День 1 из 32: Здра́вствуйте, лю́ди!
📚 Слова́ дня · Words of the day: 4 – здра́вствуйте, челове́к, лю́ди, знать.
🗣️ Глаго́л дня · Verb of the day: знать – он зна́ет → я зна́ю → вы зна́ете.
⏱ Part 1 = 15 minutes – everybody finishes it. Part 2 = more, only if you want. · 🗺️ All days
In Курс 1 you stood up: the letters, the six cases, the предло́ги. Now we start moving – with verbs. A verb is what people do: зна́ю, чита́ю, говорю́, хочу́. With verbs you start to talk. 🤸
32 days · 15 minutes a day.
In 32 days you will:
- 🗣️ say what people do – «я зна́ю, ты зна́ешь, они́ зна́ют» (all six persons)
- 🔢 count things – «пять огурцо́в, де́сять рубле́й»
- ⏪⏩ talk about yesterday and tomorrow – «я чита́л(а)», «я бу́ду чита́ть»
- ✅ tell «doing» from «done» – «чита́ю» / «прочита́л»
- 🛒 get by in real life – the shop, the café, the doctor, the phone
On День 32 you check yourself. ✔
🗺️ All 32 days on one page: Курс 2 – the map
The same family: Natasha – your teacher 👩🏫 · Richard – the everlasting student 📒 · Slinky – she listens 🐈 · Scuffles – she still makes all the mistakes, so you don't have to! 😾
Every day: Part 1 = 15 minutes – everybody finishes. Part 2 = more, only if you want. Tap a word to hear it 🔊, tap a picture to open the dictionary 📖.
Your homework from День 37: the riddle. Say it with Natasha – and hold up your cucumber 🥒:
«Без око́н, без двере́й – полна́ го́рница люде́й. Что э́то?» – Огуре́ц! 🥒
You know the answer – that is your first win of Course 2. And «люде́й» (of people) is today's new word: лю́ди.
- Tap the word and listen. Then say it with a small nod, the hand on your chest.
- Приве́т is for friends and cats. Здра́вствуйте is for people you say вы to – the neighbour, the doctor, the shop, a room full of people.
Say every word aloud and show it – the gesture is under the picture. Tap a word or its picture – the dictionary opens. 🔊 = listen.
One person – челове́к. Many people – лю́ди. It is a different word – like person – people in English. 👆 → 👐
👂 Listen first. Point on every «он», «я», «вы» – at Richard, at yourself, at the screen. 👉
- Ната́ша: Здра́вствуйте, лю́ди! 🙇
Ска́ффлз: Здра́вствуйте, ко́шки!- Ната́ша: Нет, Ска́ффлз! Ты – ко́шка. А мы – лю́ди. 👐
- Ри́чард: Я челове́к. ☝️ Ната́ша – челове́к. Мы – лю́ди!
- Ната́ша: Ри́чард зна́ет зага́дку? – Ри́чард: Зна́ю! Огуре́ц! 🥒 – Ната́ша: Он зна́ет! 👉
- Ната́ша: А вы? Вы зна́ете? 🫵 – (you:) Зна́ю!
- Ска́ффлз: Я то́же зна́ет!
- Ната́ша: Нет, Ска́ффлз! Я зна́ю. Он зна́ет. – Ска́ффлз: Р-р-р… Я зна́ю.
Сли́нки: Мя́у! 😺 (she knew it all along)
🌱 The seed of the day: он зна́ет · я зна́ю · вы зна́ете – one verb, and its end changes with the person. Just hear it and point. The rule comes on День 4.
Say every line aloud, with the gestures. Point on он 👉, я 👆, вы 🫵.
Здра́вствуйте! 🙇
Я челове́к. ☝️ Мы – лю́ди. 👐
Он зна́ет. 👉 Я зна́ю. 👆 Вы зна́ете? 🫵
Зна́ю! 🥒
Без око́н, без двере́й – полна́ го́рница люде́й.
- Stand up. Nod to the room: Здра́вствуйте! 🙇
- Point to yourself: Я челове́к. Point to the window, to the street: Там лю́ди.
- Ask the cat: Вы зна́ете? – and answer for her: Зна́ю! 😄
- Speaking is optional – listening and doing count too.
Can you say it without looking? – Молоде́ц! Go to the tap quiz.
Guess, then tap. A wrong tap is not a mistake – it is a guess. 😊
Хорошо́! Молоде́ц! Two small things left – two minutes.
ЗДРА́ВСТВУЙТЕ has a letter nobody says: the first В. Russians say здра́-ствуй-те.
- Say it in three steps: здра́ – ствуй – те. Then faster: здра́ствуйте.
- In a hurry, Russians even say «здра́сьте!» – you will hear it in the shop. 😄 But you say the full word – it is polite.
