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Lesson 1. УРОК ПЕРВЫЙ

Vowels а [а], о [о], у [у], э [э], и [и], ы [ы]

There are only six vowels in stressed position: [а], [о], [у], [э], [и], [ы]. All Russian vowels, except [ы], have English counterparts:

Ex. 1. Read these sounds. Don't forget that Russian vowels are shorter than their English counterparts: "park", "sort", "look", "feet". In the pronunciation of the Russian [о], [у] the lips are more rounded and tense in the pronunciation of their English counterparts.

а - а - а!	о - о - о!	у - у - у!

In the pronunciation of the vowel [ы] the bulk of the tongue is retracted from the front teeth while the back of the tongue is raised. The lips are passive, motionless.

Ex 2. Read these vowels. Watch the position of the tongue and the lips.

In the Russian every vowel taken separately or in combination with consonants forms a syllable. Two vowels form two syllables.

The second syllable is to be stressed. Pronounce the pre-srtess vowel on the usual pitch. Lower the pitch on the stressed vowel. Read the syllables.

уа! ( у - а! )	ау! ( а - у! )

The Russian hard consonants correspond to the English consonants. However, the Russian consonant /п/ resembles the English /p/ but it is never aspirated.

м [м] = [m] smoke б [б] = [b] bearded п [п] = [p] tobacco-pipe в [в] = [v] sailing vessel ф [ф] = [f] photograph

Ex. 3. Read. Differentiate the vowels.

- Бэ!	- Паф!

- Уф!	- Му-му!

Ex. 4. Read. The tip of the tongue is pressed against the back of the upper incisors. The consonant [т] never aspirated.

Don't forget that in the articulation of the Russian /т/, /д/, /н/ the tip of the tongue is pressed not against the teethridge but against the back of the upper incisors! The combinations of vowels with consonant /н/ always are pronounced as two sounds!

Ex. 5. Read.

Ex. 6. Read and remember the pronouns.you                    вы you                       мы we

ты

is used in addressing                     is used in addressing

children, friends                            a number of persons or a polite form

Ex.7. Read.

з [з] = [z] peasant с [c] = [s] artist г [г] = [g] go, grove к[к] = [c,k] cloud, colour	за - зэ - зо - зу - зы са - сэ - со - су - сы га - го - гу ка - ко - ку; ак - ок - ук

Ex. 8. Read.

сон - sleep	суп - soup	ус - moustache	зонт - umbrella

, , - кафе [кафэ]   - ice cream

сук - branch	сок - juice

дом - house, куст - bush мост - bridge	кот - cat

Stressed and unstressed vowels. Reduction of unstressed vowels

In Russian every word has the stress. One syllable of the word is stressed. The vowel of this syllable is stressed. Another vowels of a word are unstressed. In order to pronounce a stressed vowel it is not necessary to raise the pitch, one should only intensify this sound, pronounce with more energy and longer than other sounds of a word. Listening to Russian speech it is possible to notice that while stressed vowels are distinct and definite unstressed vowels, besides the quality of the sounds /a/, /o/ greatly changes. Therefore their pronunciation differs from their spelling. For example, in the word Москва the first unstressed vowel "o" is pronounced as a short sound /a/ - /^/. In the other unstressed syllables a, o are pronounced as a very short sound а - ы [ъ]: потому /път^му/ because.

letter	A stressed vowel	At the be- ginning of a word /^/	1 pre- stressed syllable /^/	All the other unstressed syllables /ъ/	In the ab- solute end of the word /^/, /ъ/
а о	[а] там [о] дом	, Антон , она	, банан , вода	, садовод , потому , замок	, мама , это

Ex. 9. Read. Pay attention to the stress.

, замок - lock	, замок - castle

A word may consist only of the stressed part - дом (house), of the pre-stressed and stressed parts - Москва? (Moscow), of the stressed and post-stressed parts - комната (room). The stressed part consists of only one syllable.

The pre-stressed and post-stressed parts may consist of some syllables. The pre-stressed part of a word is usually pronounced on a middle pitch. The pitch changes in the stressed and the post-stressed parts. When you name the word, in the stressed part the pitch is lowered.

Ex. 10. Listen the words. Pay attention to the stress.

и      and
вот    here
тут    here
там    there
он     he

  ,
она   she
  ,
оно   it for neuter
   ,
вода  water
   ,
окно  window

,
это      this, there
 ,
мама    mum
 ,
папа    dad
 ,
дома at home

The Gender of Nouns

Russian nouns belong to one of the three genders: masculine, feminine or neuter. Nouns denoting animated objects are either masculine or feminine. Nouns denoting inanimate objects are any of the three genders. The gender of a noun is determined by the final letter of the word: a hard consonant corresponds to the masculine nouns; the vowels a and я correspond to the feminine nouns; the vowels o and е correspond to the neuter nouns.

