The phrase “Да чё ты!”

Да чё ты + любой глагол

Нр.: Да чё ты очкуешь, да че ты смотришь на меня, да че ты тут делаешь и т.д.

So, well… In my personal opinion, this phrase can’t be purely translated into English, because it has some emotional meaning even if you just write it, without pronuncing with proper intonation

Be careful with this phrase, because it sounds like aggressive claim/pretention.

Usually it is used by low educated people or for the sake of a joke. Also, you can meet this phrase in films and series where you can also meet полиция and бандиты.

But! If you use after “да чё ты..!” any synonyms for the word “бояться”, so it sounds like incitement/provocation.

Нр.: Да чё ты боишься? Прыгай давай!

P.S. If you are confused by the word “чё (че)”, so don’t be, it’s just another version of “что” which is used by low educated people.

What to watch in russian language?

It’s a very good question! Thank you, Tiff!
So, russian television mostly is an adaptation of some European and American tv shows, serials and films. But! There are some really good stuff, that I would like to mention.
*it’s important that I chose shows, serials and films that *I* like, because you can easily find all this popular&well-known stuff on internet, but I want to show something that is worth watching in only my opinion:)

>>TV SHOWS<<

•Иван Ургант
And yes, everyone chooses it. But there are reasons why! 1 - it’s funny, 2 - you can watch it on YouTube for free (it updates everyday, so all series are fresh), 3 - it’s a very good version of Jimmy Fallon.
WATCH IT!

•StandUp на ТНТ
So, it’s standup on TNT. Everything is clear, I think. It’s funny and it’s a good practice of intermediate+ level (I watch English standups all the time :D)
And pay attention to the site of the channel “ТНТ”, there are the most interesting things for teens (in my opinion)
You also can watch Танцы на ТНТ, Импровизация, Comedy Club, Где логика? etc. You can find anything you want.

•Уральские пельмени
Old comedians with kind jokes about russian reality. It’s not THAT funny, but one of that things that you can watch to improve Russian language and understanding of our culture:)

>>SERIALS<<

•Измены
It’s a serial on TNT again. But it’s a good one, I mean picture and idea, just find it on internet and watch:)

•Закон каменных джунглей ZKD
It’s TNT production again :) It’s about some “bad” teens, maybe something like British “skins”.

•Нюхач
It’s something like idea of “Sherlock”, but the main character is a snuff-taker, he breathes in and finds important information. Maybe you will like it!:)

>>FILMS<<

I can’t help you with films. I, and the most part of russians, don’t watch our films. It’s not interesting, it’s awkward, clumsy. I can’t help you with it.
I don’t know any good modern russian film.


> If it is too difficult for you, try to watch cartoons
> if you have watched all of this, try to find films of not-russian production but with Russian voiceover
> remember of YouTube, there are a lot of Russian people:)

Diminutive suffixes in Russian language

So, they are called “уменьшительно-ласкательные суффиксы”. I think it’s easier to understand them if you translate the second word of their russian name in English - diminishing-affectionatesuffixes.
You see, these suffixes help you to show that this word, which you try to diminish is cute and little, that’s all:)

Actually, I think that all this suffixes sound like something “jumping”
You see, “ик, чик, ечк, еньк” sound like this diminished word is jumping, like a little ball, or like a little frog. It’s so small, it tries to jump away

In this case (and like in any case in Russian) you should just learn it by heart (зазубрить).

Good luck!

Ok, I didn’t want to talk about it, but I have met a lot of misconceptions about Russian obscene language, so I decided to touch on this topic.

•How to introduce your “bad language”?
> Извините меня за мой французский
Sorry *me for my french
> Как сказал один японский бог…
As Japanese god said…
> Я вообще не матерюсь, но тут….
Usually I don’t use obscene language, BUT…

•When can I use such words?
> Russians use it everywhere, like usual words, but only with friends and family, when we are in a formal situation, we don’t use obscene words (*usually;))

• Some rules
> You can change every obscene word into another part of speech. Absolutely. Verb-noun-adjective-adverb
> Women, especially old ones, become very angry when someone swears near them or in the dialogue with them. But actually, at home, they swear much more, than you can expect. Be careful:)
> Swearing in Russian language is a very emotional speech, the same word can show happiness and anger, pride and shame. Use your intonation;)

Ну всё блять, как-то ахуенно много получилось, пиздец, надеюсь, что хоть кто-то доебётся до конца.

There is an opinion, that we, Russians, can tell the whole life-story when someone asks “How are you?” and foreigners kinda don’t like it

There’s a reason why we do it:)

“Как дела?” is a chance to talk about yourself! It’s a chance to show yourself!
You can share your problems with your partner and you will know about his/her problems - what will make you think “my life isn’t so bad as I was thinking! Yeah!”

So, when you hear “Как дела?” you can complain about your life, but not too much :)
Try to say it in a funny way, but never end your answer with only “fine” or “ok”
It will be the end of your conversation, you will look like a closed person

We all know, that translation is “hello” and we use it in formal situations.
So, according to rules of pronunciation and etiquette, it sounds like “здравствуйте”
But we, Russians, are very lazy and we are also very busy (do you remember about our hands!?)

So, with time, “здравствуйте” turns into “драствуйте” then “драсьте” then “драсьть” with a heavy stress on “a” and eventually it sounds like you are barking.

This pronunciation shows if you are a foreigner - because you try to pronounce EVERY sound in this word. But, it shows that you respect that person which you are greeting. So, it’s good:)

The straight translation: Hands do not reach (hands do not come to)

The meaning: I need to do something, but it’s not interesting and I don’t want to do it. So, I’ll blame my hands, that they are very busy and they have no time for this thing.

A kind of procrastination. It’s usually connected with house work like “Make out (clean) the balcony”, “Knock out (clean) carpets”, “fix something”, “look at something to fix it” and etc.

The straight translation: yes no probably.
The meaning(through the example):
-Would you like a cup of tea?
- *YES I like tea, NO I don’t want to drink it right now, PROBABLY If you ask me again, I will say yes.*

So, the general meaning is polite conversational “no”

Ахахахаха - “oh, yes,yes, it’s funny!”
АХАХАХАХАХ - “OMG THE FUNNIEST THING EVER ”
Ехехехехех - “it’s funny, but not enough ”
Лол (лул, лал) - it’s a typical “lol” but you can change the vowel to any other vowel. This changing means nothing. It’s just…funny:)
ХД (хд, :D) - it’s the easiest way to laugh, as you understand it is “XD”

The translation: piroshki, buns, cakes.
The meaning: pieces of bread with something inside of them. For example: meat, jam, cabbage.
Most of them are very tasty. In families grandmothers usually bake them and teach the youngest child to bake them.
But it’s usually, not always

The translation: no problem The meaning: I am SO confident, I will do everything perfectly and nothing will stop me! Except these piroshki!!!!!