5 Common Mistakes in Russian

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1. Не. / n'e / or / n'i /?

Mistake:


не чита́ю
не люблю́
не он
не она́

I often hear students read "не" separately from the word and pronounce it as "nje" or "n'e". It's a mistake.

Explanation:

The particle "не" is always unstressed and is always read together with the following word making one phonetic word.

Correct usage:


не чита́ю / n'ichitAju /
не люблю́ / n'il'ubl'U /
не он / n'iOn /
не она́ / n'ianA /



Exceptions:

\
не́ был / n'Ebɨl /
не была́ / nibɨlA /*
не́ было / n'Ebɨla /

не́ были / n'Ebɨli /

*не была́ " is not an exception, it follows the general rule.


2. Unstressed "о".


Mistake:


молоко́ / molokO /
под столо́м / potstolOm /
дожди́ /dozhd'I /


Explanation:

Vowels can be either stressed or unstressed. The unstressed vowels undergo the reduction effects. One of the most important quality reduction effects is called "А́канье": Unstressed letter "о" should be read as / а /.

Correct usage:


молоко́ / malakO / \
под столо́м / patstalOm /*
дождь / dOsht' /

But : \
дожди́ / dazhd'I /


*The preposition "под" (as the overwhelming majority of prepositions) gets connected to the following word and makes one phonetic word. Consequently (considering the fact that there can be only one stress in a word) "под" is unstressed and we apply "Аканье effect". And / д / becomes / т / because of the following unvoiced "c".

3. Потому́ что.


Mistake:


Потому́ что он не позвони́л мне, я забы́ла купи́ть о́вощи.

Explanation:


The conjunction "потому́ что" cannot begin the sentence.

Correct usage:


Я забы́ла купи́ть о́вощи, потому́ что он не позвони́л мне.
Так как он не позвони́л мне, я забы́ла купи́ть о́вощи.

4. Вчера́, Все, Всё, Всегда́, Вто́рник, etc.


Mistake:


Вчера́ / vichirA /
Все / vis'E /
Всё / vis'O /
Всегда́ / vsigdA /
Вто́рник / vtOrnik


Explanation:


When we have a cluster of consonants, the following consonant influences the preceding. If the following consonant is unvoiced, it makes the preceding consonant unvoiced too. Consequently we should pronounce the letter "в" in the given words as / ф /.\
When students don't know this rule, they pronounce this letter as / v / or often with an additional aftersound / vi / which is wrong and confuses the meaning. For example, when you say вчера́ as / vichirA / it sounds like "вечера́".

Correct usage:


Вчера́ / fchirA /
Все / fs'E /
Всё / fs'O /
Всегда́ / fsigdA /
Вто́рник / ftOrnik /



5. "Пробле́м" или "Пробле́ма"


The English expression "No problem!" should be translated to Russian as "Нет пробле́м!"

Mistake:


У меня́ пробле́м с компью́тером.

Explanation:


The reason why students are often confused about this word is very simple. In the English expression "no problem", the word "problem" is in singular form, but in Russian - "нет проблем", it is the Genitive Case Plural form of the word "проблема", which is feminine.

Correct usage:


У меня́ пробле́ма с компью́тером.

У нас была́ пробле́ма с компью́тером.

У неё бы́ли пробле́мы с компью́тером.
Она реша́ла свои́ пробле́мы с компью́тером, а я реши́л, что лу́чше пойти́ погуля́ть.


-До́ктор, у меня́ температу́ра! Что мне де́лать?
-Вы чита́ли дре́вних фило́софов? Причи́ны пробле́м ну́жно иска́ть в себе́!

-Маши́на не е́дет.
-В чём пробле́ма?
-Дви́гатель в поря́дке... Тогда́, наве́рное, пробле́ма в аккумуля́торе.

Я хочу́ купи́ть ры́бу. Но пробле́ма в том, что моя́ жена́ забы́ла кошелёк до́ма, а у меня́ кошелька́ нет.

-Я хочу́ прие́хать на конфере́нцию.
-Тогда́ в чём пробле́ма?
-Пробле́ма состои́т в том, что после́дний рейс в Рим уже́ улете́л.
-Мужчи́на, Вы уже в Риме!
-Ой! Тогда́ у меня́ серьёзные пробле́мы с па́мятью!

Thanks for reading!😉
30 ottobre 2018
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Евгений (Eugene) Guzanov

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Hello! I'm a professional certified teacher of Russian with 6 years of professional teaching experience and 6000+ online lessons taught. I offer you both my expertise and my passion for the language! Whether beginner or advanced, you will learn new things about Russian from day one! MY LESSONS DURATION AND HOMEWORK: Trial lesson: 30 minutes Usual lesson: 55 minutes I check homework assignments with you in class. RESCHEDULING & CANCELLATION: Rescheduling or cancellation with 100% refund is possible if there is more than 12 hours before the lesson time begins when you send the request. Due to the tight schedule I encourage students to avoid last minute rescheduling and ask students to reschedule at least 1 week in advance, if possible. If a student reschedules last minute (less than 24 hours before the class) more often than 1 lesson per 10 lessons, I may ask the student not to book in advance, so the student is sure that he/she can come to the lesson, I may also cancel the packag...
Flag
Russo
globe
Russia
time
525
Parla:
Russo
Madrelingua
,
Inglese
C2
,
Francese
A1
,
Persiano
Hello! I'm a professional certified teacher of Russian with 6 years of professional teaching experience and 6000+ online lessons taught. I offer you both my expertise and my passion for the language! Whether beginner or advanced, you will learn new things about Russian from day one! MY LESSONS DURATION AND HOMEWORK: Trial lesson: 30 minutes Usual lesson: 55 minutes I check homework assignments with you in class. RESCHEDULING & CANCELLATION: Rescheduling or cancellation with 100% refund is possible if there is more than 12 hours before the lesson time begins when you send the request. Due to the tight schedule I encourage students to avoid last minute rescheduling and ask students to reschedule at least 1 week in advance, if possible. If a student reschedules last minute (less than 24 hours before the class) more often than 1 lesson per 10 lessons, I may ask the student not to book in advance, so the student is sure that he/she can come to the lesson, I may also cancel the packag...
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