English for Russian Tips and Notes

1 (1). Basics - Personal Pronouns
Welcome to Duolingo! Our classes are based on trial and error. You try to translate sentences yourself (perhaps using the hints to the words), at first you are often mistaken, but since the correct translation is shown to you, you will gradually answer more and more correctly.

Lesson notes are designed to clarify some difficult points for you that can be hard to guess just by completing tasks. We will also give you tips on usage and approaches to learning the language.

PERSONAL PRONOUNS
I - я (1-е лицо, ед.ч.) we - мы (1-е лицо, мн.ч.) you - вы (2-е лицо, мн.ч.) he - он, she - она, it - это, он, она, оно (3-е лицо, ед.ч.) they - они (3-е лицо, мн.ч.)

Notes:
Those pronouns studied in this skill are highlighted in bold. You and it are given later.

I is the capital letter i, not Ll. The pronoun I is always capitalized in any part of the sentence. But here you can write i, since in Duolingo, the capitalization of letters is not taken into account when checking tasks.

SIMPLE PRESENT

Present Simple - A simple present tense is used in English to talk about regular activities or conditions. Two verbs are given in this skill: to know - to know and to see - see. These are verbs describing a state.

I know this man. I know this man.

I see a woman. I see a woman.

In the 3rd person part (i.e. with he, she, it), the ending -s is added to the base of the verb.

He knowS this boy. He knows this boy.

She seeS a girl. She sees a girl.

That is, in Russian 6 forms of the present tense, and in English only 2, compare:

know - know, know, know, know, know

knows - knows

see - see, see, see, see, see

sees - sees

However, this means that pronouns in front of verbs should never be omitted. This we can say "I know," and in English we must say "I know."

INDEFINITE ARTICLE

In English there is a very important part of speech that is not in Russian - the article. The articles indicate the certainty of nouns. Simply put, this is an indicator of whether your listener can accurately identify the named object or not. If yes, then a definite article is put, if not, indefinite. In this skill we will get acquainted with the indefinite article - a.

We see a boy. We see a boy (some kind).

She sees a book. She sees a book (some).

For ease of pronunciation, before vowels, a turns into an.

an apple - an apple, an egg - an egg

In Russian, there is also such a phenomenon:

from a sheet, from a table, in a house, in the yard, about this, about me.