Russian Word a Day

По русскому слову каждый день

[haxyr3]

This pun shows how important stresses are in Russian.

бе́лка - squirrel (бе́лки - plural, squirrels) бело́к - protein; белки́ в бе́лке - proteins in a squirrel ; бе́лки в белке́ - squirrels in protein.

[haxyr3]

Привет! I have a question that I need help with. Why is it "стучать ПО дереву", "стучать В дверь", and "стучать В окна"? I am confused about the usage of ПО and В in these phrases. Is there a way to know which preposition to use along with стучать? Спасибо!

Привет! Good question! 

Стучать по дереву - по here is a preposition for “on a some sort of surface”. For example, ходить ПО воде - to walk on water. 

Стучать в двери, стучать в окна - it’s not about the surface of the door or windows. In English, it would be “knock ON doors and windows”, but in Russian, you knock “into” them. 

It is absolutely grammatically correct to say “стучать по двери” or “стучать по окнам”, but that would mean “to produce some sound by hitting the surface of a door/ windows,” - just for the sake of it. For “signalling to the people in the house that you want to get inside” you should use стучать в окна, стучать в двери.  

[dailyrussian]

Brooklyn 99

хозяин - (n) boss, chief, employer; landlord; owner, proprietor настроение - (n) emotions, mood, spirits чудак - (n) strange person, eccentric спор - (n) dispute, controversy, argument преступник - (n) criminal саботаж - (n) sabotage полиция - (n) police

[dailyrussian]

саботаж - (n) sabotage

[dailyrussian]

преступник - (n) criminal

[dailyrussian]

спор - (n) dispute, controversy, argument

[dailyrussian]

чудак - (n) strange person, eccentric

[dailyrussian]

настроение - (n) emotions, mood, spirits

[dailyrussian]

хозяин - (n) boss, chief, employer; landlord; owner, proprietor

[dailyrussian]

флирт и знакомства - flirting and dating

Review/Oбзор

завистливый - (adj) envious бескорыстный - (adj) unselfish бескорыстный труд - labor of love ценить - (v) to appreciate, to value highly вздыхать/вздохнуть - (v) to sigh; to yearn for, to pine after ухаживать - (v) to take care of, to look after; to court, to date заигрывать/заиграть - (v) to flirt; to make advances сердце - (n) heart; temper; anger; darling, love, sweetheart пара - (n) couple, pair

New Words/Hовые Cлова

рот - (n) mouth знакомый - (adj.) familiar, acquainted (with); (n) acquaintance, friend любить/полюбить - (v) to love, to like, to be fond of страсть - (n) passion; strong love; strong obsession with, attraction to some activity

[dailyrussian]

заигрывать/заиграть - (v) to flirt; to make advances

[dailyrussian]

ухаживать - (v) to take care of, to look after; to court, to date

[dailyrussian]

вздыхать/вздохнуть - (v) to sigh; to yearn for, to pine after

[dailyrussian]

ценить - (v) to appreciate, to value highly

[dailyrussian]

бескорыстный - (adj) unselfish бескорыстный труд - labor of love

[dailyrussian]

завистливый - (adj) envious

[dailyrussian]

наречия - adverbs

Review/Oбзор

страшно - (adv) terrifyingly; very, very badly тотчас - (adv) immediately, at once наверняка - (adv) certainly, for sure; safely весело - (adv) happily, merrily, cheerfully безполезно - (adv) uselessly вдруг - (adv) suddenly

New Words/Hовые Cлова

чудно - (adv) wonderfully, beautifully мрачно - (adv) gloomily, dismally только - (adv) only, but уже - (adv) already