Accusative

In Russian, the case used to express the direct object of a transitive verb; also, the case used after certain prepositions.

Active

In an active clause, the subject of the verb performs the action, e.g. ‘Sam (subject) identified (verb) the suspect’ (as opposed to the passive construction ‘the suspect was identified by Sam’, where the suspect is the subject but is not doing the identifying). Cf. Passive.

Adjectival noun

An adjective that functions as a noun, e.g. ‘the empties’ (= empty bottles), ‘mobile’ (= mobile phone), ‘the Greens’ (= environmentalists), Russian сmолóвая ‘dining room’, морóженое ‘ice cream’.

Adjective

A word that describes a noun or pronoun, giving information about its shape, colour, size, etc., e.g. triangular, red, large, beautiful in ‘a triangular sign’, ‘the red dress’, ‘it is large’, ‘they are beautiful’.

Adverb

A word expressing the manner, frequency, time, place, or extent of an action, e.g. slowly and often in ‘Sue walked slowly’, ‘He often stumbled’. Adverbs can also modify clauses, e.g. ‘Sue probably went home’, adjectives, e.g. ‘Sue is very tall’, and other adverbs, e.g. ‘Sue left extremely early’.

Affirmative

An affirmative sentence or clause is a positive statement that explicitly asserts a state of affairs, e.g. The taxi is waiting. Cf. Negative.

Agree

Words are said to agree when they are put in the correct form in relation to another word. In Standard English and in Russian, a singular noun or pronoun has to have a singular verb, e.g. ‘he goes’ (Russian он uдёm), and a plural noun or pronoun has to have a plural verb, e.g. ‘they go’ (Russian онú uдým). Demonstratives also agree in number with the nouns they modify, e.g. ‘this table’ (Russian э́mоm сmол), ‘these tables’ (Russian э́mu сmолы́). In Russian, adjectives, pronouns, and most declined numerals are in the same case as the noun they modify, and adjectives, nouns, and verbs have the same gender and number.

Animate accusative rule

A convention in Russian, whereby in some contexts the form of the accusative is identical with that of the genitive case. This applies (a) to masculine singular animate nouns: Я вúжy мáльчuка ‘I see the boy’, (b) to all plural animate nouns: Я вúжy мáльчuков/ дéвочек/жuвómныx ‘I see the boys/girls/animals’, (c) to pronouns, adjectives, and participles that agree with the nouns listed under (a) and (b): Я знáю э́mux нóвыx yчumелéй ‘I know these new teachers’, and (d) to the numerals одúн/однá/однó/ однú, два/две, mрu, чеmы́ ре, and to óба/óбе (also all the collective numerals): Онá nрuгласúла mрёx nодрýг ‘She invited three friends’, Он смоmрéл на обóux брámьев ‘He was looking at both brothers’.

Animate noun

A noun denoting a living being, e.g. captain, elephant (Russian каnumáн, слон).

Antecedent

An earlier word, phrase, or clause to which another word (especially a following relative pronoun) refers back, e.g. ‘The man (whom) I know’ (Russian Человéк, котóрого я знáю).

Article

see Definite article, Indefinite article.

Aspect

A grammatical category of the verb that expresses the nature of an action or process, viewing it either as continuous or habitual (imperfective aspect), or as completed (perfective aspect). Cf. Submeanings of the aspect.

Attributive adjective

An adjective placed in front of the noun it modifies, e.g. empty in ‘the empty house’ (Russian nустóй дoм). Cf. Predicative adjective.

Auxiliary verb

In English, a verb which functions together with another verb to form a particular tense of the other verb, or to form the passive, a question, a negative, or an imperative. In Russian, the future of the verb быть ‘to be’ combines, as an auxiliary verb, with the infinitive of imperfective verbs to form the future of those verbs, e.g. Я бу́ду рабóтать ‘I will work’, while the past and future tenses and the conditional mood of быть combine with the short forms of perfective passive participles to express past, future, and conditional meanings, e.g. oн был назнáчен ‘he was appointed’, oн бу́дет назнáчен ‘he will be appointed’, oн был бы назнáчен ‘he would be (or would have been) appointed’.

Case

In Russian, the form of a noun, pronoun, adjective, or numeral that shows its function within the clause (e.g. whether it is the subject or object). Russian has six cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, instrumental, and prepositional).

Clause

A sentence, or part of a sentence, consisting of a subject and a verb, e.g. Mike snores, or a structure containing participles or infinitives (with no subject), e.g. ‘While waiting for a bus, I fell asleep’ or ‘I asked her to call a taxi’.

Collective

A term applied to nouns that denote a group of beings or objects, e.g. herd (Russian стáдo), clientele (Russian клиенту́ра), luggage (Russian багáж). In Russian, there are also collective numerals (for the numbers from two to ten), which denote a group of individuals, e.g. двóе (‘two’), трóе (‘three’), дéсятерo (‘ten’), or combine with plural-only nouns.

Comparative

The form of an adjective or adverb used when comparing one thing with another, to express a greater degree of a quality, e.g. cheaper, more expensive, more accurately in ‘this book is cheaper’, ‘a more expensive holiday ’, ‘he described it more accurately’. Cf. Superlative.

Compound

A word or phrase created by putting two or more existing forms together. In English and Russian, compounds are sometimes written as one word, sometimes as two, and sometimes hyphenated, e.g. motorway (Russian автoстрáда), good-humoured (Russian дoбрoду́шный), drawing board (Russian чертёжная дoскá), bow tie (Russian гáлстук-бáбoчка).

Conditional

A verb form which expresses what would happen, or would have happened, if something else (had) occurred. English normally uses if with a form of the auxiliary verb would to express this notion: If I won the lottery I would buy a car (or If I had won… I would have bought…). Russian uses the particle бы: Я пoéхал бы, éсли бы бы́лo врéмя ‘I would have gone if there had been time’.

Conjugate

To list the different forms or inflections of a verb as they vary according to tense, number, person, or voice, e.g. the verb ‘to read’ is conjugated in the present tense as follows: (I) read, (you) read, (he/she/it) reads, (we) read, (you) read, (they) read. Cf. the equivalent Russian conjugation of читáть: (я) читáю, (ты) читáешь, (он/онá/онó) читáет, (мы) читáем, (вы) читáете, (они́) читáют.

Conjugation

In inflected languages, a class to which a verb is assigned according to how it is conjugated. In Russian, читáть belongs to the first (or -е-) conjugation and гoвoрúть belongs to the second (or -и-) conjugation.

Conjunction

A word whose function is to join single words, clauses, or phrases. Coordinating conjunctions (notably and and or) join words, clauses, or phrases, e.g. ‘John and Mary’, ‘I’ll go to the cinema or meet my friend for dinner’. Subordinating conjunctions (e.g. that, because, while) join clauses, e.g. ‘I think that he is wrong’, ‘They left because it was late’, ‘I’ll push while you lift’. Correlative conjunctions consist of words corresponding to each other and regularly used together, e.g. both … and, either … or.

Consonant

A speech sound that is produced with some restriction on the flow of air, e.g. b, ch, r. It can be combined with a vowel to form a syllable.

Consonant mutation

The change in a consonant when it occurs adjacent to another sound.

Continuous

A verb form indicating that an action or process is or was ongoing, e.g. ‘He is waiting’, ‘She was laughing’. Also known as progressive.

Dative

In Russian, the case used to express the indirect object of a verb; also, the case used after certain prepositions and certain verbs.

Declension

In inflected languages, the class to which a noun is assigned according to how it is declined. Russian has three declensions. The first affects masculine nouns (except for those ending in -а or -я) and neuter nouns, the second feminine nouns (except for those ending in a soft sign), and the third feminine soft-sign nouns.

Decline

To list the different forms or inflections of a noun, adjective, pronoun, or numeral as they vary according to case. In English, only pronouns can really be said to decline, e.g. he, him.

Definite article

In English, the word the, which introduces a noun phrase and implies that the thing mentioned has already been mentioned or is common knowledge, e.g. ‘the book on the table’. Russian has no definite article, but achieves the same effect through word order (with the thing which has already been mentioned in first position in the sentence, e.g. Кни́га на столé ‘The book is on the table’), or by using words such as э́тoт ‘this’. Cf. Indefinite article.

Delimitation

A process by which the meaning of an adjective is limited to a particular sphere, e.g. Странá богáта лéсoм ‘The country is rich in forest’.

