Unit 2 “Что у меня есть?”

Hard or soft? If it ends in a hard-series vowel or zero (that is, if there is nothing after the last consonant), it’s hard – газе́та, о́тчество, костю́м – Exception: If it ends in й, it’s soft (музе́й) If it ends in a soft-series vowel or soft sign, it’s soft – пла́тье, слова́рь, тетра́дь, неде́ля /a//e//i//o//u/Ø HardаэыоуØ Softяеиёчь

Hard or soft? газе́та журна́л тетра́дь ру́чка игра́ слова́рь музе́й пла́тье америка́нец газе́ты журна́лы тетра́ди ру́чки и́гры словари́ музе́и пла́тья америка́нцы

Why is there a soft sign in платье? A soft consonant can be indicated by either a following soft sign or a following soft vowel letter. Both occur in тетрадь. плате (which isn’t a real word) would already have a soft “t”, so why is there also a soft sign in пла́тье? Answer: The combination of soft sign plus soft vowel letter indicates an extra “y” sound. Not only is the “t” soft (pronounced together with a “y”), but the “y-ness” is prolonged. – те: soft “t” followed by the vowel sound “e” – тье: soft “t” followed by a longer “y” sound followed by the vowel sound “e”

Why is чей so weird? Like ботинок (pl. ботинки), подарок (pl. подарки), and америка́нец (америка́нцы), чей has a mobile vowel. Mobile vowels appear when you have a zero ending, and disappear when you have any other ending. The masculine of possessives has a zero ending (мой, ваш), the other forms have an overt ending (мои́, ва́ши). The stem of че́й is the sound /č/ followed by the sound /j/. – In masculine че́й, the mobile vowel (which appears because of the zero ending) splits the two consonants, just like the mobile о in пода́рок splits the /r/ and the /k/. – In other forms (чья́, чьё, чьи́), the mobile vowel doesn’t appear (since there is an ending). The extra soft sign (“extra” because there’s already a soft vowel letter) spells the extra /j/ sound of the stem. – чьи sounds like /čji/, while чи (which isn’t a word) would sound like /či/ Bottom line: чей is regular. It takes exactly the same endings as мой or ваш, and the only difference in spelling is because of the mobile vowel in the stem.

У меня́ не́т У ва́с е́сть маши́на? Да́, у меня́ е́сть маши́на. Не́т, у меня́ не́т. – This means “No, I don’t have one.” – You don’t yet know how to say in a full sentence “No, I don’t have a car.” (TB, p. 63)

When to omit е́сть У вас есть синий костюм? – Do you have (own) a blue suit? – есть asks about existence (do you or do you not have X) У вас синий костюм? – Is your suit blue? – Omitting есть makes it a question about the quality of an object you are known (or thought) to have (TB, p. 63)

When to omit е́сть Existence – У вас есть англо-русский словарь? Do you have (own) an English-Russian dictionary? I don’t know whether you own such a dictionary or not. Quality – У вас но́вый англо-русский словарь? Is your English-Russian dictionary new? I know (or assume) that you have a dictionary, but I don’t know whether it’s new or old Location – У вас мой англо-русский словарь? Do you have my English-Russian dictionary? (did I accidentally leave it at your place?) I know that the dictionary exists, but I don’t know where it is located

When to omit е́сть Do you have (own) a computer? – У вас есть компьютер? Do you have a new computer? – У вас новый компьютер? Do you have my computer? – У вас мой компьютер? Do you have (own) a red necktie? – У вас есть кра́сный га́лстук? Is your necktie red? – У вас кра́сный га́лстук? Do you have my red necktie? – У вас мой кра́сный га́лстук?

