Russian words about sleeping and a lullaby

  It's night time here, so I decided to share with you some Russian vocabulary about sleeping.

спать - to sleep

уснуть, заснуть - to fall alseep

просыпаться - to wake up

вставать - to wake up, to rise

будить, разбудить - to wake someone up

будильник - alarm-clock

сон - sleep, dream

бессонница - insomnia

кошмар - nightmare

видеть сны - to dream

сниться, присниться — to appear in dreams

сонный, сонливый - sleepy

храп - snore

храпеть - to snore

кровать, постель - bed

подушка - pillow

одеяло - blanket

колыбельная - lullaby

петь колыбельную - to sing a lullaby

сова - night owl, evening person

жаворонок - lark, morning person

голубь - "pigeon" (a person who doesn't have strong preferences to early or late waking up)

Idioms about sleeping:

Tip of the week: Record yourself speaking Russian

  If you want to speak Russian, you'll have to actually do a lot of speaking. No matter how much you read in Russian or listen to Russian radio, you won't learn to speak the language fluently if you never open your mouth.

But don't stop there. Speak – and record yourself! You can easily make videos for YouTube and get useful feedback and encouragement there. Other reasons for recording yourself?

“-Forcing yourself to output something and getting used to pronouncing the words
-Burning the words of your video into your memory forever, since you’ll know them really well thanks to the preparation, especially as I describe it below
-Giving yourself a project to work towards with a deadline, forcing you to improve by that time”
-Benny Lewis.

(Read more here.)

To inspire you to give it a try, here are a few videos from people who, just like you, are learning Russian.

chahailus

WILLTHEWGMAN

AnnieTheLemon

Words that are always plural in Russian

  My husband and I were talking (in English) about chess the other day, and I referred to the game as 'them'. He asked me why, and I realized it was because chess in Russian – шахматы – is always plural. It's not the only word like that. For example, just like in English scissors and trousers are always plural, their Russian brothers are plural as well.

брюки - (formal) trousers

штаны - trousers, pants

джинсы - jeans 

шорты - shorts 

ножницы - scissors 

плоскогубцы (пассатижи) - lineman's pliers

кусачки (острогубцы) - diagonal pliers, wire cutters

щипцы - tongs, pliers, hair crimper

вилы - pitchfork

ворота - gate, gates

очки - glasses

шахматы - chess

весы - weigh-scales

часы - clock, watch

носилки - litter, palanquin, stretchers

Ножницы is always plural.

деньги - money

Plural form — exceptions in Russian

  Some words in Russian don't want to have a normal plural form. You have to memorize them.

друг — друзья friends

брат — братья brothers

мать — матери mothers

дочь — дочери daughters

сын — сыновья sons

муж — мужья husbands

человек — люди people

ребёнок — дети children

учитель — учителя teachers

доктор — доктора doctors
ухо — уши ears

лист — листья leaves

дерево — деревья trees

Interesting that most of these words are related to humans.