Demonstrative

A word indicating the person or thing referred to, e.g. this, that, these, those in ‘this book’ (Russian э́та кни́га), ‘that house’ (Russian тoт дом), ‘these books’ (Russian э́ти кни́ ги), ‘those people’ (Russian те лю́ ди).

Direct object

A word or phrase governed by a verb, e.g. dogs in ‘She loves dogs’ (Russian Онá лю́ бит сoбáк). In an active sentence, the person or thing affected by the action is the direct object. In Russian, the direct object is usually expressed by the accusative case. Cf. Indirect object.

Direct speech

In direct speech, the speaker’s words or thoughts are presented unchanged, using quotation marks, e.g. ‘‘‘The shops are still open,’’ said Jill’. Russian uses « » (known as guillemets) to show direct speech. Cf. Indirect speech.

Emphatic pronoun

The pronouns myself, himself, themselves, etc., used for emphasis or to personalize, e.g. ‘I did it myself ’. Russian uses сам: Я сам сдéлал э́то.

Ending

A letter or letters added to the stem of a word when it is declined or conjugated, e.g. (in English) dogs, laughed, (in Russian) водá ‘water’, на столé ‘on the table’, зелёными (instrumental plural) ‘green’, пишу́ ‘I write’, писáла ‘she was writing’).

Feminine

see Gender.

Finite

A verb form which has a specific tense, number, and person, e.g. rings in ‘She rings the doctor’ (Russian Онá звoнúт врачу́). Here, rings/звoнúт is the third-person singular present tense of the verb to ring/звoнúть.A clause with a finite verb is called a finite clause. Cf. Non-finite.

Fleeting vowel

A vowel (е, ё, or o) that appears in some forms of a Russian word, but not in others, e.g. е in бóлен (masculine short form of бoльнóй ‘sick’), ё in сестёр (genitive plural of сестрá ‘sister’), o in сoн ‘sleep’ (genitive singular сна), разoбью́ (first-person singular of разбúть ‘to smash’).

Future

The future tense is used when the time of the event described has not yet happened. English uses the auxiliary verbs shall and will, the present continuous, and going to,to express this notion: ‘I shall meet you in the restaurant’, ‘They will be pleased’, ‘We’re leaving at six’, ‘I’m going to buy a new car’. To express imperfective future meaning, Russian uses the future tense of быть + imperfective infinitive, e.g. Я бу́ду рабóтать, ‘I shall work’ or ‘I shall be working’. To express perfective future meaning, Russian uses conjugated forms of the perfective verb, e.g. Я сnpoшу́ ‘I shall ask’. Cf. Aspect.

Gender

In some languages, nouns and pronouns are divided into grammatical classes called genders. The gender of a noun or pronoun can affect the form of words such as verbs or adjectives that accompany them and may need to agree with them in gender. Russian has three genders, masculine, feminine, and neuter. The gender of a Russian noun can usually be identified from its ending: nouns ending in a consonant or -й are masculine (e.g. стул ‘chair’, кpай ‘edge’); most nouns ending in -а or -я are feminine (e.g. я́мa ‘hole’, шéя ‘neck’), and nouns ending in -o or -е are neuter (e.g. oкнó ‘window’, мópе ‘sea’). Gender in Russian applies in the singular only. Plural nouns and pronouns do not exhibit gender.

Genitive

In Russian, the case used to express possession; also, the case used after most cardinal numerals and after indefinite numerals, certain prepositions, and certain verbs.

Gerund

In English, a verb form in -ing that functions like a noun, e.g. running in ‘She loves running’ (cf. the Russian use of the infinitive in this meaning: Онá лю ́ бит бéгать). By contrast, the Russian gerund is a verbal adverb that replaces a clause. The imperfective gerund usually ends in -я (e.g. Он cтои́т, куpя́ ‘He stands, smoking’), the perfective in -в (e.g. Пoу́жинав, он встал ‘Having dined, he got up’).

Govern

A word requiring a noun or pronoun to be in a particular case is said to govern the noun or pronoun (e.g. the Russian verb владéть ‘to own’ governs the instrumental case, and the preposition чépез ‘across’ governs the accusative case).

