"ancestors" and "descendants" in russian language

Children feel Russian language better than adults.
Today I explained to my daughter the meaning of words "предки" ([pretki] "ancestors") and "потомки" ([patomki] "descendants"). Then I asked, "So who are the descendants"? She replied,  "those who will be next."(In russian language "Потом-ки"(descendants) like word "потом"(later, next))
So "ancestors" - who were before (you) "Пред-ки" like word "пред (перед)" = before you.
Well, you see, russian language is a  best understood :)

Artist Nikolai Baskakov
The painting "The grandmother with grandchildren," 1960. 

About word "breakfast" in Russian language

My 5 year old daughter still confuses words breakfast, lunch and dinner. She says - "завтрак" (breakfast) like the word "завтра"(tomorrow), then "eat tomorrow"? but I want to eat today ("сегодня" segodnja), so - "sevodnik"?
And she is right. In ancient Russia breakfasts (usually it was a kasha or something similar) prepared in advance, from the evening of the last day.

(on this photo a boiled buckwheat and barankas)
Funnily, it turns out that in English word "breakfast" means a "stop fasting, starvation"

"How are you?" in Russian language-2: Video

Continuing the theme of greeting ("How are you?" in Russian language - text and audio)

If you know russian language you can easier to learn other languages

The researcher, Dr. Mila Schwartz, pointed out that because of the linguistic complexity of the Russian language, it can be deduced that knowing how to read and write Russian will give children an advantage when learning to read other languages.
Dr. Mila Schwartz says: "Russian is considered a unique language in terms of its linguistic structure and connection between letters and sounds"  
source

The magical properties of Russian obscenities

The magical properties of Russian obscenities
The foul language- is the holy words that were used in the antiquity Russian men during the rites and rituals for "Call of ancestral  force."
Use those words can only 14-16 days a year, and then they were strictly forbidden, and when the men of our time without the need to use these sacred words, it leads to a real impotence.
Use of a ribaldry can also in extreme situations, but this leads to a rapid aging of the human

The mind can not understand Russia...

Great russian poet  Фёдор Иванович Тютчев  wrote a beautiful poem, which is very popular in Russia:

Умом Россию не понять,
Аршином общим не измерить:
У ней особенная стать –
В Россию можно только верить.

Listen in Russian:



There are many translations, but I like this:

Don't cover Russia with your mind,
Don't use your norms for understanding:
It has its outstanding kind -
You must believe without fading.
(Dianov Anton/Дианов Антон)

and this translation:
You will not grasp her with your mind
Or cover with a common label,
For Russia is one of a kind -
Believe in her, if you are able...

(Anatoly Liberman for magazine Russian Life/Анатолий Либерман)

Wordplay by Anton Chekhov

‎
"Настоящий мужчина состоит из мужа и чина." А.Чехов. Мужчина = муж  (outdated "man", husband) + чин (rank) + ending а.
Anton Chekhov, the famous Russian writer, said -  A real man consists of husband and rank

Tongue twister about parrots

Today learn another tongue twister in Russian:

Говорит попугай попугаю:
"Я тебя, попугай, попугаю".
Попугаю в ответ попугай:
"Попугай, попугай, попугай!"

Listen and repeat:



Translation:
A parrot says to another parrot: "I'll scare you, parrot".
The second parrot answers: "Scare me, parrot, scare me."

"How are you?" in Russian language

A typical sentence "How are you?" has a somewhat different meaning in Russia. If russian people asked "how are you?", they actually want to know about the events of your life.
How to say "How are you" in Russian language:
1) informal "How are you" you can say as "Как дела?" - kak dela?[kak dila](literally - how are your affairs\business). Also you can ask "Что нового?" - Chto novogo [Chto,shto novova] - what's new?
2) formal "Как поживаете?" - kak pozhivajete?[kak pazhivajete] (literally its mean - how are you live?)

What could be the answer:
1) Fine - "отлично", "прекрасно"-You rarely hear it in Russia.
2) Normally - нормально - normal'no[narmal'na]. Good - хорошо - khorosho [kharasho]
3) Not bad - неплохо -neplokho [njeplokha]. So-so - так себе -tak sebe [tak sjebje]
4) Bad - плохо - plokho [plokho].  There is nothing good - ничего хорошего - nichego khoroshego [nichjego kharoshogo]

This is followed by counter-question: And how do you do?  - А как вы поживаете? - a kak vy pozhivaete [a kak vy pazhivaete]
or more short forms:
And how are you? - А как вы? - A kak vy?
or А у вас? - A u vas? 

Listen and repeat:
 
  

Some Russian proverbs in pictures

Funny poem about a cat

It's a funny children's poem, easy-to-remember:
Тише, тише!
Кот на крыше
А котята еще выше.
Кот пошел за молоком,
А котята кувырком.
Кот пришел без молока,
А котята "ха-ха-ха".

Listen and repeat:
 

And translate into English:
Hush, mouse
cat on the roof
Kittens and even higher.
Cat went for the milk,
A kitten somersault
Cat come without milk,
And Kittens "ha ha ha"

Russian cursive

Reading Russian handwriting is difficult

This is standard of  hand-writing russian letters

and a real sample:

This puzzle is mean - (ты) "дышишь" = (you) breathe

or "лишишься" = "will lose" for you, you will lose somethign = ты лишишься чего-нибудь.

And a sample russian hand-writing text:

Russian tongue twisters

I add a tag "Tongue twister". This is a short poem, that easy to remember, but difficult to articulate. Moreover, these often have interesting grammatical forms.
Russian word "скороговорка" consists of two ones "скоро" (="fast") and "говор" (="sound of talking") (together it means = fast-talking) + suffix "ka", which forms the subject as a result of the action.

For  example:
Косил косой косой косой - [Kasil kasoj kasoj kasoj] listen or download 


Do you like it? :) This means "squint-eyed man mows down by oblique scythe"
 косил (it's a conjugation for masculine gender, past tense from "косить"=mow) = mow down;
 косой (мужчина) = squint-eyed man; In the Russian language, we often use the adjective as a 

grammatical subject without a noun.

косой косой - it's a declension for  instrumental case from "косая коса"(= oblique scythe).
So you see that the Russian phrase does not need strict word order.

Great and difficult Russian language

Study of  Russian  can be difficult for foreigners, especially for Americans.  The Americans who were brought up by Hollywood, newspapers, pop, TV show, etc.  have bipolar thinking: "yes - no", "black - white" ... Russian language has multipolar sensations.

Russian words are full of shades of meaning. A Russian phrase can has other meaning than meaning of their constituent words. 

The most popular example of this type phrase - "да нет, наверное" ? literally = yes no maybe.

Speaker to give up something with a hint of doubt. Rather "no," but would be "yes," if you will persuade. 

The word "Да" (=Yes) can be used to mean "and." Then we have the phrase "and there is probably" - this is understandable, "Probably, not". (The word "probably" has a chance to persuasion).

Another example is "Иван да Марья" ("Ivan da Marya") = Ivan And Marya.

For me, who speaking and thinking in Russian,  is difficult of all possible variants of phrases with the details of their values ​​do the appropriate phrases in English.