НАХУЯЗ

- Cyrill? - Yes, Methodius? - Cyrillic? After all the work we've done together? - Well, Cyrillomethodics would be too bulky. - Why not Methodic? - Nothing personal, I just picked the one that comes first in the alphabet. -But you're the one who came up with this alphabet, you son of a bitch!!

New post on the blog.

"I know hundreds of words. I still can't build a sentence."

This is one of the most common frustrations in language learning — and it has almost nothing to do with vocabulary or grammar.

In my new article, I write about why native speakers don't actually think in words, what they use instead, and which practices helped me go from memorizing lists to writing a blog in English. (And passing IELTS. And eventually being trusted with tasks requiring native-like fluency, which still terrifies me.)

I can't keep this to myself! Look what arrived in my mailbox today — Hercule Poirot, Mon Dieu, guarding my printer with that expression of barely contained disapproval. My printer has never had more dignity.

I am so lucky to have the most talented friends. Thank you, @strohller27! 💙

New post is up on my blog: a case study, how Russian can be taught without saying a single word in "Grammarian"

One of my students walked into our first lesson and said: "I don't want grammar terminology. I just want to speak Russian."

So I threw out the lesson plan and started over.

19 lessons. No grammar yada-yada. One family reunion.

Спасибо вам большое за всё что делаете!

Здравствуйте! Какой хороший вопрос! Но мне кажется, вы имели в виду "объяснения", не "объявления". Мне проще показать различия на картинках. Это яма — a pit, a hole in the ground (always below the surface, open at the top)

Это дырка — a hole in a material — fabric, sock, wall — usually from damage or wear

Это отверстие — an opening, an aperture — more technical or intentional; a designed gap rather than a torn one

And there is another word — нора, burrow, a hole an animal lives in.

Hi @goldiebear04! The difference is grammatical gender. Друг is the masculine form — but it also functions as the unmarked, default word for "friend" regardless of gender. So you can say:

Она — мой хороший друг. — She is my good friend. Мы просто друзья. — We are just friends. (genders unspecified)

Подруга is the feminine form and refers exclusively to a female person:

Она — моя лучшая подруга. — She's my best friend. (explicitly female) Мы с детства были подругами. — We've been friends since early childhood. (explicitly female)

As for fiancés — yes, Russian has dedicated words! Жених (m) and невеста (f) cover both the engaged and the wedding-day meanings, so context usually makes it clear:

У неё жених в Москве. — She has a fiancé in Moscow. От него невеста ушла. — His fiancée left him. Какое красивое платье у невесты! — What a beautiful dress the bride has!

Two words that look like translations of each other. They aren't.

The asymmetry that matters most:

Intimacy in English has a strong vertical axis — it implies depth, interiority, access to a hidden self. It's almost architectural: you are inside something that is normally closed. This is why it so easily slides toward the erotic — not because sex is intimacy, but because physical union became the dominant cultural metaphor for inner access.

Близость operates primarily on a horizontal axis — it's about proximity, adjacency, being near. The root говорит сам за себя: близко. You can have близость with a landscape, a historical period, a musical style. «Мне близок этот автор» costs nothing emotionally — it just means resonance, alignment, being on the same frequency.

The revealing test cases:

«Духовная близость» — works perfectly, even feels elevated. «Spiritual intimacy» — works but immediately sounds either therapeutic or slightly precious.

«Физическая близость» — the standard Russian euphemism for sex, almost clinical in its neutrality. «Physical intimacy» — same euphemism, but warmer, more invested in the emotional framing.

«Мне близки его взгляды» — no translation using intimacy would work here at all.

The cultural loading:

English intimacy carries Romantic-era and psychotherapeutic sediment — the self as an interior chamber, relationships measured by how much access they grant. «Настоящая близость» doesn't quite have this burden. It's closer to being genuinely near, which can be physical, spiritual, intellectual, without implying you've been let in somewhere.