Hard consonant

A consonant that appears at the end of a word (e.g. final -т in нет ‘no’), or is followed by а, ы, o, у,or (rarely) э (e.g. г and т in газéта ‘newspaper’, н in чёpный ‘black’, л and в in слóвo ‘word’, д and м in ду́ма ‘duma’). Exceptions are the consonants ч and щ which are always soft even if at the end of a word or followed by the above-listed vowels, and ж, ц, and ш which are always hard (do not confuse the consonant ж which is always hard with the double ж (or /жьжь/) as in the word вожжи which is always soft). Cf. Soft consonant.

Historic present

Use of the present tense in order to make the description of a past event more vivid, e.g. ‘Suddenly he breaks into a run’.

Imperative

The form of the verb used to express a command, e.g. come in ‘Come here!’

Imperfective

see Aspect.

Impersonal construction

A construction in which an action or state does not involve a specific person or thing as the grammatical subject, e.g. Cтемнéлo ‘It grew dark’, Kак тебя́ зoву́т? ‘What is your name?’

Inanimate noun

A noun denoting a non-living thing, e.g. hall, happiness (Russian зал, счáстье).

Indeclinable

A term applied to a noun, pronoun, or adjective that has no inflections. In English, the pronoun you is indeclinable (whereas I, he, she, and they change to me, him, her, and them in the object case, e.g. the dog bit me/you/him/her/them). In Russian, many loanwords are indeclinable (e.g. таксú ‘taxi’, беж adj. ‘beige’), as are the possessive pronouns егó, ‘his/its’, её ‘her(s)/its’, иx ‘their(s)’.

Indefinite adverb

An adverb that does not refer to any place, time, manner, etc. in particular, e.g. somewhere, sometime, somehow (Russian гдé-тo, кoгдá-тo, кáк-тo).

Indefinite article

In English, the word a/an, which introduces a noun phrase and implies that the thing mentioned is non-specific, e.g. ‘she bought a book’. Russian has no indefinite article, but achieves the same effect through word order (with an object mentioned for the first time appearing at the end of the sentence, e.g. Hа столé лежи́т кápтa ‘A map is lying on the table’). Cf. Definite article.

Indefinite numeral

In Russian, a numeral that denotes an indefinite quantity, e.g. мнóгo ‘much, many’, нéскoлькo ‘several’.

Indefinite pronoun

A pronoun that does not refer to any person or thing in particular, e.g. someone (Russian ктó-тo), something (Russian чтó-тo), anyone (Russian ктó-нибудь), anything (Russian чтó-нибудь).

Indicative

The form of a verb used to express a simple statement of fact, when an event is considered to be definitely taking place or to have taken place, e.g. ‘He is asleep’ (Russian Он сnит), ‘He fell asleep’ (Russian Он засну́л). Cf. Subjunctive.

Indirect object

A word or phrase referring to the person who receives the direct object, e.g. the driver in the sentences ‘She gave the ticket to the driver’ or ‘She gave the driver the ticket’. In Russian, the indirect object is usually expressed by the dative case, e.g. Онá подари́ла часы́ сы́ ну ‘She gave the watch to her son’. Cf. Direct object.

Indirect speech

In indirect speech, the speaker’s words or thoughts are reported in a subordinate clause using a reporting verb. In English a change of tense and person is needed, e.g. ‘He said ‘‘I want a drink’’’ (direct speech) becomes ‘He said he wanted a drink’. In Russian, only the person changes, not the tense, e.g. Он сказáл: «Я гóлoден» ‘He said ‘‘I’m hungry’’’ becomes Он сказáл, что oн гóлoден ‘He said that he was hungry’.

Infinitive

The basic form of the verb, e.g. laugh, damage, be. It is not bound to a particular subject or tense and in English is often preceded by to or by another verb, e.g. ‘I want to see her’, ‘She came to see me’, ‘Let me see’. Russian infinitives end in -ть,-ти, or -чь (e.g. nисáть‘to write’, вестú ‘to lead’, мoчь ‘to be able’).

Inflection

A change in the form of a word (usually the ending), to express tense, gender, number, or case, etc., e.g. the English plural ending -s in ‘cars’ or the past tense inflection -ed in ‘I visited my uncle’. Russian is a highly-inflected language in which nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and numerals decline, and verbs conjugate. Cf. Case, Conjugate, Conjugation, Declension, and Decline.

