Prefixes без- and бес-.

  If you've studied Russian for a while you've probably noticed that this language is rich with prefixes and suffixes. By using them you can build new words.  Today let's look at the prefixes без- and бес-.

без- and бес-

Both mean «without». They're similar to English -less, -free. They can be used in:

• nouns – безопасность, safety (без + опасность, danger); безработица, worklessness (без + работа, work)
• verbs – бездействовать, be inactive (без + действовать, to act)
• adverbs – безнадёжно, hopelessly (без + надежда, hope); бесследно, without a trace (без + след, trace)
• adjectives – бездомный, homeless (без+ дом, home); безоблачный, cloudless (без + облако, cloud).

Sometimes you just add the prefix to another word like in безопасность, sometimes you change the original word like in бездомный.

When to use без- and when бес-? It's pretty simple. Look at the next sound in the word. If it's a sonant or a vowel, use без-. If it's a breath consonant, you use бес-.

Russian sonants are:

Б, В, Г, Д, З, Ж, Й, Л, М, Н, Р

8 Russian songs you may like

…well, at least I like them already :). I don't listen to Russian music often, but there are a few songs in Russian that I really like, so today I want to share them with you.

Би-2 и Чичерина – Мой Рок-Н-Ролл
Bi-2 feat. Chicherina – My Rock'n'roll


Lyrics.


Мельница — Королевна
Melnitsa — Princess


Lyrics.


Линда — Танец под водой
Linda — Dance under water
(with a bit of Japanese)


Lyrics.


Ария — Осколок Льда
Aria — Splinter of Ice

I'm like you! Aka Russian ways to be similar

How to say that A is like B in Russian? There are two main ways to do so.

1. The first way is by using the word похожий (similar, resembling) or its shorter forms:

похож — masc.

похожа — femin.

похоже — neutr.

похожи — plural.

Они похожи. - They are similar. / They look similar.

This word can be used for similarity in appearance or anything else.

You use preposition на after похожий, like this: