* Note: use вы when speaking to someone in a formal situation or to more than one person.
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You (formal singular or plural)
вы
Pronounced:
vwei
Audio:
(Lena)
You are very creative
вы очень творческий
Pronounced:
vwei Och-in t-vOr-ches-ki
Audio:
(Lena)
You are clever / smart
вы умный
Pronounced:
vwei OOm-nei
Audio:
(Lena)
You are stupid
вы глупый
Pronounced:
vwei glOO-pei
Audio:
(Lena)
You are wonderful
вы замечательный
Pronounced:
vwei-za mi-chAt-el-nei
Audio:
(Lena)
To be or not "to be"
Russians do not use the verb "to be" in the present tense (that is, to describe something that is occurring now).
For example, the phrase:
I am a student
is written in Russian as:
Я - студент
which literally means:
I am a student
Note also, that Russian does not use the prepositions "a" or "the", so the above phrase could also mean:
I am the student
The exact meaning depends on the context in which the phrase is used.
Keep in mind that Russians do use the verb "to be" in the future tense "I will wake at 6am", and in the past tense "I was happy to see you".
And technically they do have a verb "to be" that is sometimes used in the present tense (являться), but it is generally found only in the context of scientific language. More about this in a later lesson.