Instrumental

In Russian, the case used to express the means by which something is done; also, the case used after certain prepositions and certain verbs.

Interrogative adverb

An adverb used to ask questions, e.g. how in ‘How are you?’ (Russian Kак (вы) поживáете?) or when in ‘When will they arrive?’ (Russian Koгдá они́ приéдут?).

Interrogative pronoun

A pronoun used to ask questions, e.g. which in ‘Which do you want?’ (Russian Kакóй вы xоти́те?).

Intonation

The use of the pitch of the voice to convey meaning, e.g. Well? Did you ask her? (rising intonation) and Well! I’ve never been so insulted! (falling intonation). Different languages have different intonation patterns.

Intransitive verb

A verb not taking a direct object, e.g. slept in ‘He slept soundly’ (Russian Oн крéпко сnал), and read in ‘He can’t read’ (Russian Oн не yмéет читáть). Cf. Transitive verb.

Invariable

another term for indeclinable (when referring to nouns, adjectives, and pronouns). Adverbs and gerunds are also invariable in Russian.

Irregular verb

In English, a verb such as ‘sing’ whose inflections do not follow one of the usual conjugation patterns of the language (past sang by contrast with the usual past tense suffix -ed, e.g. walked). In Russian, the only truly irregular verbs are бежáть ‘to run’, дать ‘to give’, есть ‘to eat’, and xoтéть ‘to want’. Cf. Regular verb.

Loanword

A word borrowed from another language, e.g. Russian кóфе ‘coffee’.

Locative case

A term used as an alternative to the prepositional case to describe prepositional phrases that denote location and are introduced by в ‘in’ or на ‘on’: в дóме ‘in the house’, на стoлé ‘on the table’. Some nouns have special locative forms in stressed у, ю, or и: в лесу́ ‘in the forest’, на краю́ ‘on the edge’, на двеpú ‘on the door’.

Main clause

In a sentence with more than one clause, the clause which is not subordinate to any of the others is known as the main clause, e.g. ‘Peter stopped’ in ‘When it got too dark to see where he was going, Peter stopped’. A main clause can stand alone as a sentence. Cf. Subordinate clause.

Masculine

see Gender.

Mobile stress

A feature of some Russian words whereby the stressed syllable changes in one or more forms of the word’s declension or conjugation, etc. Stress may move from the stem onto the ending, e.g. стoл ‘table’, genitive singular стoлá; слóво ‘word’, nominative plural слoвá; nечь ‘stove’, locative singular nечú; masculine short form дóрoг ‘is dear’, feminine дopoгá; nять ‘five’, genitive nятú. It may also move from the ending onto the stem, e.g. pекá ‘river’, accusative singular péку (also pеку́ ); oкнó ‘window’, nominative plural óкна. In conjugation, stress shift occurs only from the ending onto the stem, e.g. nишу́ ‘I write’, núшет ‘he writes’.

Modify

A word or phrase modifies another word or phrase when it provides additional information about it. Modifying expressions include adjectives, e.g. slow in ‘A slow train’, and adverbs, e.g. slowly in ‘The train moved slowly’.

Negative

A negative sentence or clause asserts that something is not the case, using a negative particle, e.g. ‘The taxi is not waiting’. Similarly, a negative adverb (nowhere, never) or negative pronoun (nobody, nothing). Cf. Affirmative.

Neuter

see Gender.

Nominative

In Russian, the case used to express the subject of a clause.

Non-finite

A term applied to a verb form which has no specific tense, number, or person, e.g. waiting in ‘While waiting for a bus, Peter read the paper’. Russian uses a gerund in such contexts, e.g. Oжидáя автóбус, Пи́тер читáл газéту. Cf. Finite.

Noun

A word that identifies a person, e.g. milkman, girl, uncle, a physical object, e.g. cup, book, building, or an abstract notion, e.g. beauty, health, unpleasantness.

Noun phrase

A group of words including a noun, which functions in a sentence as subject, object, or prepositional object.

Number

A grammatical classification whereby a word is either singular or plural.

Numeral

A word expressing a number. Members of the series of numbers one, two, etc. are referred to as cardinal numbers or cardinal numerals. Members of the series first, second, etc. are referred to as ordinal numbers or ordinal numerals. Russian also has a series of collective numerals, e.g. двóе in двóе детéй ‘two children’, тpóе in тpóе сáнок ‘three sledges’.

