Maharashtra HSC Russian (MSBSHSE) flashcards

33 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Именительный падеж

The nominative case: the dictionary form of a noun, used for the subject of a sentence and after the verb 'to be' in the present. Answers кто? что?

Родительный падеж

The genitive case, answering кого? чего?. It marks possession, absence (нет + genitive), quantities after 2–4 and 5+, and follows prepositions such as без, из, у, от.

Предложный падеж

The prepositional case, used only after prepositions such as в, на, о, при. It typically ends in -е (в школе, о книге) and answers где? о ком? о чём?.

Imperfective aspect

A verb form describing an ongoing, repeated or unfinished action (читать, писать). Its future is compound with быть: буду читать. It pairs with perfective verbs like прочитать.

Perfective aspect

A verb form presenting an action as a single completed whole with a result (прочитать, написать). It has no present tense; its future looks like a present-tense form.

Second conjugation

Verb class with endings -у/-ю, -ишь, -ит, -им, -ите, -ат/-ят, e.g. говорить → говорю, говоришь, говорит. Most verbs in -ить belong here, plus exceptions like смотреть and слышать.

Verbs of motion идти/ходить

Идти describes one-direction movement on foot happening now; ходить describes repeated or round-trip walking. Vehicles use ехать and ездить with the same contrast.

Past tense formation

Take the infinitive stem and add -л, then mark gender or number: читал, читала, читало, читали. Verbs in -чь and a few others behave irregularly, e.g. мочь → мог.

Short-form adjectives

Predicate adjectives agreeing in gender and number: он болен, она больна, оно больно, они больны. They state a temporary or current condition rather than a permanent attribute.

False friend магазин

Russian магазин means 'shop, store', not 'magazine'. The English 'magazine' is журнал. Similar traps include аккуратный ('neat') and симпатичный ('likeable').

Ни пуха ни пера

An idiom meaning 'good luck', literally 'neither fluff nor feather'. The traditional joking reply is к чёрту! ('to the devil!'). Used before exams or any important undertaking.

Как рыба в воде

An idiom meaning 'in one's element, completely at ease', literally 'like a fish in water'. It describes someone comfortable in a particular situation or activity.

Бить баклуши

An idiom meaning 'to idle, to do nothing useful'. It is colloquial and usually negative, as in он целый день бьёт баклуши ('he idles all day').

У меня есть

The standard way to say 'I have': у + genitive person + есть + nominative object. For absence Russian uses у меня нет + genitive, meaning 'I don't have'.

No present 'to be'

Russian omits the present tense of 'to be': он студент means 'he is a student'. In the past a dash becomes был, была, было or были, agreeing with the subject.

Russian articles

Russian has no articles, so книга can mean 'a book' or 'the book'. Definiteness is shown by context, word order, or demonstratives like эта and тот.

Reflexive suffix -ся

A verb ending that often corresponds to English passive or intransitive meaning: дом строится ('the house is being built'), открывается ('it opens'). It also marks true reflexives like мыться.

Уважаемый + name

The standard formal letter opening, meaning 'Dear…'. It agrees with the addressee: Уважаемый Иван Иванович, Уважаемая Анна Петровна, Уважаемые коллеги.

С уважением

The standard formal letter closing, meaning 'Yours respectfully' or 'Sincerely'. It is followed by a comma and the writer's name on the next line.

Composition conclusion markers

Phrases that open the final paragraph of an essay: таким образом ('thus'), итак ('so'), в заключение ('in conclusion'). They signal that the argument is being summarised.

Ты versus вы

Russian distinguishes informal singular ты (friends, peers, family) from вы (strangers, elders, officials, and any plural). Verbs, pronouns and possessives must agree with the chosen form.

Объявление structure

A short announcement gives what is happening, where, when and for whom: дата, время, место, адресат. Each item is usually a separate line with a colon.

Pushkin: Евгений Онегин

Alexander Pushkin's novel in verse, written 1823–1831, tracing Onegin, Lensky and Tatyana. It is a founding work of modern Russian literary language and a staple of the syllabus.

Lermontov: Герой нашего времени

Mikhail Lermontov's 1840 novel, one of the first Russian psychological novels, built from five linked stories about Pechorin. It follows Pushkin's death and the poem Смерть поэта.

Gogol: Ревизор

Nikolai Gogol's 1836 comedy about a clerk mistaken for a government inspector in a corrupt provincial town. It satirises bureaucracy and is a standard set text.

Tolstoy and Dostoevsky

Tolstoy (1828–1910) wrote Война и мир and Анна Каренина; Dostoevsky (1821–1881) wrote Преступление и наказание and Братья Карамазовы. Both dominate the nineteenth-century novel.

Chekhov's short stories

Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) wrote brief stories such as Хамелеон and Смерть чиновника and plays including Вишнёвый сад. His style is concise, ironic and socially observant.

Russian name structure

A full Russian name has three parts: имя (first name), отчество (patronymic from the father's name) and фамилия (surname). From Иван come Иванович for a son and Ивановна for a daughter.

Russian stress is lexical

Stress is not fixed and can change meaning: мука ('flour') versus мука ('torment'), замок ('castle') versus замок ('lock'). Dictionaries mark it, and learners must memorise it per word.

Vowel reduction in Russian

Unstressed о is pronounced like [a] (молоко → [məlako]), and unstressed е and я reduce towards [i]. This is why spelling and sound diverge in listening tasks.

Final devoicing

Voiced consonants at the end of a word are pronounced voiceless: друг → [druk], хлеб → [хлеп]. The same happens before a voiceless consonant in clusters.

ИК-3 intonation

The rising-falling contour used in yes/no questions without a question word, e.g. Ты студент? The rise falls on the stressed syllable of the key word.

Reading for gist

Identify the topic and the key nouns, verbs and numbers before translating every word. Russian flexible word order means the final position often carries the new information.