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A quick grammar reference: what -ся may mean and how to use it.

You have no clue how happy I am to be able to translate Improvisation for you guys again! Here's another great episode.

Find yourself a partner who talks about you the same way the last guy talks about his girlfriend (´｡• ᵕ •｡`) ♡

Dmitri Prigov’s visual poetry

Dmitri Prigov (1940-2007) was a Russian conceptual poet, artist, and dissident. One of the things he is famous for is his стихограммы (стих ‘poem’ + грамма (’gram’, a part of words like phonogram or program, from Greek γράμμα ‘recording’)) 

I don’t understand much about poetry, and probably neither do you, but I mean look at that 

Как я весел! Как я мил! – How cheerful I am! How nice I am! Смерть рядом – Death is near

Ин вино веритас – ‘In vino veritas’ (Latin), In wine there is truth А в пиве что? – And what’s there in beer?

В начале было слово, и слово было у Бога, и слово было Бог (сentral circle) – In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God  И свет во тьме светит – And the light shines in the darkness

Если враг не сдается, его уничтожают – If the enemy does not surrender, he must be destroyed Нет – No Враг – Enemy

И восстанут они все из могил своих, и призовут нас всех к ответу – And then they will all rise up from their graves and bring us all to justice

RUSSIAN TEA VOCAB/ ALL THE NUANCES EXPLAINED

ча́й - the drink itself and a product in the store

ча́йная зава́рка or simply зава́рка - dry tea leaves in the packaging

ча́йный паке́тик - teabag

крупнолистово́й чай - whole-leave grade of tea

чаи́нка (the plural form чаи́нки is more common since usually there is more than one of them in your tea) - fannings, wet pieces of tea leaves or tea dust which fell into the tea

де́лать чай - to make tea. The construction is widely used and describes the process of making tea from any tea product i.e. leaves, tea bags.

ста́вить ча́йник - put on a kettle It is not common to say включи́ть чайник

поста́вь ча́йник = поста́вь во́ду - boil some water in kettle (usually for the tea)

я уже́ поста́вила ча́йник, ско́ро бу́дем пи́ть чай - I’ve already put the kettle on, we’ll have tea soon

зава́ривать (чай) - to brew. One of the steps of the process of tea making (usually from whole-leave grades of tea) when tea leaves are poured with hot water and left for a few minutes in the teapot. The process requires time as tea leaves need time to release natural chemicals. When it is happening the Russians say чай зава́ривается, i.e. the tea is being brewed.

зава́ривать ка́шу (to cook kasha) = to cause a situation that brings about troublesome or unpleasant consequences ну и ка́шу же ты завари́л! - what a mess you’ve made!

but! вари́ть ка́шу = to cook kasha

наста́ивать (чай) - to infuse. The idea of the process of настаивание is to wait longer than usual so the taste becomes strong enough. This verb can be used to explain the same process while preparing herbal teas and infusions.

Remember that this verb has two meanings!!! наста́ивать - to insist

подожди́, чай ещё не завари́лся = подожди́, чай ещё не настоя́лся - wait, the tea is not brewed yet

остужа́ть (чай) - to cool the tea down

электри́ческий чайник/электроча́йник - electric kettle

зава́рочный ча́йник - teapot

ча́шка = кру́жка - cup/mug traditionally ча́шка is the elegant cup with a special design, usually a part of a tea set. Кру́жка (mug) usually has a shape of a cylinder and larger than a regular cup. Now the differences are almost forgotten so you can use any word of your choice when you talk about tableware. But! It is always ча́шка/ча́шечка чая - a cup of tea

блю́дце - saucer

ча́йная ло́жка - teaspoon

ча́йный серви́з - tea set

моло́чник - milk jug

са́харница - sugar bowl

чай с са́харом (мёдом, варе́ньем, молоко́м, лимо́ном) - tea with sugar (honey, jam, milk, lemon)

#russian

I was reading something and came across this period: "Потомучто ты уже развосемь проштрафилась". I threw it in google translator, but the result didn't make a lot of sense to me lol. Can you please help me understand? Amazing blog, btw :)

Hi, sure thing!

I'm assuming it's the word "проштрафилась" that Google wasn't able to translate. It's a verb that comes from the noun "штраф" (fine, penalty). Про- is a prefix which indicates that the action was done particular number of times or in a particular period of time (e. g. "проговорить целый час, проделать два раза за неделю" etc.)

With all this information, "Потому что ты уже раз восемь проштрафилась" basically means "Its because you've already got a fine ticket like eight times now".

Hope I helped :)

Russian Idiom: как не знаю кто

Как не знаю кто often cannot be translated directly. It is an idiom meaning “to the extreme degree, too much”. “Я не знаю кто”, literally, I don’t know who, implies that any comparisons with other people or other events would be too weak, too pale. “I don’t know who could be as [something] as you are now”

Here are a few examples for you (thanks, Reverso Context) : 

Эти девушки смотрели на тебя как не знаю кто. These girls have been lookin’ at you like I don’t know what.

Нет, я еду домой, вымотался как не знаю кто. No, I’m going home. I’m completely soaked. 

Надевает наушники и радуется, как не знаю кто. He’s listening on his headsets, happy as a clam.

Ты пьяна как не знаю кто. You’re really drunk.

Воевали как я не знаю кто, чтобы сделать это. You have fought through hell to do so. 

This story always makes me laugh. I just thought the internet needs to see this.

The original video: https://youtu.be/MHkgXL3DTmw