Object

see Direct object, Indirect object.

Oblique cases

All cases other than the nominative.

Participle

In English, a word formed from a verb and used as an adjective or as a noun, or to form compound verb forms. The English present participle ends in -ing, e.g. ‘Thinking I was late, I hurried’ (Russian uses a gerund in such contexts: Ду́мая, что я опáздываю, я торопи́лся), and the past participle ends in -ed, e.g. ‘I have finished’ (Russian uses a finite verb in such contexts: Я кóнчил). Russian has four participles, present active, past active, present passive, and past passive, which either replace relative clauses, e.g. Дéвочка, читáющая (…читáвшая…, …прочитáвшая…) кни́гу ‘the girl who is reading (…who was reading…, …who has read…) the book’, мотóр, npoвépенный меxáниками ‘an engine which has been checked by the mechanics’, or (using the short form of the past passive participle) function as predicates, e.g. Дом npóдан ‘The house has been sold’.

Particle

In Russian, a word or a part of a word that invests other words or phrases with expressive nuances of meaning, e.g. Hе я оши́бся! ‘I’m not the one who got it wrong!’, Hу и проголода́лся жe я! ‘Am I hungry!’

Partitive genitive

The genitive case used to denote a part, as opposed to the whole, of a substance, e.g. мнóго мoлoкá ‘a lot of milk’, кусóк мя́са ‘a piece of meat’. Some nouns have special partitive genitive forms in -у or -ю: тарéлка су́пу ‘a plate of soup’, Xóчешь чáю? ‘Would you like some tea?’

Part of speech

Any of the classes into which words are categorized for grammatical purposes. The main ones are Noun, Adjective, Pronoun, Verb, Adverb, Preposition, and Conjunction.

Passive

The form of the clause used when the individual referred to by the subject undergoes (rather than performs) the action, e.g. ‘The soldier was nominated for an award’ (Russian Coлдáт был npедстáвлен к нагрáде). Cf. Active.

Past

The past tense is used when the time of the event described precedes the time of utterance, e.g. ‘Peter lived in London’. Cf. Present.

Perfect

A verb form indicating an action or process seen as completed, e.g. ‘She has paid the bill’. In Russian this is rendered by a perfective past form of the verb, e.g. Онá onлатúла счёт.

Perfective

see Aspect.

Person

Person forms are the grammatical forms (especially pronouns) that refer to or agree with the speaker and other individuals addressed or mentioned, e.g. I, we (first-person pronouns, Russian я, мы), you (second-person pronoun, Russian ты, вы), he, she, it, they (third-person pronouns, Russian oн, oнá, oнó, oнú).

Personal pronoun

A pronoun that refers to a person or to people known to the speaker, e.g. I, he, she, it, they (Russian я, oн, oнá, oнó, oнú).

Phrase

A group of words that function together in a clause, e.g. The courier is a (noun) phrase within the clause ‘The courier will go there’.

Plural

A word or form referring to more than one person or object, e.g. children, books, we, are.Cf. Singular.

Plural-only noun

A noun that has the form of a plural but can refer to a singular object or a number of like objects, e.g. сáнки ‘sledge, sledges’.

Possessive

A pronoun indicating possession, e.g. Russian мoй ‘my, mine’, твoй ‘your, yours’, егó ‘his, its’, её ‘her, hers, its’, наш ‘our, ours’, ваш ‘your, yours’, иx ‘their, theirs’. Possessives are used both adjectivally (e.g. наш дoм ‘our house’) and pronominally (e.g. Э́тoт дoм — наш ‘This house is ours’).

Predicate

The part of a clause that states something about the subject, e.g. closed the door softly in ‘Mary closed the door softly’, or went home in ‘We went home’. Cf. Subject.

Predicative adjective

An adjective that appears in a separate phrase from the noun it modifies, often following the verb ‘to be’, e.g. empty in ‘The house was empty’. Russian often uses a short-form adjective in such contexts: Дом был nуст. Cf. Attributive adjective.

Predicative adverb

In Russian, an adverb that is used as a predicate, e.g. Béселo ‘It’s fun’, Eму́ гpу́стнo ‘He feels sad’.

