Уро́к 3
3.6 Grammar: Хорошо́ и́ли Хоро́ший?
Грамма́тика
Adverbs and Adjectives
Хорошо́ and хоро́ший are a lot alike. How do they differ? When do you use one or the other? Let’s step back from adjectives for a minute and talk about adverbs. You may not realize it, but you’ve already learned SEVERAL adverbs. Do you remember what an adverb is / does? We usually think of adverbs as words that describe verbs. If adjectives describe the qualities of nouns, then adverbs describe the qualities of a verb in that they give information about ‘HOW’ an action is done. As it happens, you’ve already learned quite a few. In Russian, adverbs are identical to the words you have learned that answer:
Как дела́?
- хорошо́
- норма́льно
- пло́хо
- отли́чно
- ужа́сно!
and describe…
How the weather ‘feels’:
- Ле́том в Теха́се жа́рко!
- Зимо́й в Теха́се прохла́дно.
- Зимо́й в Росси́и хо́лодно! О́чень хо́лодно.
- Ле́том в Росси́и тепло́ и иногда жа́рко.
- Весно́й в Теха́се прия́тно.
Adverbs answer the question Как? You can describe actions, like учи́ться, говори́ть по-ру́сски, чита́ть, писа́ть, понима́ть и так далее.
Adverbs to describe actions and the verbs you love:
Taking this further, when you describe an action, you will use adverbs to answer questions, like:
Как вы отдыха́ете?
How’s your vacation? (lit. How are you resting?)
Я хорошо́ отдыха́ю!
I’m having a great break / vacation / rest.
Как он у́чится?
How is he doing in school? (lit. How is he studying?)
Пло́хо. Он пло́хо у́чится.
Not well. He’s doing poorly. (lit. He’s studying poorly.)
Вы хорошо́ говори́те по-ру́сски?
Do you speak Russian well? / Is your Russian good?
Да, мы о́чень хорошо́ говори́м по-ру́сски.
Yes, we speak Russian very well. / Our Russian is good.
