In this lesson you have learned conjugation patterns for verbs "to read" and "to write".
You can also notice that nouns that are used in the sentences of type "I read a book" are written not in the nominative but in the accusative case.
Example,
|to kniga.
" =ita] knigu.
So, in the answer to the question of type "What are you reading?", "What are you writing?" and so on you should apply the noun in the accusative case.
You will learn more about declension and conjugation patterns in the subsequent lessons.
• The present tense.
Unlike in English, there is only one present tense in Russian.
Example,
The sentences,
"I am reading a book." and
"I read a book." one translates as,
"" =ita] knigu."
• Construction "to have something".
One can notice that there is no 1 to 1 correspondence between the words of the English sentence "I have a book" and its Russian equivalence "U men' est% kniga", so this construction is specific to the Russian language. We use nouns in the nominative case in this construction.
Example,
|to kniga.
U men' est% kniga.
• General questions.
As you have noticed the structures of the declarative sentences and the general questions are the same. There is a difference in intonation only.
Example,
On =itaet knigu. - He reads a book.
On =itaet knigu? - Does he read a book?
U nego est% karandaw? - Has he got a pencil?
Da, u nego est% karandaw. - Yes, he has got a pencil.
There is no equivalence of the English operators ( do, have etc.) in Russian.
