Many languages like to stuff bits and pieces together to create new words.
The upside is that you don’t have to come up with a thousand sounds (first rule of humanity, and any other life form, is: we’re all lazy af, and will do anything to preserve energy).
The downsides?
1) Some languages can get carried away and end up with 23-syllable words (*coughs* German *coughs*) -
- and 2) when you’re learning a language that’s not - or distantly - related to your own, you can’t make sense of those bits and pieces and it all becomes ten times more complicated.
My specific problem rn is that I’m not familiar with Russian word formation, so every time a word’s longer than five letters I start to panic. I finally decided to fight back by making a list of common prefixes and suffixes - the next step is keep learning more words so I have more root knowledge and hopefully can put things together without having a seizure every time.
Anyway, I’m sharing this in case it’s useful for someone else out there.
PREFIXES
Examples:
возрожде́ние = re + birth + idea suffix = rebirth
надсмо́трщик = above + look + job suffix = warden
обезгла́вить = without + head “ verb suffix = to behead
SUFFIXES
Examples:
гитарист = guitar + job suffix = guitarist
австриец = Austria + nationality suffix = Austrian
движение = move + idea suffix = movement
Vocabulary can be the hardest thing about learning a language, but remember there’s mostly a logical reason behind everything. For some learners, unlocking that reason is a trick to make quicker progress, so if it works for you, go for it!
Description:Austro-Hungarian war captives pose with their Russian camp guards for a photograph in front of their wooden barrack at a prisoner of war camp in Kyappesel’ga, Russia. The prisoners are flanked on the left by two Russian soldiers, one of whom is shouldering a rifle, and on the right by a gendarme in a black uniform.
Speakers or learners of either language often find that some words look similar in both languages. However, there are several words that are false friends in Ukrainian for those familiar with Russian. Here are ten of them.
1. містоmistaken for место
місто (city) in Ukrainian is город in Russian.
место (place) in Russian is місце in Ukrainian.
2.неділя mistaken for неделя
неділя (Sunday) in Ukrainian is воскресенье in Russian.
неделя (week) in Russian is тиждень in Ukrainian.
3. гарбуз mistaken for арбуз
гарбуз (pumpkin) in Ukrainian is тыква in Russian.
арбуз (watermelon) in Russian is кавун in Ukrainian.
4.часmistakenforчас
час (time) in Ukrainian is время in Russian.
час(hour) in Russian is година in Ukrainian.
5. чоловік mistaken for человек
чоловік (husband) in Ukrainian is муж in Russian.
человек (man, human) in Russian is людина in Ukrainian.
6.жінкаmistaken for жена
жінка (woman) in Ukrainian is женщина in Russian.
жена (wife) in Russian is дружина in Ukrainian.
7. онmistaken forон
он (there) in Ukrainian is вон in Russian.
он (he) in Russian is вiн in Ukrainian.
8. кітmistaken for кит
кіт (cat) in Ukrainian is кот in Russian.
кит (whale) in Russian is кит in Ukrainian.
9.їх mistaken for их(in certain cases)
їх (them) in Ukrainian is их in Russian when referring to the declension of вони.
их (their) in Russian is їхній in Ukrainian when referring to possession. There is a Russian word that isn’t used as much, ихний, that corresponds to this.
10.листопадmistaken for листопад
листопад (November) in Ukrainian is ноябрь in Russian.
листопад (defoliation) in Russian is листопад in Ukrainian.
There are more false friends, but I wanted to keep this list short. Feel free to add more if you speak both languages :)
Kolchak’s cavalry charging a Bolshevik defensive position; from the TV series Admiral (an “extended” version of the 2008 movie spread out across 10 episodes).
Hello fellow Russian learners! I’m a beginner (I’ve been learning for about 4 months) and I found the case system really hard at first. But I found that making flow diagrams has really helped me remember the case endings and I thought that other newbies might also find it helpful :)
PS I know that genitive is spelled wrong in the picture…
