On Sunday, September 6th, we had great time celebrating the beginning of the new school year. There were a lot of great home-cooked food!

Ksenia Troshina

Ekaterinburg is sometimes called the third capital of Russia. It’s also sadly famous as the site where the last tsar’s family was killed. Ekaterinburg is also well known as one of the top education centers of the Russian Federation. Here are some pictures of my city:

В Екатеринбурге

На улице

Современная архитектура Екатеринбурга

I’ve come to America as a Fulbright scholar and I’m really very happy for this wonderful opportunity to see the “New World”. I would love to bring more mutual understanding between the people of America and Russia so that we could begin to break down our stereotypes and begin to see each other as real people and understand one another’s culture better.

Вот мои студенты русского языка в Екатеринбурге:

На уроке

Группа иностранных студентов в Екатеринбурге

My interests – I’m fond of drawing, painting, learning new things about religions and cultures of the world, horseback riding and philosophy. I’m looking forward to seeing you all. You’re all most welcome to Russian House and to all the activities we’re planning there.

Ксения

Consider how you might answer the following questions:
В котором часу?
Во сколько?
Когда?

The easiest situation is right on the hour, using в + ACC, as below:
Когда ты придёшь домой?
Я приду в час. (в два часа, в шесть часов…).

The same rule holds for all times up to the half hour point:
Я приду в пять минут шестого. (at five past five, or five minutes into the sixth hour)
У нас будет встреча в пятнадцать минут первого. (We have a meeting at quarter past 12, fifteen minutes into the first hour)

On the half-hour, you use the same preposition, but a different case – в + PREP:
Я приду в половине шестого. (at half past five)

You can get around this rule in speaking by using the colloquial shortened form in which you drop –овине, smash the last two words together and get в полшестого. Note here that the ending looks to be genitive, but that this is a function of losing the case marker with the contraction and not just using a different case.

You can also be less specific with the construction and just indicate at approximately what time something will occur:
Мы приедем в восьмом часу. (We’ll be there sometime past seven but before eight – in the eighth hour)

In general, however, the vast majority of the situations using В in telling what time something is happening will be using the accusative. Consider the following expressions:
в последнюю минуту (at the last minute)
в последний момент (at the last moment)
в поздний час (at a late hour)
в следующий раз (next time)

The last part of the clock’s dial is after the half-hour up to the hour, and here we use без +GEN:
Мы приедем без пятнадцати шесть. (We’ll be there at quarter to six, or without fifteen minutes six o’clock).

In colloquial Russian (spoken only) you can hear some interesting combinations of prepositions. Consider the following:
До какого часа вы работаете сегодя?
До без пятнадцати восемь. (Until a quarter to eight)

You’ll want to avoid this construction in writing, however, by rephrasing the sentence perhaps this way:
У нас работа заканчивается без пятнадцати восемь.

Remember that you NEVER want to say or write в без пятнадцати восемь – в is not just a substitute for at and the picture is a little trickier than that.

Итак, I hope that this review will help you to plan meeting times better, though punctuality will still be up to you. До следующего раза!

The first word that usually comes to the English speaker’s mind for different is “другой“, though this may better be thought of as “a different one” or “another one” as below.

Маша купила одну бутылку минеральной воды, а я купила другую.

Masha bought one bottle of mineral water, and I bought another (different) one.

Маша и Саша договорились встретиться в книжном магазине. Маша долга ждала Сашу, но Саша пошел в другой магазин.

Masha and Sasha agreed to meet at the bookstore. Masha waited a long time for Sasha, but he’d gone to a different store.

Or consider an advertisement for “Другая Москва” as “The Other Moscow,” a collection of photographs of the seedier side of capitol life.

For the word “разный” I should note that it is most often used in the plural to mean different kinds.

Маша и Саша купили разные книги. Она любит историю, а он читает только поэзию.

Masha and Sasha bought different (kinds of) books. She loves history but he only reads poetry.

У меня много студентов и все они такие разные.

I have a lot of students and they are all so different (of differing natures or abilities).

Or the headline “Разные страны – разный интернет” meaning “Different countries – a different type of internet”

Разичный is often a synonym for разный, also used predominantly in the plural and having just a slightly more official or technical sound.

У местных учёных появились совсем различные теории.

Local scientists have developed quite disparate theories.

All these examples maintain the same part of speech in Russian and English, namely, using an adjective to express this idea. The fact is that there are a number of verbal expressions in Russian for talking about difference, and I’ll give a few examples below.

Это не соотвествует тому, что он говорил.

That’s different than (doesn’t correspond to) what he said.

Моя точка зрения на этот вопрос отличается от общепринятой.

My point of view on that matter differs from the commonly held one.

Русский и английский языки отличаются тем, как они выражают разницы.

Russian and English differ in how they express differences.

Это не имеет значения. That makes no difference.

So while this may not be the definitive study of the expression of difference, I hope this helps you to start thinking about different ways to say “different”. Comments, questions, further examples and different points of view most welcome!