1. Unit 2

2. Outline Tutoring announcement Answers to student questions
How to tell whether a stem is hard or soft
Why is there a soft sign in пла́тье?
Why is че́й so weird?
When to omit е́сть
An alternative perspective on this unit’s grammar

3. Free tutoring
Free tutoring (paid by the Center for Russian and East European Studies [REES])
To schedule a session, write to Dawn Seckler

4. Hard or soft?
/a/
/e/
/i/
/o/
/u/ Ø
Hard а э ы о у
Soft я е и ё ч ь
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

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

6. Why is there a soft sign in пла́тье?
A soft consonant can be indicated by either a following soft sign or a following soft vowel letter. Both occur in тетра́дь.
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”

7. Why is че́й so weird?
Like боти́нок (pl. боти́нки), пода́рок (pl. пода́рки), and америка́нец (америка́нцы), че́й 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 (мо́й, ва́ш), 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.
чьи́ sounds like /čji/, while чи (which isn’t a word) would sound like /či/
Bottom line: че́й is regular. It takes exactly the same endings as мо́й or ва́ш, and the only difference in spelling is because of the mobile vowel in the stem.

8. 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)

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

10. When to omit е́сть Existence Quality Location
У в́ас е́сть а́нгло-ру́сский слова́рь?
Do you have (own) an English-Russian dictionary?
I don’t know whether you own such a dictionary or not.
Quality
У ва́с но́вый а́нгло-ру́сский слова́рь?
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 в́ас мо́й а́нгло-ру́сский слова́рь?
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

11. When to omit е́сть Do you have (own) a computer?
У ва́с е́сть компью́тер?
Do you have a new computer?
У ва́с но́вый компью́тер?
Do you have my computer?
У ва́с мо́й компью́тер?
Do you have (own) a red necktie?
У ва́с е́сть кра́сный га́лстук?
Is your necktie red?
У ва́с кра́сный га́лстук?
Do you have my red necktie?
У ва́с мо́й кра́сный га́лстук?

12. 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

13. An alternative approach to Russian endings
Your textbook teaches endings according to spelling
The gender endings of nouns are
Masculine
No ending (consonant): каранда́ш
й: музе́й
ь: слова́рь
Neuter
о: о́тчество
е: пла́тье
(also ё)
Feminine
а: газе́та
я: ве́рсия
ь: тетра́дь
According to your textbook, there are three types of nouns of each gender, which means nine sets of endings to memorize

14. 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

15. 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)

16. 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 тетра́дь 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

17. 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

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

19. 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 + Ǿ/
колте́йль /kokt’éjl’ + Ø/
Some foreign words are exceptions
Нью́-Йо́рк (pronounced like *Нью́-Ёрк)

20. Where’s the /j/ in these words?
фотогра́фия
но́вый
но́вое
си́ние
мо́й
моя́
тетра́дь (trick question!)
платье
fotográf’ij+a
nóv+ij
nóv+oje
s’in’+ije
moj+ǿ
moj+á
t’etrád’+ø
plát’j+o

21. 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 *ва́шё, but unstressed ё loses its dots and is spelled and pronounced е)
What this buys you: мо́й and ва́ш (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

22. Masculine
mNsg ending is always zero (it follows the last stem consonant immediately)
сто́л /stol+ǿ/
музе́й /muz’éj+ǿ/
слова́рь /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

23. 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

24. Stem and ending докуме́нт каранда́ш слова́рь кокте́йль музе́й трамва́й
докуме́нты
каранда́ш
каранда́ши
слова́рь
словари́
кокте́йль
кокте́йли
музе́й
музе́и (5 letters, 6 sounds)
трамва́й
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

25. Feminine fNsg always ends in the sound /a/ (spelled –а or –я)
газе́та /gaz’et+a/
неде́ля /n’ed’el’+a/
ве́рсия /v’ers’ij+a/
fNpl always ends in the sound /i/ (spelled –ы or –и)
газе́ты /gaz’et+i/
неде́ли /n’ed’el’+i/
ве́рсии /v’ers’ij+i/
Exception: some fNsg end in a soft sign (тетра́дь)

26. 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

27. Stem and ending ви́за су́мка ве́рсия (6 letters, 7 sounds) фотогра́фия
ви́зы
су́мка
су́мки
ве́рсия (6 letters, 7 sounds)
ве́рсии
фотогра́фия
фотогра́фии
пе́сня ‘song’
пе́сни
ви́шня ‘cherry’
ви́шни
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

28. Neuter nNsg always ends in the sound /o/ (spelled –о, –ё, –е)
о́тчество /ótčestv+o/
пла́тье /plát’j+o/
ружьё /ružj+ó/ ‘rifle’
nNpl always ends in the sound /a/ (spelled –а, –я)
о́тчества /ótčestv+a/
пла́тья /plát’j+a/
ру́жья /rúžj+a/

29. 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

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

31. Stems and endings: possessive pronouns
мо́й, моя́, моё
moj + Ǿ = мо́й
moj + á = моя́
moj + ó = моё
Stem is moj+, stress is on the endings
ва́ш, ва́ша, ва́ше
váš + Ø = ва́ш
váš + а = ва́ша
váš + о = ва́ше
Stem is váš+, 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

32. Adjectives 7 7 7 5 7 7 Masculine Neuter Feminine Plural (all genders
Regular
но́вый
но́вое
но́вая
но́вые
7-letter rule
ру́сский
ру́сское
ру́сская
ру́сские
7- and 5-letter rule
хоро́ший
хоро́шее
хоро́шая
хоро́шие
end stress
большо́й
большо́е
больша́я
больши́е
naturally soft
си́ний
си́нее
си́няя
си́ние 7 7 7 5 7
stress 7
си́ний has a soft stem, so all endings are soft

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

34. 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)

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

36. 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)