Welcome to the Russian is a Piece of Cake, today we’re going to learn some new words and phrases with one of the most famous movies of the Soviet Union that never gets old and which we still watch on every new year and not only... That’s the Irony of Fate “Ирония Судьбы".
Here's what we're going to do:
• watch a short scene from the beginning of the movie with Russian and English subtitles;
• then I'll walk you through the vocabulary I think you'll need the most.
Let’s get started!
🛈 Watch the video from 0:29 up to 1:29 for the scene.
Let's dive right into the vocabulary:
1. "Ты знаешь, я же делал уже предложение одной женщине."
"Делал предложение" in this example is masculine and is used in the past form, the infinitive is "делать предложение" - means to propose. The case we use with it is the Dative, that answers the question “Кому? Чему?» which is “to what?” or “to whom?”
For example,
«Я собираюсь сделать кате предложение.» - сделать (кому?) предложение - Кате.
I'm going to propose to Katya. - propose to whom? to Katya.
Let’s take a look at a scene from a Soviet movie called «Миллион в брачное корзине» which is “A million in a wedding basket”:
⏸ The lady says “Ты делаешь мне предложение?”, using the Dative case in between the words «делаешь (кому?) мне предложение»
The dative case can be put before the expression as well. See another example from the movie «Не может быть» - “Impossible” (sorry for the quality in the beginning on this one!)
⏸ «Я ей предложение сделал» - as he’s telling a story and feels excited telling the news, the words are used in reverse which is totally normal in Russian. Again, «сделал предложение» is used in the past form.
2. Now let's get to the next phrase:
"К моему великому изумлению, она согласилась."
"К моему изумлению", meaning astonishment or amazement, is a good way to express your surprise. By adding "великому" you make it sound more dramatic.
For example,
«К моему изумлению, там не было людей», — к (чему?) моему удивлению.
To my amazement, there were no people - to (what?) my azamement
⏸ Let's have a look at an example from the movie "Amadeus" - "Амадей":
Now, "изумление" is the same as "удивление" meaning "surprise/amazement", so we can say that "к моему изумлению" is the same as “к моему удивлению», only more often used.
For example,
Мы плохо подготовились, но, к моему удивлению, мы выиграли!
We didn't prepare well, but, to my amazement, we won!
* You can see the Dative case is used here as well:
К чему? - К моему изумлению.
3. "Но потом, когда я представил себе, что она будет жить в моей комнате, каждый день мелькать у меня перед глазами, ..."
Мелькать means "to flash", and that is "to move or pass very quickly".
A very common expression we use that word in is "жизнь мелькает перед глазами" - it's when "life flashes before your eyes" - when you suddenly remember many events from your life because you're in danger and even might die.
Take a look at a scene from the Tv series “Jane the virgin» - "Девственница".
Here the phrase is used in the infinitive form - "started to flash" - стала мелькать.
⏸ Let’s see how it would sound in the past form in the example from a very famous TV show "Симсоны" - The Simpsons.
As you can see our verb’s got a prefix here. It’s the right way to use this expression in the Past Tense. By adding про- you emphasize that it happened once and very quickly - «жизнь промелькнула перед глазами».
Про- prefix usually makes a verb perfective, so let’s take a look at these examples in Past Perfective:
проскользнул (which is masculine) or проскользнула (which is feminine) , meaning “slipped or snuck in”. For example,
Дима проскользнул в это здание вчера.
Dima snuck in the building yesterday.
Dima did it once and possibly very quickly, you don’t want to get caught, right?
пронёсся (m.) or пронеслась (f.) means swept through. For example
Ветер пронёсся по всему городу.
The wind swept through the whole city.
4. "Я не выдержал и сбежал в Ленинград".
"Не выдержал": so выдерживать is its infinitive form, means to stand or withstand. For example,
Я не могу выдерживать такую жару.
I can’t stand such heat.
Usually we specify what or who we can or cannot stand. But when we don't, it's used like "to break down" in English , and usually in its past form:
не выдержал (masculine);
не выдержала (feminine):
Она не выдержала и покинула зал.
She broke down and left the room. — meaning she couldn’t stand it (we are not saying what exactly) so she just left.
Let me show you one more example from a TV series called “in treatment” which in Russian is «Пациенты»:
5. "Она ведь намного младше меня".
Намного means much or way. But remember that it’s used BEFORE comparative adjectives, for example “much better”, “much more interesting” and so on.
Comparatives mostly end with suffix -ее, like in «красивее» which is formed from «красивая» (feminine) or «красивый» (masculine), though there are many irregular forms too, like in слаще (sweeter) formed from сладкая or сладкий (sweet):
ℹ️ Note that in comparatives the ending’s the same for both masculine and feminine.
In our example with Zhenya where he says that the girl is way younger than him — from «младшая» we form «младше»,
— so we take намного, then we add the comparative adjective - and we get "намного младше".
So, let’s look at some examples:
Эта книга намного интереснее, чем я думал.
Я уже чувствую себя намного лучше.
And another example from a TV show:
6. "С чего это я болван?"
С чего это....? — It’s a very good way to start a sentence when you’re feeling outraged. - In English it would start with “Why...?” or sometimes “How...?”.
This «это» doesn’t translate literally and adds some outrage.
С чего это ты захотела это сделать? - Why would you want to do that?
С чего это она будет победителем? - Why does she get to be the winner?
Let’s see how it’s used in a dialogue by watching a Soviet movie called “Не может быть", which in English is “Impossible”:
7. By the way, remember the phrase we learnt in the beginning? See how it‘s used again in the very end of this Irony of Fate scene:
"Когда делают предложение одной женщине, то не вспоминают про другую."
That's all the phrases I wanted to teach you from this particular scene, feel free to write your own sentences in the comments below and also let me know which words or expressions you didn't know about before. Also here's the full video if you want to watch it too - and of course if you find it useful give a thumbs up and make sure you subscribe to my channel.
Увидимся, ребята! Пока-пока! :)
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