The verb «To be» — БЫТЬ is not used in present tense. For example, in English we say «I am a student» but in Russian we have to say «I student». The verb БЫТЬ exists for present tense but is not used, it has the form ЕСТЬ for all pronouns (Я ЕСТЬ, ТЫ ЕСТЬ and so on).
And one more thing — there are no articles (a, the) in the Russian language.
| Я СТУДЕНТ | I am a student |
| ТЫ ВОДИТЕЛЬ | You are a driver |
| ОН УЧИТЕЛЬ | He is a teacher |
| ОНА ЗДЕСЬ | She is here |
| МЫ ДОМА | We are home |
| ВЫ НА РАБОТЕ | You are at work |
| ОНИ В МАШИНЕ | They are in a car |
| ЭТО КОТ | It is a cat |
In order to build the interrogative form — just change intonation and add the question mark “?”.
EXAMPLES
Ты студент? Are you a student?
Я на работе? Am I at work?
Это кот? Is it a cat?
In order to make this simpler here is a picture demonstrating the prepositions in the two-dimensional space.
| В | In, to, into |
| НА | On, to, onto |
| К | To |
| ИЗ | From, out of |
| ОТ | From |
| НАД | Above, over |
| ПОД | Under |
| СЛЕВА(ЛЕВО) | Left of(left) |
| СПРАВА(ПРАВО) | Right of(right) |
| ВНУТРИ | Inside |
| СНАРУЖИ | Outside |
| СЗАДИ | Behind of |
| ЗА | Behind, for |
| МЕЖДУ | Between |
EXAMPLES
ЭТО САМОЛЁТ? НЕТ, ЭТО ВЕРТОЛЁТ Is it an airplane? No, this is a helicopter
Я ПРЫГАЮ НА БАТУТЕ I am jumping on the trampoline
ПРИНТЕР ПЕЧАТАЕТ БУМАГУ The printer prints paper
Я ИЗУЧАЮ ИНОСТРАННЫЙ ЯЗЫК I study a foreign language
Я ОБМЕНИВАЮ ДЕНЬГИ I exchange money (Деньги — money)
МАМА НЕ РАЗРЕШАЕТ ИГРАТЬ НА УЛИЦЕ Mom doesn’t let me play outdoors (На улице — outdoors)
ДИСК НЕ В КОМПЬЮТЕРЕ, ОН СНАРУЖИ The disk is not in the computer, this is outside
ОНИ В ДОМЕ They are in the house/they are at home
МЫ ЗДЕСЬ, НО ОНИ В ДРУГОМ ГОРОДЕ We are here but they are in another city (Но — but, другой — another)
МОЛОКО НА СТОЛЕ The milk is on the table
ОНА В АВТОБУСЕ She is in bus
ОН ЛЕТАЕТ НА САМОЛЁТЕ He flies by airplane
Have you noticed different nouns endings? If you didn’t — don’t worry! This subject will be considered in the lessons 6, 7, 8.