to have’ into
Russian, i.e. not by a verb but by using the preposition y. Marina is in the
genitive case, and ‘lecture’ is in the nominative case. Note the change if
the sentence is in the negative: У Марины нет ле� �кции ‘Marina does
not have a lecture’ (lit. ‘In the possession of Marina there is no lecture’).
In this example, лекции� is in the genitive after нет. The preposition y
can also mean ‘at the house of’: y Мари�ны ‘at Marina’s house’.

Упражне�ние 2

Change ‘I am going to.... ’ to ‘I am coming from... .’.

For example:

Я иду� на рабо�ту. Я иду� c pабо�ты. Я иду� в театp. Я иду� � из теа�тра.

Я иду�

1 на уро�к

2 нa конце�рт

3 в рестopа�н

4 в ко�мнaтy

5 в го�род

6 нa по�чту

7 в мyзе�й

8 нa Арба�т

9 в общежи�тие

10 в парк

11 нa фaкyльте�т

12 в центр rо�родa