Prefix

An element that is added to the beginning of a word to change its meaning or grammatical form, e.g. mis- and re- in ‘misunderstand’, ‘reconsider’, Russian npи- in npибáвить ‘to add’ and oт- in oтплати́ть ‘to pay back’. Cf. Suffix.

Preposition

A word governing and usually preceding a noun or pronoun, expressing its relationship to another word in the sentence, e.g. ‘She arrived after dinner’, ‘What did you do it for?’ This relationship can be spatial, e.g. ‘The book is on the table’ (Russian Kни́га на столé), temporal, e.g. ‘He arrived in March’ (Russian Он приéxал в мáрте), causal, e.g. ‘She blushed with shame’ (Russian Онá покраснéла oт стыдá), etc. A Russian preposition governs one of the oblique cases.

Prepositional

In Russian, the case used after certain prepositions, mainly to express location. See also Locative case.

Present

The present tense is used when the time of the event described includes the time of utterance, e.g. lives in ‘Peter lives in London’. Cf. Past.

Progressive

another term for Continuous.

Pronoun

A word that substitutes for a noun or noun phrase, e.g. them in ‘Children don’t like them’ (instead of ‘Children don’t like vegetables’). Cf. Russian Дéти не лю́ бят иx (instead of oвoщéй).

Reflexive pronoun

A pronoun that is the object of the verb, but refers back to the subject of the clause in denoting the same individual, e.g. herself in: ‘She blamed herself ’. Russian uses the declinable reflexive pronoun себя́ in such contexts, e.g. Он смóтрит на себя́ ‘He looks at himself ’, Он купи́л себé мотоци́кл, ‘He bought himself a motorcycle’, Онá довóльна сoбóй ‘She is pleased with herself ’. Cf. also Reflexive verb.

Reflexive verb

In Russian, a verb that ends in the reflexive particle -ся/-сь, e.g. Он одевáется ‘He dresses (himself)’, Я мóюсь ‘I wash (myself)’.

Regular verb

A verb such as laugh whose inflections follow one of the usual conjugation patterns. In English, this involves (among other things) forming the past tense by adding -ed to the infinitive, e.g. laughed in ‘They laughed at me’. Cf. Irregular verb.

Relative clause

A clause that is introduced by a relative pronoun.

Relative pronoun

A pronoun (who, whose, which, or that) used to introduce a subordinate clause and referring back to a person or thing in the preceding clause, e.g. ‘Peter lost the book that/which he bought’, ‘The man who is waiting is my brother’, or ‘Have you met the man whose sister got married?’ Russian uses the relevant forms of кoтópый.

Reported speech

another term for Indirect speech.

Sentence

A structure with at least one finite verb, and consisting of one or more clauses, e.g. ‘John laughed’, ‘John sat down and waited’, ‘While waiting for the bus, John saw an accident’.

Singular

A word or form referring to just one person or thing, e.g. child, book, I, is.Cf. Plural.

Soft consonant

In Russian, a consonant followed by a soft sign (e.g. т in мать), or by the vowels я, е, и, ё, or ю (e.g. n in nять, н in нéбo, n in núвo, л in лёд, т in утю́ г). The consonants ч and щ are always pronounced soft, while ж, ц, and ш are always pronounced hard (do not confuse the consonant ж which is always hard with the double ж (or /жьжь/) as in the word вожжи which is always soft). Cf. Hard consonant.

Spelling rules

In Russian, the following rules:

Stem

The base form or root of the word to which endings, prefixes, and suffixes may be added, e.g. box in boxes, consider in ‘reconsider’ and understand in ‘understanding’. Cf. Russian книг- in кнúга ‘book’, гoвop- in гoвopи́ть ‘to speak’, and -xoд in восxóд ‘rising’, студéнт- in студéнтка ‘female student’.

Stress

The syllable of a word receiving relatively greater force or emphasis than the other(s) is said to receive stress or to be the stressed syllable, e.g. wíndow, кápта ‘map’ (stressed on the first syllable), dedúction, дopóга ‘road’ (stressed medially), suppóse, стpанá ‘country’ (stressed on the final syllable).

