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Welcome to Can-Do Russian by RussianPod101.com. In this lesson, you’ll learn how to order at a restaurant in Russian. For example, “Excuse me, porridge, please.” is Извините. Кашу, пожалуйста. (Izvinite. Kashu, pozhaluysta.) Miroslav Maslov , is at a restaurant with his wife. He orders porridge. Before you hear the conversation, let’s preview some of its key components. каша (kasha) “porridge” каша каша сейчас (seychas) “right away” сейчас сейчас Let’s listen to the conversation. Извините. Кашу, пожалуйста. (Izvinite. Kashu, pozhaluysta.) Да, сейчас. (Da, seychas.) Once more with the English translation. Извините. Кашу, пожалуйста. (Izvinite. Kashu, pozhaluysta.) “Excuse me, porridge, please.” Да, сейчас. (Da, seychas.) “Yes, right away.” Let’s break down the conversation. Do you remember how Miroslav asks, “Excuse me, porridge, please.” Извините. Кашу, пожалуйста. (Izvinite. Kashu, pozhaluysta.) First is извините (izvinite), meaning, “Excuse me.” Извините . Извините. Here, Miroslav is using the expression to get the waiter’s attention. He uses the formal form since he’s referring to someone he doesn’t know. Note, this expression can also be used as a mild apology, but here Miroslav uses it to get the attention of the waiter who is nearby. Next is кашу (kashu), “porridge.” Кашу . Кашу. Кашу (Kashu) is from the feminine noun каша (kasha), “porridge.” Here кашу is the object of the action, so the final -a has been replaced with -у. Кашу. The grammatical term here is the accusative case. Last is пожалуйста (pozhaluysta), “please.” Пожалуйста . Пожалуйста. All together, it’s Извините. Кашу, пожалуйста. (Izvinite. Kashu, pozhaluysta.) “Excuse me, porridge, please.” Извините. Кашу, пожалуйста. (Izvinite. Kashu, pozhaluysta.) The question can be considered as a shortened form of Извините. Дайте мне кашу, пожалуйста. (Izvinite. Dayte mne kashu, pozhaluysta), “Excuse me, give me porridge, please.” where дайте мне (dayte mne), “give me” is omitted. Let’s take a closer look at the response. Do you remember the waiter’s response, “Yes, right away.” Да, сейчас. (Da, seychas.) First is the expression Да (Da), “yes.” Да . Да. The waiter acknowledges Miroslav by saying, Да (Da). Next is сейчас (seychas), literally, “now,” but it translates as “right away.” Сейчас . Сейчас. All together, it’s Да, сейчас. (Da, seychas.), literally, “Yes, now,” but it translates as “Yes, right away.” Да, сейчас. (Da, seychas.) The pattern is Извините. ITEM, пожалуйста. (Izvinite. ITEM, pozhaluysta.) “Excuse me, ITEM, please.” Извините. ITEM, пожалуйста. To use this pattern, simply replace the ITEM placeholder with the object you are requesting. Note: This pattern requires a noun in the accusative case. Imagine you’d like to order a “fish,” Рыба (Ryba). It’s feminine and singular. The accusative form of рыба (ryba) is рыбу (rybu). The final -а in рыба has been replaced with -у. Рыбу. Рыбу. Say “Excuse me, a fish, please.” Ready? Извините. Рыбу, пожалуйста. (Izvinite. Rybu, pozhaluysta.) “Excuse me, a fish, please.” Извините. Рыбу, пожалуйста. (Izvinite. Rybu, pozhaluysta.) In Russian, the accusative case is usually used to indicate that something is the object of an action (a direct object). The general rules for forming the accusative case of singular nouns are as follows. Feminine nouns mostly end in -a or -я. For nouns that end in -а, change it to -у; For example, Рыба (Ryba), “fish” becomes рыбу (rybu). For nouns that ends in -я, change it to -ю; Семья (Sem’ya), “family” becomes семью (sem’yu). For nouns that end in ь, no change. Любовь (Lyubov’), “love” stays любовь. There are two groups of masculine nouns: animate or inanimate. For animate nouns that end in a consonant, add -а. For example, омар (omar), “lobster” becomes омарa (omara) in the accusative. For animate nouns that end in й and -ь, change it to -я; Учитель (Uchitel’), “teacher” becomes учителя (uchitelya) in the accusative. In the case of inanimate nouns, there is no change. Чек (Chek), “check” is also чек in the accusative. Neuter nouns remain unchanged. For example, Меню (Menyu), “menu” is also меню in the accusative. Again, the key pattern is Извините. ITEM, пожалуйста. (Izvinite. ITEM, pozhaluysta.) “Excuse