Posted on December 26th, 2012

Today we will talk about the Russian equivalent of the verb to be in present tense and we will also talk about the non-existence of the articles in Russian language!
Here is the video Lesson:

Verb “Быть”  in Present Tense in Russian

Verb to be in Russian language is быть [BIT’].

In English the Present Tense of verb to be is “am”, “is” and “are”. In Russian the Present Tense of verb to be verb or быть is есть [YEST’].

The rule that I wanted to share with you today is very simple: in Russian language verb to be is omitted in Present Tense. This means that you don’t use verb есть in sentences in Present Tense.

Let me give you a few examples:

1. Это моя собака. Make sure to not say: Это есть моя собака
2. Этот чай вкусный. Not: Этот чай есть вкусный.

In sentences where the subject and the predicate are both nouns the missing verb is replaced by a dash. For example:
Майк – студент.
Майк is the subject and студент is the predicate. In the sentences similar to this one make sure to put a dash after the subject.

More examples:
Париж – очень красивый город.
iPhone – замечательный телефон
Война и Мир – самый известный роман Льва Николаевича Толстого.

No Articles in Russian!

Another thing that you won’t see in Russian language is articles! In other words there are no Russian equivalents of the articles “a” and “the”. Other European languages like French and German also have article, but what you need to remember that there are no articles in Russian! At all! Which makes it a tiny bit easier to learn!

Here are a few examples:
1. Какое спелое яблоко!
Notice how there is no article next to noun “яблоко”.
In English you would add an article next to word “apple”:
The apple is so ripe!

2. Моя мама – повар. Notice how there is no article next to noun “повар”.
In English you would need an article next to the word “chef”:
My Mom is a chef.

This is all for today. Please do let me know if you have any questions. I’m always happy to hear from you.

Have fun learning Russian!

Related Posts:

• Video: First Conjugation Verbs Завтракать, Обедать, Ужинать.
• Grammar Video: Preposition “Ha” in the Prepositional Case
• Video: How to Form Past Tense in Russian
• Russian Verb “Любить” (Love) and How to Say “I Love You” in Russian
• Video: Second Conjugation Verbs in Russian

Comments

Садовник и сыновья

Л.Н. Толстой

Хотел садовник сыновей приучить к садовому делу. Когда он стал умирать, позвал их к себе и сказал:

– Дети, когда я умру, вы в виноградном саду поищите, что там спрятано.

Дети думали, что там клад, и, когда отец умер, стали рыть и всю землю перекопали. Клада не нашли, а землю в винограднике так хорошо перекопали, что стало плода родиться много больше. И они стали богаты.

Все бобры для своих бобрят добры.

Приблизительный перевод: All beavers are kind to their baby beavers.

Что посеешь, то и пожнешь.

As you sow, you shall mow.