INTERMEDIATE RUSSIAN:
A GRAMMAR AND WORKBOOK
Intermediate Russian: A Grammar and Workbook comprises an acces-
sible and practical grammar with related exercises in a single volume.
Using a wide variety of texts from Russian sources, Intermediate Russian
enables students to gain an insight into contemporary Russian society
and culture whilst strengthening their fluency in the language. Its 18 units
present a broad range of grammatical topics, illustrated by examples
which serve as models for the wide-ranging and varied exercises
that follow. These exercises enable the student to master the relevant
grammar points.
Features include:
• tests and exercises reflecting contemporary spoken Russian
• concise grammatical explanations
• full key to the exercises
• detailed index
Intermediate Russian, like its sister volume, Basic Russian, is ideal for
both independent study and use in class. The two books comprise a
compendium of the essentials of Russian grammar.
John Murray and Sarah Smyth are Lecturers in Russian at Trinity
College, Dublin.
Titles of related interest published by Routledge
Basic Russian: A Grammar and Workbook
by John Murray and Sarah Smyth
Colloquial Russian: The Complete Course for Beginners
by Svetlana Le Fleming and Susan E. Kay
Russian Learners’ Dictionary
by Nicholas Brown
INTERMEDIATE RUSSIAN:
A GRAMMAR AND

ISBN 0-203-18457-2 (Glassbook Format)
To Stanford and Francesca

CONTENTS
Introduction xi
Acknowledgements xiii
Sources xv
Lists of abbreviations xvii
Interacting
1 Naming, greetings and congratulating 1
Naming
Functions: greetings and congratulating
Letter etiquette
Function: пусть
2 Thanking, apologising, requesting and advising 16
Thanking
Apologising
Asking a third party to do something: просить/попросить
Giving advice: советовать/посоветовать
Phone etiquette
3 Possession, desire and making suggestions 25
Expressing possession: у меня
Expressing desire/subjunctive: чтобы
Making suggestions: modals
Verbal nouns: -ание, -ение
Infinitive constructions: написать ей письмо?
Partitive genitive: налить вам водки?
4 Seeking and giving clarification 37
The interrogative: какой
Relative clauses 1: который, кто, что

Aspects: use of the present tense in a narrative
Figurative meanings of verbs of motion
Punctuation: parenthetic words and expressions
Naming places and objects
Adverbs of degree: немного, etc.
9 Anecdote 90
Adverbs of time
Aspects: use of the present tense in narrative
Prefixed verbs of motion: выйти and уйти
Ellipsis
Word order: subject and predicate
viii Contents
Punctuation: nouns in apposition
Adverbs of purpose: пойду запишусь, чтобы
The comparative degree of adjectives
Adverbs: гораздо
10 Biographical sketch 101
Lexis: владеть
Adverbs of time: dates
Adverbs of cause: по, за, из
Aspects in biographies
Lexis: verbs commonly used to express death
Aspects: the prefixes по- and про-
Past passive participle (short form)
Adverbs used as predicates
Word order: adverbs of time
Alphabetisms
11 News items 114
Adverbs of time: telling the time
Approximation and exactitude

The reciprocal pronoun друг друга
‘Any’ (любой)
‘The same’ (одно и то же)
15 Compound nouns and imperfective gerund 158
Lexis and word building: compound nouns
Imperfective gerund
Lexis and idioms: wearing and wears
16 Aspects and perfective gerund 166
Aspects in foregrounding and backgrounding
Irregular nouns
Comparative degree of adverbs
Perfective gerund
Aspects in the past tense
17 Negation and numerals 178
Negative pronouns
Negative adverbs: некогда/никогда
Word building раз-/рас-
Declension of numerals
18 Participles 192
Present active participle
Past active participle
Present participles as nouns
Present participles as adjectives
Key to exercises 200
Index 215
x Contents
INTRODUCTION
This grammar and workbook is intended for learners of Russian at an
intermediate stage or for those who want to refresh their knowledge of the
grammar. It is suited for people studying on their own and for those partici-