me, ITEM, please.” Извините. ITEM, пожалуйста. Let’s look at some examples. Listen and repeat or speak along with the native speakers. Извините. Кашу, пожалуйста. (Izvinite. Kashu, pozhaluysta.) “Excuse me, porridge, please.” Извините. Кашу, пожалуйста. (Izvinite. Kashu, pozhaluysta.) Извините. Рыбу, пожалуйста. (Izvinite. Rybu, pozhaluysta.) “Excuse me, a fish, please.” Извините. Рыбу, пожалуйста. (Izvinite. Rybu, pozhaluysta.) Извините. Меню, пожалуйста. (Izvinite. Menyu, pozhaluysta.) “Excuse me, the menu, please.” Извините. Меню, пожалуйста. (Izvinite. Menyu, pozhaluysta.) Извините. Чек, пожалуйста. (Izvinite. Chek, pozhaluysta.) “Excuse me, the check, please.” Извините. Чек, пожалуйста. (Izvinite. Chek, pozhaluysta.) Извините. Омара, пожалуйста. (Izvinite. Omara, pozhaluysta.) “Excuse me, a lobster, please.” Извините. Омара, пожалуйста. (Izvinite. Omara, pozhaluysta.) Извините. Это, пожалуйста. (Izvinite. Eto, pozhaluysta.) “Excuse me, this, please.” Извините. Это, пожалуйста. (Izvinite. Eto, pozhaluysta.) Did you notice how the native speaker replaced a noun with the demonstrative pronoun это (eto), “this?” Извините. Это, пожалуйста. (Izvinite. Eto, pozhaluysta.) “Excuse me, this, please.” When referring to something that is located near you, and you don’t know its name, you can point to it and say Извините. Это, пожалуйста. (Izvinite. Eto, pozhaluysta.) “Excuse me, this, please.” You should be aware of this shortcut, but for this lesson, we’ll use the pattern Извините. ITEM, пожалуйста. (Izvinite. ITEM, pozhaluysta.) “Excuse me, ITEM, please.” Извините. ITEM, пожалуйста. Let’s review the new words. каша (kasha) “porridge” каша каша рыба (ryba) “fish” рыба рыба меню (menyu) “menu” меню меню чек (chek) “check” чек чек омар (omar) “lobster” омар омар это (eto) “this” это это Let’s review. Respond to the prompts by speaking aloud. Then repeat after the native speaker, focusing on pronunciation. Ready? Do you remember how to say “please?” пожалуйста (pozhaluysta) пожалуйста (pozhaluysta) And how to say “porridge” when it is the object of an action? кашу (kashu) кашу (kashu) Do you remember how Miroslav Maslov asks, “Excuse me, porridge, please.” Извините. Кашу, пожалуйста. (Izvinite. Kashu, pozhaluysta.) Извините. Кашу, пожалуйста. (Izvinite. Kashu, pozhaluysta.) Do you remember how to say “right away?” сейчас (seychas) сейчас (seychas) And how to say “yes?” да (da) да (da) Do you remember how the waiter, says, “Yes, right away.” Да, сейчас. (Da, seychas.) Да, сейчас. (Da, seychas.) Do you remember how to say “fish” when it’s the object of an action? рыбу (rybu) рыбу (rybu) And how to say “this?” это (eto) это (eto) Do you remember how to say “check” when it’s the object of an action? чек (chek) чек (chek) Let’s practice. Imagine you’re Milena , and you’re at a restaurant. Ask for “fish,” or рыбу (rybu). Ready? Извините. Рыбу, пожалуйста. (Izvinite. Rybu, pozhaluysta.) Да, сейчас. (Da, seychas.) Listen again and repeat. Извините. Рыбу, пожалуйста. (Izvinite. Rybu, pozhaluysta.) Извините. Рыбу, пожалуйста. (Izvinite. Rybu, pozhaluysta.) Let’s try another. Now, get the waiter’s attention, and ask for “this,” or это (eto). Ready? Извините. Это, пожалуйста. (Izvinite. Eto, pozhaluysta.) Да, сейчас. (Da, seychas.) Listen again and repeat. Извините. Это, пожалуйста. (Izvinite. Eto, pozhaluysta.) Извините. Это, пожалуйста. (Izvinite. Eto, pozhaluysta.) Let’s try one more. Imagine you’re Miroslav Maslov , and you’d like the check, or чек (chek). Ready? Извините. Чек, пожалуйста. (Izvinite. Chek, pozhaluysta.) Да, сейчас. (Da, seychas.) Listen again and repeat. Извините. Чек, пожалуйста. (Izvinite. Chek, pozhaluysta.) Извините. Чек, пожалуйста. (Izvinite. Chek, pozhaluysta.) In this lesson, you learned how to order at a restaurant in Russian, an essential skill for dining at a restaurant. Well done! This is the end of this lesson. Remember, these Can Do lessons are about learning practical language skills. What’s next? Show us what you can do. When you’re ready, take your assessment. You can take it again and again, so try anytime you like. Our teachers will assess it, and give you your results. Keep practicing — and move on to the next lesson!