Russian A1, Unit 5: I am a student: sentences without “to be”

I am a student: sentences without “to be”

Russian A1 · Unit 5

GoalSay who you are and what you do, without a word for “am, is, are”.

New words

студе́нт (studént) · student (man)студе́нтка (studéntka) · student (woman)учи́тель (uchítelʹ) · teacher (man)учи́тельница (uchítelʹnitsa) · teacher (woman)врач (vrach) · doctorинжене́р (inzhenér) · engineerшко́льник (shkólʹnik) · schoolboyшко́льница (shkólʹnitsa) · schoolgirl

Explanation

In the present tense Russian has no word for “am, is, are”. You simply put the person and the word together: Я студе́нт means “I am a student”. There is no word for “a” either. Between two nouns a dash can stand in for the missing verb: Ма́ша — студе́нтка. Many words for people have a masculine and a feminine form: студе́нт and студе́нтка, учи́тель and учи́тельница. A man says the masculine word about himself and a woman says the feminine one. Врач has one form for both.

Russian	Meaning
Я студе́нт.	I am a student (man).
Я студе́нтка.	I am a student (woman).
Он врач.	He is a doctor.
Она́ врач.	She is a doctor.

Worked examples

Кари́м

Приве́т! Я Кари́м. Я студе́нт.

Ни́на

Я Ни́на. Я учи́тельница.

A man and a woman say what they do. Press Listen on each line.

Three more sentences. There is no word for “is”.

Masculine and feminine forms of the same job.

Class activity

Who am I? Write four sentences about yourself and three people you know: Я…, Он…, Она́…, Мы…. Use the words of this lesson. Check that the feminine word is used for a woman. Read the sentences aloud.

Practice

Press Listen. This is a job word for a man. Write it.

Say “I am a student” if you are a man and if you are a woman.

Is there a word for “is” in Она́ учи́тельница? What does the sentence mean?

Make the feminine form of учи́тель.

Write in Russian: “He is a doctor.”

I, you, he, she; countries

I am a student: sentences without “to be”