Hello, my good TA members! Recently, I have been trying to learn Russian, but I have run into some questions that I cant seem to find the answers to.

1)How do you form a question?

This may seem stupid but I haven't found anywhere that says how you ask a question. Im assuming its either something like: Я вижу? or Вижу я?

2)ш и щ

I really cant tell the difference between ш and щ. If someone could provide a recording of the two, it would be most appreciated (и means and right?)

3)х и р

These too sound similar, a recording would be helpful

4)ИЙ И ЫЙ

I've seen both of these endings for masculine adjectives. I'm guessing sometimes I use one instead of the other, and it simply has to be memorized...

5)ЫЙ

Back to this sound... How is it pronounced? How is Й pronounced? Again, recording would be most helpful


Thats all I can really think of at the moment, I'll have some more questions soon...

(Most constructive and longest post by me ever! )

1)Я вижу? is correct. you don't have to change the word order, it's all about intonation.

2) ш is closer to how sh sounds in "dash", while щ - like sh sounds in "shit"

3) х and р by no means sound similar... х is equivalent to english sound "h" (like "help"), while р - is equivalent to "r".

4) you are right... ий is mostly used after к, (like "советский"), while ый is used for the rest of them. and while after ш and ж by grammar rules has to follow ий, you pronounce it like ый (you just have to remember that). like the words рыжый and старший are actually pronounced as if they were written рыжый and старшый. it is a fundamental rule, "жи" and "ши" are always written with и even though they sound like there's an ы there.

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quote:

Originally posted by Sunsnail 1)How do you form a question?

1. You can do it both ways if you put in a 'lee' in between the two words in the second form you posted. Then the second form is more common and less anglic I guess.

Will do recs when get home...

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as for the fifth question, go here.

it has the pronunciation of the russian alphabet letters (how the letters are called, not how they actually sound). click on the "Ъъ" sign (for the ъ letter). the letter is called "твёрдый знак", and you can hear how the "ый" thing is pronounced. you can also compare it to how "ий" sounds in the pronunciation of letter "ь" (which is called "мягкий знак")..

удачи. good luck, i mean

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quote:

Originally posted by Jocker as for the fifth question, go here. it has the pronunciation of the russian alphabet letters (how the letters are called, not how they actually sound). click on the "Ъъ" sign (for the ъ letter). the letter is called "твёрдый знак", and you can hear how the "ый" thing is pronounced. you can also compare it to how "ий" sounds in the pronunciation of letter "ь" (which is called "мягкий знак").. удачи. good luck, i mean

Thanks for all the help

хорошо would be pronounced how...

quote:

Originally posted by Sunsnail Thanks for all the help хорошо would be pronounced how...

xopowo = HO RO SHO
but remember to say "O CHEEN HO RO SHO" cause I suspect your doing really well

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Last edited by Subey on Feb-17-2005 at 04:00

Well, since Russian is not my first language, I guess I can give you the insight of another foreigner

Sounds in Russian have always tricked me when I heard them on the internet, often because of the poor quality. Jocker has already given you an excellent answer, but maybe my experience could be useful to you somehow:

2) There's a trick that works to me. For ш use the proper sh sound, whereas for щ say "ish-chi"... now try to merge the sounds.

3) Is English your mother tongue? If you speak Spanish, pretend X is the j "like in "jefe" and P is the r as in "rato". The American "r" would sound awkward, I reckon. If you speak Portuguese, your confusion is quite natural, as we merge these sounds

4) Go here for the best Russian grammar ever

5) Й is, roughly speaking, the Russian "y". I would give you a technical long explanation, but I'm in a hurry. Besides, Jocker's explanation is very good

I'm going to look for the audio exercises I've got somewhere in my room for these sounds. They helped me a lot and hopefully they would help you as well. They're not long, and the mp3 would be less then 2mb, probably.

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Thanks for the responses

When I see a past tense form, its presented as

он хотел
она etc.

I'm guessing that I would say Я хотел. да?

quote:

Originally posted by Sunsnail I'm guessing that I would say Я хотел. да?

If you're a d00d, yes, you actually should

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I have a question for you Sunsnail How exactly are you studying Russian? Because apperantly not by school/teacher since you are asking for pronunciations? Just asking because I'm interested in foreign languages

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Het doel van een heel deel hier is niet over muziek te praten maar door zijn deelname aan discussies een zo groot mogelijk intellect proberen aan de dag te leggen en daarmee een rare vorm van zelfbevrediging in werking stellen. 'It's a strange world'

The only russian you really need to know is...

WAX U MAT

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Well, nobody has been stupid enough to do it yet, so I might as well go ahead and do it.




In Sovet Russia, Russian learns you!





There we go.