- 30 seconds, every day. This is aerobics for the tongue.
Tomorrow morning say «Здра́вствуйте!» with a nod 🙇 to someone you say вы to – a neighbour, a shop assistant – or to the mirror. Then point and say: «Он зна́ет. Я зна́ю. Вы зна́ете?»
That is the first minute of День 2. You already know it – so День 2 starts with a win.
- Gesture → word. Make a gesture – say the word: 🙇 здра́вствуйте · ☝️ челове́к · 👐 лю́ди · 🤔 зна́ю.
- Point and say. 👉 at Richard (or a photo): «Он зна́ет.» 👆 at yourself: «Я зна́ю.» 🫵 at the screen: «Вы зна́ете?» Faster and faster.
- One or many? Hold up one finger – «челове́к!» Open your arms – «лю́ди!» Mix them up, like aerobics.
Remembering a word from the gesture works better than reading it again.
The world is not without good people. – There are always kind people who will help you.
«люде́й» – of people, the word from the riddle. 🤸 Gesture: open your arms to the room and smile.
Read every line aloud, slowly. Every word is one you know. Tap a word to check. ✋
🙌 Today's words: ЗДРА́ВСТВУЙТЕ · ЧЕЛОВЕ́К · ЛЮ́ДИ · ЗНА́Ю · ЗНА́ЕТ · ЗНА́ЕТЕ
Здра́вствуйте!
Я челове́к. Ната́ша – челове́к. Ри́чард – челове́к.
Ната́ша и Ри́чард – лю́ди. А Ска́ффлз и Сли́нки – ко́шки.
Ри́чард зна́ет зага́дку. Он зна́ет. Я зна́ю. А вы зна́ете?
Без око́н, без двере́й – полна́ го́рница люде́й.
челове́к – a person · лю́ди – people · челове́ческий – human
Здра́вствуйте, лю́ди! – Здра́вствуйте, ко́шки! – Нет, Ска́ффлз! Ты – ко́шка. А мы – лю́ди. – Я челове́к. Ната́ша – челове́к. Мы – лю́ди! – Ри́чард зна́ет зага́дку? – Зна́ю! Огуре́ц! – Он зна́ет! А вы? Вы зна́ете? – Зна́ю! – Я то́же зна́ет! – Нет, Ска́ффлз! Я зна́ю. Он зна́ет. – Р-р-р… Я зна́ю. – Мя́у!
Hello, people! – Hello, cats! – No, Scuffles! You are a cat. And we are people. – I am a person. Natasha is a person. We are people! – Does Richard know the riddle? – I know! A cucumber! – He knows! And you? Do you know? – I know! – Me too, he knows! (Scuffles's mistake) – No, Scuffles! I know. He knows. – Grrr… I know. – Miaow!
- Здра́вствуйте – to a person you say вы to, or to many people. Приве́т – to friends, children and cats.
- челове́к → лю́ди – one person, many people: a different word. (Like ребёнок → де́ти, later.)
- Он зна́ет, я зна́ю, вы зна́ете – one verb, the end changes with the person. Today you only hear it; the rule comes on День 4.
ударе́ние – stress – shows the syllable you say louder and longer, just like in English: LUN-dun (London), TEL-ih-fohn (telephone).
ЛО́НДОН – the stress is on the first syllable, as in English. But Russians say a real, round о: LON-d’n, not LUN-dun. The second о comes after the stress, so it is short and weak (like the a in sofa).
ТЕЛЕФО́Н – not like the English TEL-ih-fohn: the stress is on the last syllable: ti-li-FON (е without stress sounds like a short и). That is why we mark the stress.
🎯 Why does о sound like а?
ЗДРА́ВСТВУЙТЕ is the most famous hard Russian word – four consonants at the start: з-д-р-в. But the В is silent, so it is only здра́-ствуй-те. 😌
It means «be healthy!» – like the English «Cheers!» or «Bless you!» – a wish, every time you meet someone.
🔬 Почему́ так · Why this way
- A win in the first minute. Course 2 starts with Course 1's homework – the riddle the student already knows. Remembering yesterday's work without looking is one of the best-proven tools: Agarwal · Nunes · Blunt 2021.
- он → я → вы, in this order. The third person first: the student talks about Richard before switching between «я» and «вы», which beginners find hard. Natasha's own rule from her teaching; «вы» before «ты» because «вы» is always polite.
- Heard first, the rule later. Today the student only hears «зна́ет – зна́ю – зна́ете» and points. The ★ rule comes on День 4, after the forms have been met 3–4 times as chunks.
- Say it and show it. A word said with the learner's own gesture stays in memory far longer than a word only heard: Macedonia · Knösche 2011.
- The cat makes the mistakes. Scuffles says «я зна́ет», Natasha corrects the cat – the student laughs and is never the one who is wrong.