Subject

The part of the clause referring to the individual of whom or the object of which the predicate is asserted, e.g. Anna in: ‘Anna closed the door’ or The picture in ‘The picture hangs on the wall’. In Russian, the subject usually appears in the nominative case, e.g. Áнна закры́ ла дверь, Kаpтúна виси́т на стенé. Cf. Predicate.

Subjunctive

The form of the verb used in some languages when no claim is being made that the action or event actually takes (or took) place. The subjunctive is not often used in English, but can still be seen in expressions like if I were you. In Russian, the subjunctive is the structure used when an action is desired. It is formed using чтóбы + past tense, e.g. Онá xóчет, чтóбы я ушёл (‘She wants me to go away’). Cf. Indicative.

Submeanings of the aspects

Aspectual meanings other than those that denote continuous or habitual action or process (imperfective), and those that denote completion (perfective). Submeanings describe intermittent action or process (imperfective noбáливает ‘hurts on and off ’), inception (perfective заnлáкать ‘to burst into tears’), and short duration (perfective noсnáть ‘to have a nap’). Cf. Aspect.

Subordinate clause

A clause that cannot normally stand alone without a main clause and is usually introduced by a conjunction, e.g. when it rang in ‘She answered the phone when it rang’, or because he is ill in ‘He is not at work because he is ill’. Cf. Main clause.

Suffix

An element that is added to the end of a word or stem to change its meaning or grammatical form, e.g. -ing and -ness in ‘understanding’, ‘kindness’, Russian -ка in студéнтка ‘female student’, -инá in глубинá ‘depth’. Cf. Prefix.

Superlative

The form of an adjective or adverb used when comparing one thing with another to express the greatest degree of a quality, e.g. cheapest (Russian сáмый дешёвый), most beautiful (Russian сáмый кpасúвый), least desirable (Russian наимéнее желáтельный). Cf. Comparative.

Syllable

A unit of pronunciation that is normally less than a word but greater than a single sound, e.g. abracadabra has five syllables: ab-ra-ca-dab-ra, as does Russian nутевoдúтель (‘guide’): nу-те-вo-дú-тель.

Tense

The relationship between the time of utterance and the time of an event described in the clause is expressed by verb tense forms or inflections, e.g. ‘Anna waits’ (present tense, Russian Áнна ждёт), ‘Anna waited’ (past tense, Russian Áнна ждалá).

Transitive verb

A verb taking a direct object, e.g. read in ‘She was reading a book’ (Russian Онá читáла кни́гу). Cf. Intransitive verb.

Verb

A word that expresses an action, process, or state of affairs, e.g. ‘He closed the door’ (Russian Oн закpы́л дверь), ‘She laughs’ (Russian Oнá смeётся), ‘They were at home’ (Russian Oни́ бы́ ли дóма).

Verbal noun

In Russian, a noun derived from a verb stem and describing the action of the verb from which it derives, e.g. pазвúтие ‘development’, npигoтoвлéние ‘preparation’, oбpабóтка ‘processing’.

Verbs of motion

In Russian, a series of fourteen pairs of imperfective verbs that denote various types of motion, one in each pair (the ‘unidirectional’) describing movement in one direction (Oн идёт дoмóй ‘He is on his way home’), the other (the ‘multidirectional’) describing movement in general (Oнá xóдит бы́ стpo ‘She walks fast’), movement in various directions (Oн xóдит взад и вnеpёд ‘He is walking up and down’), or habitual movement (Я чáстo xoжу́ в кинó ‘I often go to the cinema’).

Vocative

In Russian, the form of a noun used in addressing someone. The nominative case usually fulfils this function: Cеpгéй Пáвлoвич! ‘Sergei Pavlovich!’, but some truncated forms are used in colloquial Russian, e.g. мам! ‘Mum!’, Вань! ‘Vanya!’ Бóже in Бóже мой! ‘My God!’ is a relic of the former vocative case (the nominative form being Бoг).

Voiced and voiceless consonants

Consonants pronounced, respectively, with and without vibration of the vocal cords. In Russian, the voiceless consonants are к, п, с, т, ф, x, ц, ч, ш, and щ. The other consonants are voiced.

Vowel

A basic speech sound that is produced by the unrestricted flow of air, e.g. a in hat, ee in feet, or ow in how. A vowel forms the nucleus of a syllable. Cf. Consonant.