Lesson 6.1

Что это ? Это книга.

Lesson 6.1 : The interrogative pronoun что / The verb « to be » / Articles in Russian / Noun genders / The vowel Е (pronunciation)

1. The interrogative pronoun что
2. The verb « to be » in Russian
3. Articles in Russian
4. The grammatical gender of Russian nouns
5. How to pronounce the vowel E if it is not stressed

The interrogative pronoun что

Что is an interrogative pronoun meaning « what ? ». Here the letter ч is pronounced « sh ».

Example :

Что это ?

Это can be translated as « It (is) », « This (is) » or « That (is) ».

Что это ? (What – it ?) – What is it ? / What is this/that ?

The verb « to be » in Russian

In Russian, the verb « to be » is omitted in the present tense.

Example :

Это (-) книга. (It – verb « to be » omitted – book) – It is a book. / This is a book.

Articles in Russian

In Russian, there are :

-no definite articles : the

-no indefinite articles : a, an

-and no partitive articles : some, any. 

Therefore, « книга » can be translated as « a book » or « the book » in English, depending on the context.

The grammatical gender of Russian nouns

In English, nouns have no gender : for example, « book » is neither a feminine noun nor a masculine noun. In contrast, Russian nouns have genders : there are masculine nouns, feminine nouns and neuter nouns . Most of the time, the ending of a word can help you determine the gender of a noun. For now, remember the following :

1. The vast majority of feminine nouns end in -a. Example : книга (kniga) – book.
2. Nouns that end in a consonant are masculine. Example : стол (stol) – table.
3. If a noun ends in -o, it is neuter.

Examples :

Пальто (pal’to) – coat

Окнo (akno) – window

Вино (vino) – wine

How to pronounce the vowel E if it is not stressed

If the vowel e is not stressed, and if it is neither the first nor the last letter of the word, it is pronounced “и”.

Examples :

Aдрес (adris) – address

Метро (mitro) – metro /underground / subway