The interesting gap:

Russian needs близость + a qualifier to specify what kind of nearness. English intimacy already presupposes the qualifier — it's almost always about the inner dimension by default.

Which means English speakers reach for intimacy when they want to signal depth, and Russian speakers reach for близость when they want to signal connection of any register.

Hi! Oh, this is a very interesting question!

A typical textbook explanation when to use and when to avoid “есть” is the following:

When you speak about having as a fact of possessing, then use есть. У парня есть машина = the boyfriend possesses a car.

When you describe some features of the object, then drop есть. I don’t own blue eyes, they are my feature, hence “есть” should be dropped; otherwise the sentence would say that I am in possession of a couple of blue eyes, and these eyes are not a part of my face. 

Some explanations also mention that if having something is optional, i.e. you may or may not have something, then use есть. If having it is normal and expected, drop есть. For example, having a heart and eyes is rather normal and expected for humans, so есть should be dropped. 

These explanations are correct, and if you follow these rules, namely, есть for possessing something and no есть for describing an object, then most often, you’ll make correct, non-confusing sentences in Russian. But there are some nuances you should be aware of. 

У бабушки всегда есть вкусное варенье. 

VS

У бабушки всегда вкусное варенье. 

Surprisingly, these two sentences have very different meanings and convey very different messages. The first one, with есть, says that grandma always has delicious jam. And whenever you come to visit her, you know, there is a small jar with a delicious jam in her pantries. The second sentence, without есть, says that your grandma’s jam is always delicious. It doesn’t mean that she always has one, but when she makes it, it always turns out to be the best jam you’ve ever tried. 

В Китае дешёвый интернет.  

VS 

В Китае есть дешёвый интернет. 

The first sentence (without есть) states that the internet in China is cheap. The second sentence argues that some of the Internet providers in China may offer cheap Internet, and it is possible to find good deals, but it wouldn’t be true to say that the internet in China is always cheap. Be cautious when using есть in sentences like this one, because you can easily turn a compliment into offense. 

В твоём проекте профессиональные специалисты.

VS

В твоём проекте есть профессиональные специалисты.

The first sentence praises the professionalism of the talents you attracted to your project, while the second admits that yeah, there are some professionals among the staff that work on your project. 

В правительстве умные, честные люди. 

VS

В правительстве есть умные, честные люди. 

The first sentence says that the people in the government are smart and honest, while the second sentence is more realistic stating that some of the people in the government can be smart and honest. 

And a few more examples: 

У меня новый телефон! = I am bragging that I have a new phone. 

У меня есть новый телефон. Не покупай мне ещё один, не надо! = I am saying that I already have a new phone, and I don’t need another one. 

У тебя талант! = You are a talented person! You are fascinating! 

У тебя есть талант, занимайся каждый день, и всё получится! =  You do have a talent, please, don’t give up, just practice daily, and it’ll come to you! 

У него много интересных фильмов! = He has a large collection of great movies! 

У него есть много интересных фильмов! = In his movie collection, there are quite a lot of interesting movies. 

У них в холодильнике мыши! = Ouch, mice infested their fridge!

У них в холодильнике есть мыши. = They store mice in their fridge (to feed their pet owl, for example). 

У него пять машин и вилла за городом. = He is a rich guy. 

У него есть пять машин и вилла за городом. = This is what he listed in his tax declaration form.  

Thank you!

It's easier to illustrate the answer than explain the difference with words 😄

These are тарелки. The top one is тарелка для супа. See these wide brims? This is тарелка.

A bowl without brims? Миска! This is миска супа.

This is чашка. It's what I'd call a cup. Under the cups are блюдца (блюдце for singular).

This is кружка, a mug.

And this is стакан, a glass.

Well, it's like animal vs beast. Животное, animal, is a neutral word that fits most contexts, from scientific papers to family fights. Зверь doesn't fit in the science articles. And зверь in it's figurative meaning refers to someone brutal.

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