of motion
• word order: the positioning of adverbial phrases and clauses
• punctuation between clauses
• expressing cause and purpose
• establishing and maintaining a relationship with one’s audience.
In Part 3 we look at various ways of describing objects, people and events.
Whereas in the previous part the focus was on narrative – which presupposes
change and a certain dynamism – in this part the focus is both on the lin-
guistic means available in Russian for conveying the static and on the features
which characterise (as in a still) the participants and their environment. The
units in this part are structured according to syntactic categories, and each
unit looks at the various parts of speech used to describe objects, people or
events. Each of the six units looks at aspects of the following:
• the use of noun phrases: compound nouns, numerals and nouns, prep-
ositional phrases
• the use of adjectives: degree, predicative and attributive adjectives
• the use of verbal forms: participles, gerunds, aspects, impersonal con-
structions, negation.
In reading the extended texts and doing the exercises that follow, students
will not only consolidate their knowledge of grammatical structures, but also
develop their vocabulary in a wide variety of areas related to Russian life.
The material used in both explanations and exercises is taken largely
from contemporary Russian publications and literature. The answers to all
exercises are provided in the key.
While the areas of language covered in each section overlap to some extent,
it will be seen that each deals with the grammatical, functional and discourse
characteristics of the particular text types in question. Cross-references are
supplied where appropriate, both within Intermediate Russian and to Basic
Russian.
Learners at both intermediate and advanced level will find Intermediate

язык», Moscow, 1998
Melts M.Ya., Mitrofanova V.V. and Shapovalova G.G., Пословицы
поговорки загадки, «Академия наук СССР», Moscow/Leningrad, 1961
Rozanova V.V. (ed.), Краткий толковый словарь русского языка, «Русский
язык», Moscow, 1988
Shanskiy N.M. (ed.), 4000 наиболее употребительных слов русского
языка, «Русский язык», Moscow, 1978
Wheeler Marcus, The Oxford Russian–English Dictionary, Clarendon Press,
Oxford, 1972, 2nd edn 1984
Zolotova G.A., Синтактический словарь, «Наука», Moscow, 1988
Grammars
Borras F.M. and Christian R.F., Russian Syntax, 2nd edition, Clarendon
Press, Oxford, 1979
Pulkina I. and Zakhava-Nekrasova E., Russian, translated from the Russian
by V. Koroty, 2nd edn, «Русский язык», Moscow, (no date)
Unbegaun B.O., Russian Grammar, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1957
Wade Terence, A Comprehensive Russian Grammar, Blackwell, Oxford, 1992
Course books
Akushina A.A. and Formanskaya N.I., Русский речевой этикет, 3rd edn,
«Русский язык», Moscow, 1982
Akushina A.A. and Formanskaya N.I., Этикет русского письма, 3rd edn,
«Русский язык», Moscow, 1986
xvi Sources
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
LIST OF ENGLISH-LANGUAGE ABBREVIATIONS
acc. accusative case
dat. dative case
f. feminine
gen. genitive case
impf. imperfective aspect

NAMING
There are a number of ways to address a person in Russian, each of which
depends on the relationship between the people concerned:
First name
Includes the following forms:
• Diminutive form (Витя, Володя, Катя, Серёжа, Оля, . . .) is used to
address children and friends (from one’s peer group). One would also use
the pronoun ты with these groups of people.
• Long form (Виталий, Владимир, Eкатерина, Сергей, Ольга, . . .) is
rarely used and is one way in which foreigners can be identified.
• Long form and patronymic (Виталий Максимович, Владимир
Петрович, Eкатерина Михайловна, . . .) is used by younger people to
address older or senior people whom they do not know very well or with
whom they are on formal terms. It is normal for the older person to
decide when it is appropriate to change how the younger person
addresses them. It is not unusual for the older person to address the
younger person by the first name only. The first name and patronymic is
also used between adults who do not know one another well or who wish
to remain on formal terms. When addressing someone by his or her first
name and patronymic, the pronoun Вы is used.
Surname only
(Сидоров, Мартынов, Образцова, . . .) Restricted to special areas such as
education, where a teacher or lecturer might address a student in this manner.
In post-primary and higher education it is usual in such cases for the pronoun
Вы to be used. Officers may also address subordinates (privates) by their
patronymic only using the familiar ты pronoun. Occasionally close friends or
colleagues address one another using either only the surname or only the
patronymic form.
Addressing groups
The following forms of address are common:

7 Дорогие
—
, давайте поднимем тост за гостей!
8
—
! Вам письмо от жены.
Addressing strangers
When addressing strangers, the following forms are common:
• a young man (in a cafe, restaurant, on the street): молодой человек
• a young woman (in a cafe, restaurant, on the street): девушка
• a young boy: мальчик
• a young girl: девочка
2 Unit 1
• a man or woman whose status or function is known: господин/госпожа +
their function:
Господин премьер-министр ‘Prime Minister’
Госпожа посол ‘(Madam) Ambassador’
Exercise 2
Identify where each of the exchanges might take place by matching the
numbers in each column.
Polite formulae
Examples such as:
Скажите, пожалуйста, ‘Could you tell me, please, ’; or
Извините, ‘Excuse me, ’
are often used without any attempt to name the person one is addressing,
such as when asking directions on the street.
Exercise 3
Identify where each of the requests might take place by matching the
numbers in each column.
1 Молодой человек, где тут касса?iна улице

Likely forms used to refer to someone with whom both speakers had a
formal relationship would be:
• deferential use of the name and patronymic:
Михаил Петрович заболел. ‘Mikhail Petrovich is ill.’
• jocularly disrespectful use of the surname/patronymic only:
Головкин/Петрович заболел. ‘Golovkin/Petrovich is ill.’
• jocular use of the diminutive form of the first name:
Миша заболел. ‘Misha’s sick.’
In the newspaper interview with Naina Yeltsina (see Unit 4), the absent Boris
Yeltsin is referred to as Борис Николаевич, both by the interviewer, who is
not personally acquainted with him, and by the then president’s wife:
Жчрналчст: А кто книжник — ‘And who’s the book worm,
Вы или Борис Николаевич? you or Boris Nikolaevich?’
Наина Ельзина: Книжник — ‘Boris Nikolaevich is the
Борис Николаевич. book worm.’
When referring to a third person in a title, such as a newspaper headline, it
is nоrmal to use the name and surname only, such as in the headline to
the Naina Yeltsina interview: Обозреватель «Эха Москвы» Андрей
Черкизов беседовал с Наиной Ельциной (‘“Echo of Moscow” commentator
Andrey Cherkizov interviews Naina Yeltsina’). Use of the surname only is
also common: Уроки Примакова (‘Primakov’s Lessons’).
Exercise 4
Match the beginning and end of the following newspaper headlines.
1 Последний президент России?iСталина с Гитлером
2 МиГ — ii променяла свой талант?
3 Как готовили встречу iii Отвечает врач Александра
Андреева
4 На что Лариса Долина iv до Герострата
5Eсть ли какие-то эффективные
успокоительные препараты?

«Биржевая площадь».
4 Раньше называлась «улица (Киров)», а теперь называется
«Мясницкая улица».
5 Раньше называлась «улица (Чернышевский)», а теперь называется
«улица Покровка».
6 Раньше называлась «набережная (Максим Горький)», а теперь
называется «Космодамианская набережная».
Unit 1 5
Имя, имени
To say that some public place is named after someone or something, the place
is followed by имени (gen. sg. of имя (‘name’)):
Театр имени Пушкина ‘The Pushkin Theatre’
Имени is frequently shortened to им.: Театр им. Пушкина.
Exercise 6
Test your knowledge of public places in Moscow by matching the columns.
Имя, от имени
To say that one is speaking on behalf of someone else, use the expression
от имени (gen. sg. of имя) followed by the name of the person or people in
the gen. case:
Я выступаю от имени всех коллег. ‘I am speaking on behalf of all my
colleagues.’
Exercise 7
Match the contents of both columns, putting the names in brackets into the
appropriate case.
1 Московский государственный
университет
i имени Образцова
2 Государственный театр
кукол
ii имени Пушкина (ГМИИ)