Masculine (m)	Feminine (f)	Neuter
он            ,          Иван           ,          папа          дом	она          ,          Анна           ,          мама               ,          Москва	,         оно            ,        окно

The Nominative Case

Russian nouns are declined, i.e. they take different endings on their function in the sentence. There are six cases in Russian: the nominative, the genitive, the dative, the accusative, the instrumental and the prepositional.

The nominative is the first case of nouns in the article of the dictionary. The nominative denotes the subject in the sentence and answers the questions:

                 ,    ,   ,
Who is this? Кто это? Это Анна.

                     ,    ,     ,
Who is at home?

In Russian there are sentences in which the subject and predicate are expressed by the nouns in the nominative case:

                    ,       ,      ,     ,       ,      
                    Анна – мама. Иван – папа. Антон - сын.

.      This is a house.           ,     ,           Это Иван.    This is Ivan.               ,            Он дома.      He is at home.

The First Intonational Construction (ИК-1)

ИК-1 is most vividly seen when one express the completeness of the narrative sentences:

         ,    ,
        Это

мама.  This is mummy.           ,  ,         Она дома.     She is at home.

First of all it is necessary to learn to pronounce correctly the pre-stressed, stressed and post-stressed parts of ИК-1.

, Анна , мама	, Иван  , папа	, Антон сын

 

Omission in the Present Tense of the Equivalent of the English Verb “TO BE”

          ,
          Это

The center of ИК-1 (one syllable) is always in the new part of the utterance. The pre-srtessed part is pronounced on the usual pitch. The specific feature of ИК-1 is lowering the pitch in the stressed part. The post-stressed part is pronounced on a lower pitch than the usual one. (In transcription the intonation is denoted by the numbers ИК 1,2,3... above the center of ИК).

Ex. 10. Read these sentences paying attention to the intonation.

     1       1       1         1       1
Это дом. Он тут. Вот дом. Это папа. Вот он.
                                  1         1
Это куст. Он тут. Тут мост. Это Иван. Иван дома.
                                   1       1
Это мост. Он там. Там куст. Это Антон. Он дома.
    1       1          1         1
Это мама. Она тут. Это Анна. Она дома.

Ex. 11. Read the texts, paying attention to the intonation.

       1      1           1              1
а) Мы дома. И вы дома. в) Анна дома. И Иван дома.

We are at home. And you are at home too.
        1     1                   1      1
б) Мама дома. И папа дома. г) Он дома. И она дома.

Ex. 12. Read the text.

,   ,     ,     ,   ,      ,          ,
Это

Анна. Это Иван. Это Антон. Мы знакомы. (We are acquainted.)

Remember!
Это Москва. Вот дом. Там сад.
Это комната. Мама, папа и сын дома.

А а, О о, У у, Э э, Ии, ы, М м, Б б, П п, Вв, Ф ф,Т т, Д д, Н н, З з, С с, Г г, К к, ма, на, ам, да, ту, эт, го, бо, ты, вы, мы, ум, им.             ,  ,        , Это мама. Это папа. Это Анна.          , Это Москва. Вот мост. Кот тут. dfgd hgdfsd

Homework

1. Pronounce and write these words:

,       ,        ,     ,     , 
Анна, Иван, Москва, окно, вода.

2. Where do you pronounce a short faint sound [a]?

     ,         ,       ,        ,             ,      ,
Москва, он, вода, это, Анна, Антон, вот, дома, окно, кот.

3. Transcribe (represent) the letters a, o by the phonetic symbol [^ /ъ]

     ,      ,    ,          ,         ,
Москва, Дубна, Ока, сок, вода, куст, папа.

4. Write the gender of these nouns:

        ,       ,               ,               ,     ,       ,   
дом, окно, Москва, сок, суп, вода, куст, мост, папа, мама, Антон.

5. Translate into Russian:

We are at home. And you are at home.
It is Anna. It is Ivan. It is Anton. We are acquainted.
Here is the house. Here is the room.
Anna, Ivan and Anton are at home.

6. Fill in the missins letters to read the following words:

М _ _ _ _ а, о _ _ о, м _ _ т, с _ н

7. Cross out the superfluous letters to read the words hidden here:

а б в г д о м е ё ж з и к о к н о
и в а н м л к р с д а н н а т ф у
б п в ф г к н м а н т о н с а м о

8. Write the new words in alphabetical order in the special notebook.

т [т] = [t] та - тэ - то - ту - ты д [д] = [d] да - дэ - до - ду - ды н [н] = [n] на - нэ - но - ну - ны   ат - эт - от - ут тат - тот - тут Sing with us та - та - та та - та - та та - та - та та - та

Syllable

Vowel ы [ы]

а - о - у у - о - а а - э - и и - э - а а - о - у - и - э - а

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