Дать, отдать, продать...

  Russian verb дать (to give) has a big family. There are many words with -дат- made by adding prefixes and suffixes to it. Let's have a look at some of them.

дать/давать - to give

(here are its conjugations)

отдать - to give away, to give back

подать - to present, to offer, to serve, to hand in

продать - to sell

преподать - to teach

задать - to give, to set, to indicate

You can check more meanings of these words here.

A few nouns made from these verbs:

отдача - output, return, response

подача - presentation, serving, inning (in sports)

продавец - seller, salesman

продажа - sale

преподаватель - teacher

задание - task, assignment

Sentences:

Colours of Russian salaries

  Did you know that in Russia salaries can be white, black and sometimes grey?

чёрная зарплата (“black salary”) is the salary from which no taxes were paid. For example, you work somewhere, but not officially, so you get “black salary.” If they fire you, you won't be able to prove you worked there.

белая зарплата (“white salary”) is an official, legal salary from which you and your employer pay taxes, it’s what you officially get.

11+ common Russian colloquial words

  Here are a few easy words from spoken Russian. One cannot always use formal speech, right? ;)

крутой - cool (non-colloquial meaning: steep, sharp)

культовый - cult, extremely popular, iconic, from культ - cult (non-colloquial meaning: cultic, of religious worship)

чувак - dude

бабки, бабло, капуста - money (деньги in formal speech)

штука - 1000 rubles/dollars, etc. (non-colloquial meaning: thing)

лимон (from миллион) - million rubles/dollars, etc. (non-colloquial meaning: lemon)

мобильник (from мобильный телефон) - cell phone

Уже vs ещё

  Уже means already, yet, by now; ещё means yet, more. Here is how you use them.

Уже

Они уже проснулись. - They already woke up.

Уже готово. - Already done/ready.

Уже поздно. - It's already late.

Я уже не студент. - I'm not a student anymore. The same meaning: Я больше не студент.

Она давно уже живёт в Москве. - She's been living in Moscow for some time now.

Я уже сделал(а) это. - I've already done that.

Ещё

Russian trailers of foreign movies

  If watching a whole movie in Russian seems too much work for you, why not start with trailers? You can practice your listening comprehension and vocabulary, and it won't take that much time. Here are a few trailers to get you started.

Анна Каренина

Хоббит: Нежданное путешествие

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Облачный атлас

Cloud Atlas

How to use хотя

  “Although” in Russian is хотя (хоть). Most of the time either form can be used.

Хотя на улице лил дождь, Ваня и Саша пошли погулять. - Although it was raining, Vanya and Sasha went for a walk.

Хоть у Стаса и мало времени, он успевает заниматься и карате, и танцами. - Although Stas has little time, he manages to do both karate and dancing.

Хотя Даша читает англоязычные книги, она всё ещё не говорит по-английски. - Although Dasha reads a lot in English, she still doesn't speak it.

Света играет на пианино каждый день, хотя пока не видно результатов. - Sveta plays piano every day, although you can't see the results yet.

Ужин был невкусным, и хотя Лида была голодной, она не доела своё блюдо. - The supper was not yummy, and although Lida was hungry, she didn't finish her meal.

Хоть ему и 50 лет, он по-прежнему любит видео-игры. - Although he is 50, he still enjoys video games.

Хотя то, что Мария увидела, её потрясло, она никому об этом не рассказала. - Although what she saw shook her, Maria didn't tell anyone about it.

Хоть у него и большая зарплата, он тратит все деньги за пару дней. - Although he has a big salary, he spends all the money in a couple of days.

These words have other meanings too:

Горячий vs жаркий

  Both горячий and жаркий mean hot. Sometimes either one is fine, sometimes only one of them fits the context. Hopefully, the examples below will show you the difference between горячий and жаркий.

горячий

горячий шоколад – hot chocolate

горячее, горячие блюда – warm main meal(s), for example, soups, as opposed to salads or desserts

горячая вода – hot water

горячий утюг – hot iron

горячий песок – hot sand

горячий лоб – hot forehead (in fever)