About testing grammar in this course Grammar will be tested only by asking you to produce Russian forms You will not have to explain grammatical rules You may learn from the explanation in the textbook, alternative explanations presented in lecture, or both, as long as you can produce the correct forms We present different perspectives because students learn in different ways

An alternative approach to Russian endings Your textbook teaches endings according to spelling The gender endings of nouns are – Masculine No ending (consonant): карандаш й: музей ь: словарь – Neuter о: отчество е: платье (also ё) – Feminine а: газета я: версия ь: тетрадь According to your textbook, there are three types of nouns of each gender, which means nine sets of endings to memorize

Stems and endings Russian words other than prepositions (в) and conjunctions (и) consist of stems and endings The unvarying stem is the lexical part of the word, and conveys meaning (e.g., ‘museum’ vs ‘university’) The variable ending is the grammatical part of the word, and indicates case, number, gender, etc. – университе́т (mNsg) (zero ending) – университе́ты (mNpl) (ending is –ы) – whatever is present in all inflected forms of a word is part of the stem Exception: mobile vowels count as part of the stem – whatever changes during declension is an ending Think of stems and endings in terms of sounds, not letters

All stems end in a consonant университе́т = un’iv’ers’it’ét+Ø Москва́ = moskv+á сло́во = slóv+o Payoff: – All stems end in a consonant (all genders are alike) – Stems don’t change because lexical meaning doesn’t change – Endings change for case, etc. Exception: indeclinable words (Бу́ффало, такси́, ра́дио) never change at all (i.e., they are all stem and don’t have endings)

How many declensions are there? Masculine nouns all end in consonant sounds and all take the same ending in terms of sound Feminine nouns (except for the тетрадь type) all end in the sound /a/ and all take the same endings in terms of sound Neuter nouns all end in the sound /o/ and all take the same endings in terms of sound Thus, there are only four declensions, rather than nine

At what price? If you learn endings by spelling (as in the textbook), you have to memorize a lot of paradigms – Direct and straightforward, but voluminous and arbitrary If you learn endings by sound (as in lecture), you have to learn about the relationship between sounds and spelling – Consistent and systematic, but also abstract

What’s going on behind the scenes? How to spell /j/ Why is ё always stressed?

How to spell the sound /j/ When /j/ precedes a vowel sound, use a soft vowel letter – моя́ /moj + á/ (three letters but four sounds) – моё /moj + ó/ (three letters but four sounds) Elsewhere, use й – мо́й /moj + Ø/ – колте́йль /kokt’ejl’ + Ø/ Some foreign words are exceptions – Нью́-Йо́рк (pronounced like *Нью́-Ёрк)

Where’s the /j/ in these words? фотография новый новое синие мой моя тетрадь (trick question!) платье fotográf’ij+a nóv+ij nóv+oje s’in’+ije moj+ǿ moj+a t’etrád’+ø plát’j+o

Why is ё always stressed? You may have noticed that every time you see the letter ё, it’s stressed When ё would be unstressed, it “loses its dots” and is pronounced like е – мо́й /moj+ǿ/ – мо́ё /moj+ó/ – ва́ш /váš+ø/ – ва́ше /váš+o/ (would be *вашё, but unstressed ё loses its dots and is spelled and pronounced е) What this buys you: мой and ваш (and all the other possessives) all have the same same ending (/o/) in the neuter, filtered through the general rule that unstressed ё is written and pronounced е Cf. other unstressed vowels also change their pronunciation

Masculine mNsg ending is always zero (it follows the last stem consonant immediately) – стол /stol+ǿ/ – музе́й /muz’éj+ǿ/ – словарь /slovar’+ǿ/ mNpl always adds the sound /i/ (spelled ы or и) – столы́ /stol+í/ – музе́и /muz’éj+í/ – словари́ /slovar’+í/ Exception: a few masculines form plurals in –а́ – This would be an exception in any case

What it buys you Instead of three sets of endings (mNsg regular consonant letters, the letter й, and the letter ь), there is only one (the sound zero) You can hear the sounds in the stems and endings All variation in spelling is explained by basic rules about hard and soft consonants and /j/ Exceptions (plurals in –а́) would be exceptions in any case

Stem and ending докуме́нт – докуме́нты каранда́ш – каранда́ши слова́рь – словари́ кокте́йль – кокте́йли музе́й – музе́и (5 letters, 6 sounds) трамвай – трамва́и dokum’ént+ø – dokum’ént+i karandaš+ǿ – karandaš+í slovar’+ǿ – slovar’+í kokt’éjl’+ø – kokt’éjl’+i muz’éj+ø – muz’éj+i tramváj+ø – tramváj+i

Feminine fNsg always ends in the sound /a/ (spelled –а or –я) – газета /gaz’et+a/ – неделя /n’ed’el’+a/ – ве́рсия /v’ers’ij+a/ fNpl always ends in the sound /i/ (spelled –ы or –и) – газеты /gaz’et+i/ – недели /n’ed’el’+i/ – ве́рсии /v’ers’ij+i/ Exception: some fNsg end in a soft sign (тетрадь)

What it buys you Instead of three sets of endings (fNsg letter а, the letter я, and the letter ь), there are only two (the sound /a/ or the letter ь) You can hear the sounds in the stems and endings All variation in spelling is explained by basic rules about hard and soft consonants and /j/ Exceptions (тетра́дь) would be exceptions in any case

Stem and ending виза – визы сумка – сумки версия (6 letters, 7 sounds) – версии фотография – фотографии песня ‘song’ – песни вишня ‘cherry’ – вишни v’íz+a – v’íz+i súmk+a – súmk+i v’érs’ij+a – v’érs’ij+i fotográf’ij+a – fotográf’ij+i p’ésn’+a – p’ésn’+i v’íšn’+a – v’íšn’+i

Neuter nNsg always ends in the sound /o/ (spelled –о, –ё, –е) – отчество /ótčestv+o/ – платье /plát’j+o/ – ружьё /ružj+ó/ ‘rifle’ nNpl always ends in the sound /a/ (spelled –а, –я) – отчества /ótčestv+a/ – платья /plát’j+a/ – ружья /ružj+a/

What it buys you Instead of two three sets of endings (nNsg –о, –е, –ё) there is just one, the sound /o/ You can hear the sounds in the stems and endings All variation in spelling is explained by basic rules about hard and soft consonants and /j/, and the fact that unstressed ё “loses its dots” and turns into е

Neuter окно́ – о́кна о́тчество – о́тчества пла́тье – пла́тья okn+ó – ókn+a ótčestv+o – ótčestv+a plát’j+o – plát’j+a

Stems and endings: possessive pronouns мо́й, моя́, моё – moj + Ø = мой – moj + a = моя – moj + o = моё – Stem is moj+, stress is on the endings ва́ш, ва́ша, ва́ше – vaš + Ø = ваш – vaš + а = ваша – vaš + о = ваше – Stem is vaš+, stress is on the stem Payoff – Stem is invariable for all forms of a particular possessive pronoun – Endings are the same for all possessive pronouns

Adjectives MasculineNeuterFemininePlural (all genders Regularно́выйно́воено́ваяно́вые 7-letter ruleру́сскийру́сскоеру́сскаяру́сские 7- and 5-letter rule хоро́шийхоро́шеехоро́шаяхоро́шие end stressбольшо́йбольшо́ебольша́ябольши́е naturally softси́нийси́нееси́няяси́ние си́ний has a soft stem, so all endings are soft stress

mNsg Adjectives но́вый /nóv+ij/ ру́сский /rússk+ij/ (7-letter rule) хоро́ший /xoróš+ij/ (7-letter rule) большо́й /bol’š+ój/ (stressed mNsg –ой ending) си́ний /s’ín’+ij/ (soft stem)

nNsg adjectives но́вое /nóv+oje/ ру́сское /rússk+oje/ хоро́шее /xoróš+oje/ (5-letter rule) большо́е /bol’š+óje/ си́нее /s’ín’+oje/ (soft stem, whereupon what would have been unstressed ё loses its dots)

fNsg adjectives но́вая /nóv+aja/ ру́сская /rússk+aja/ хоро́шая /xoróš+aja/ большая /bol’š+ája/ си́няя /s’ín’+aja/ (soft stem)

pl adjectives но́вые /nóv+ije/ ру́сские /rússk+ije/ (7-letter rule) хоро́шие /xoróš+ije/ (7-letter rule) большие /bol’š+íje/ (7-letter rule) си́ние /s’ín’+ije/ (soft stem)