Maharashtra SSC Russian (MSBSHSE) flashcards

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

Именительный падеж

The nominative case answers кто? что? and is the dictionary form of a noun; it marks the subject of a sentence and the nominal predicate after быть in the past and future.

Родительный падеж

The genitive case answers кого? чего? It marks possession, absence (нет кого/чего), quantity after два/пять, and is governed by prepositions из, с, от, без, для, у.

Дательный падеж

The dative case answers кому? чему? It marks the indirect object or recipient and is required by verbs помогать, нравиться, звонить and prepositions к and по.

Винительный падеж

The accusative case answers кого? что? It marks the direct object; for masculine inanimate nouns it equals the nominative, while animate nouns and all feminine -а nouns change form.

Творительный падеж

The instrumental case answers кем? чем? It marks the instrument or means of an action, the agent after passive verbs, and is governed by the preposition с meaning 'together with'.

Предложный падеж

The prepositional case answers о ком? о чём? It is used only after prepositions (о/об, в, на, при) and marks location or topic of speech and thought.

Несовершенный вид

The imperfective aspect (делать, читать) presents an action as a process, a repeated habit or a simultaneous action; it has present, past and compound future forms.

Совершенный вид

The perfective aspect (сделать, прочитать) presents an action as a single completed result; it has no present tense, and its future uses present-tense endings (сделаю).

Second conjugation verbs

Verbs in -ить (except брить, стелить) and eleven exceptions (смотреть, видеть, слышать, гнать, держать, дышать, ненавидеть, обидеть, терпеть, вертеть, зависеть) take endings -ишь, -ит, -им, -ите, -ат/-ят.

два стола, пять столов

After два/три/четыре the noun is genitive singular (два стола), but after пять and higher numbers it is genitive plural (пять столов); this rule applies to all counted nouns.

Prepositional в versus accusative в

With в/на, location answers где? and takes the prepositional case (в школе), while direction answers куда? and takes the accusative (в школу); the same contrast holds for на.

Short adjectives

Short forms (красив, красива, красиво, красивы) function as predicates and agree in gender and number; they express a temporary state or an evaluation rather than a permanent attribute.

Reflexive verbs -ся

The postfix -ся marks reflexivity or intransitivity: мыться (wash oneself), встречаться (meet each other), учиться (study); it never appears after a preposition or at the start of a clause.

Imperative formation

The imperative uses -й after vowels (читай), -и after a stressed stem or consonant cluster (говори, пиши), and -ь after a soft stem (сядь); add -те for the polite or plural form.

Skimming for gist

Read the first and last sentences of each paragraph to identify the topic and the author's purpose before answering detail questions; this reduces time spent re-reading the whole passage.

Scanning for details

Move the eyes quickly over the text looking only for a name, date, number or key word from the question; stop when found and read that sentence fully to confirm the context.

Negation cues in passages

Words не, ни, никогда, никто, ничего and prefixes недо- reverse the meaning of a sentence; marking them prevents choosing an option that states the opposite of the text.

Inference versus fact

A factual question is answered by a sentence in the passage; an inference question requires a conclusion that follows from it. Options adding outside information are wrong for both types.

Time markers in narrative

Words сначала, затем, после этого, вдруг, наконец and через год order the events of a passage; they are the key to sequence questions and to retelling the text correctly.

Main idea versus title

The main idea is the central claim the whole passage supports; a good title is broad enough to cover every paragraph but not so broad that it could fit an unrelated text.

Formal letter opening

Begin with Уважаемый/Уважаемая plus name and patronymic, followed by a comma and an exclamation mark; use вы and the plural verb form throughout to keep a formal register.

Informal letter structure

A letter to a friend opens with привет or дорогой друг, thanks for the previous letter, answers the friend's questions, asks questions back, and closes with До свидания and the writer's name.

Essay argument structure

State the thesis, support it with two or three arguments and examples, acknowledge an opposing view with с одной стороны… с другой стороны, and end with a restated conclusion.

Direct speech punctuation

Russian uses « » for quotations: «П», - а. when the author's words follow, and А: «П». when they precede; a comma or colon separates them according to order.

Cohesion in writing

Link sentences with pronouns (он, это), conjunctions (потому что, однако, кроме того) and adverbs (затем, наконец); avoid repeating the same noun in consecutive sentences.

Task fulfilment checklist

Before writing, list the required elements (number of questions to answer or ask, word limit, format) and tick each one after drafting; missing an element costs more than a grammar error.

Aspect in translation

Marathi continuous or habitual actions translate as imperfective Russian verbs, a single completed action as perfective, and repeated past actions as imperfective past (читал).

No articles in Russian

Russian lacks articles; definiteness may be shown by этот/тот or word order, indefiniteness by один or the genitive after нет, so the translator must infer from context.

Copula omission

In present-tense Russian sentences the verb 'to be' is omitted: Он студент, Мумбаи - большой город; only existential sentences use есть, and absence uses нет plus the genitive.

Transliterating names

Personal and place names are rendered by established convention (Мумбаи, Пуна, Махараштра), while famous names have fixed Russian equivalents (Москва, Индия); check a dictionary rather than transliterating freely.

Fable and its мораль

A басня is a short allegorical narrative whose мораль, a stated lesson, appears at the beginning or end; animals stand for human traits, such as лиса for cunning and волк for cruelty.

Lyrical speaker

In a poem the lyrical speaker (лирический герой) is the voice constructed by the author and is not automatically identical with the poet's biography; questions on mood refer to this speaker.