Posted on June 30th, 2013

Let’s talk about our hobbies today. Okay, I’ll start. I like to travel, learn new languages, read, go to the movies, listen to music, cook, and play badminton. What about you?

Here is how I would say this in Russian:
Мне нравится путешествовать, изучать новые языки, читать, ходить в кино, слушать музыку, готовить и играть в бадминтон. А вам?

If you need help constructing a sentence in Russian about the things you like to do then keep on reading. I’ll teach you how to talk about the things you like step by step.
Watch the video:

Verb Hравится

Let’s start with the verb нравиться. Verb нравиться is used to say that you like something or someone. It is a reflexive verb and is a part of the impersonal construction. Here is how you would conjugate it:

Я нравлюсь [ya NRAV-lyoos’]
Ты нравишься [ti NRA-veesh-sya]
Он/она/оно нравится [on ona NRA-veet-sya]
Мы нравимся [mi-NRA-veem-sya]
Вы нравитесь [vi NRA-vee-tyes’]
Они нравятся [a-NEE NRA-vyat-sya]

When talking about something that someone likes, the person who likes something or someone becomes the object of the sentence and it is in the dative case. The subject of the sentence is a thing or person that is being liked and it is in the nominative case. The verb agrees with the subject of the sentence.

Here is an example:
Мне нравится Саша.
Нравится agrees with мне.

Саша – the subject in the nominative case
Мне – the object in the dative case

You will need to remember the personal pronouns (links to the video) in the dative case that are used with the verb нравиться:
Мне нравится [MNYE]
Тебе нравится [tee-BYE]
Ему/Ей нравится [ee-MOO/ EY]
Нам нравится [NAM]
Вам нравится [VAM]
Им нравится [EEM]

For example, if you like your friend’s dress you can say:
Мне нравится твоё новое платье.
I like your new dress.

A few more examples:
Им нравится эта комедия.
They like this comedy.

Кате нравится твоя идея.
Katia likes your idea.

If you are talking about several things that you like, use the plural form of the reflexive verb нравиться – нравятся with the appropriate personal pronoun in the dative case. For example, you can say:
Мне нравятся твои туфли.
I like your shoes.

A few more examples:
Им нравятся комедии.
They like comedies.

Кате нравятся твои идеи.
Katia likes your ideas.

If you like something very much, you can add word очень [O-chyen’] (means: very, very much) before the verb нравиться, for example:
Мне очень нравятся конфеты.
I like candy very much.

Ему очень нравится поп музыка.
He likes pop music very much.

Ты мне очень нравишься.
I like you very much.

If you would like to say that you like doing something, then verb нравиться will be followed by the verb expressing the activity that you enjoy in its infinitive form.
Мне очень нравится путешествовать.
I like to travel very much.

Ему нравится слушать музыку.
He likes to listen to music.

If you would like to say that you don’t like something, you will need to add не in front of verb нравиться:

Мне не нравится эта идея.
I don’t like this idea.

Ей не нравятся твои туфли.
She doesn’t like your shoes.

Now it your turn to tell me about the things that you like in Russian! Let me know if you have any questions about this lesson, I am looking forward to your comments!

Have fun learning Russian!

Viktoria.

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
• Video: Most Common Russian Greetings
• Russian Verb “Любить” (Love) and How to Say “I Love You” in Russian

Comments

The courses of Russian as a foreign language with Russian4real take place online via Skype. The teacher works with adults individually since he is convinced that each person must receive maximum time for practice and professional attention while learning a foreign language.