Connecting Clauses in Russian with то, что (and other question words)

How do you say "I'm thinking about when they'll arrive," or "He talked about what's not in the book"? In this video we'll cover using то with question words to link two clauses. It's a very common construction in all styles of Russian, and getting comfortable with this will open up all sorts of possibilities for what you can understand, and express, in Russian.
Note a typo at 1:21 - the comma should be between того and как: я приду после того, как позвоню домой.
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[@Harry-lq2jz]

OMG, you are SO (!) good! I love it that you explain so "LOGICALLY" (!!!) An element I often find missing from other Russian learning materials. Very well done, and keep up the good work! :)))))

[@marceloprevedi5092]

What a wonderful lesson !!! I love high level grammar and you respect the intelligence of people learning Russian. Thank you very much !!!

[@MrSkypelessons]

I am delighted that you use words like relative pronoun and subordinating conjunction. 'That' functions as both of these (and an adverb, and a demonstrative pronoun, and a determiner) in English, and I find it so helpful that you use such precise terminology when you teach. I'm well aware of the topic that you are teaching, but I hadn't noticed that что as relative pronoun is stressed, while as sub conjunction it is unstressed. Very useful information. Thank you.

[@sukmaprajna1023]

thank youuu😄😄

[@Oshiiiiiiiiiiii]

This is exactly what I am looking for too! Thank you!!

[@dareen79]

Nice and clear

[@flying-iri]

I was teaching this concept just this week and was very excited when this video was posted! Спасибо!

[@edgregory392]

OMG!!! Where, oh, where were you when I was struggling with this at university???? No clear, and yet so deceptively simple. Thank you thank you.

[@victorbrand8913]

1:21 Небольшое замечание: правильно ставить запятую перед словом "как": "Я приду после того, как позвоню домой". Если придаточное предложение вводится сложным союзом "после того(,) как" и выделяется запятой, то запятая ставится посередине.

[@russiangrammar]

Спасибо за поправку! )

[@betos-08]

This topic is interesting, I'll have to look more into it. I was trying to translate the sentence "I heard someone speaking in russian". I translated it as "я услышал кого-то говорящего на русском" (I wasnt sure if говорящий should be nominative or not) but Google Translate says "я слышал, как кто-то говорил по-русски". I'm trying to understand (1) why is как used (2) how does that construction work, I've seen similar constructions but dont understand how to use them (3) why my translation was wrong so I dont repeat the same mistake. Russian grammar always has something new to learn, wow

[@russiangrammar]

It's a topic I don't see covered often (hm, video idea...): to express perception of someone doing something, use a verb of perception (видеть, слышать, заметить...) + comma + как. Я слышал, как они уходили - I heard them leaving. Я видел, как он ушёл. = I saw him leave. Никто не заметил, как он вошёл. = Nobody noticed him enter. A subtle distinction: что indicates awareness of the fact (Я видел, что он пришёл = I saw that he had arrived); как shows perception of the action (Я видел, как он пришёл = I saw him arrive). "always has something new to learn"... truer words were never spoken! 😅

[@russiangrammar]

Regarding говорящего: participles agree in case with the noun they modify, even if it's in a different clause; for more examples of this, see the first 90 seconds or so of this sample video at www.tips4russian.com/courses/master-russian-participles/lessons/present-active-participles/topic/present-active-participles-usage/ .

[@Oshiiiiiiiiiiii]

Would there be a recommended link to an online test where we can practice these clauses? Thank you! Russian web pages are fine.

[@russiangrammar]

Working on it... stay tuned... :)

[@juanfelipesosalondoo8012]

So, it is possible to take this particle "то" as a particle that generates an emphasis? can this particle be omitted? Because I've seen that this particle "то" doesn't have a literal meaning in the logical of the sentences. I'd like to know. Thank you so much!

[@russiangrammar]

When то needs to be declined (он удивился тому, что я сказал), it can't be omitted. But то has other uses, one of which is to add emphasis: А я-то думал, что всё понятно. = And here I thought that everything was clear. Он говорит: «Ты-то мне и нужен» = He says, "You're the one I need."

[@gaargia]

When you explained when to use "то" you said that some verbs just go with some cases. How can I predict which one to use? Can I? Is there some case-related argument I'm missing? Thank you very much

[@russiangrammar]

A good dictionary (or textbook glossary) will include two question words - кто and что - after the entry for a verb, to let you know which case it governs. For example, помогать/помочь is used with the dative (она помогала мне), so you'll see помогать (кому/чему); when you see интересоваться (кем/чем) you'll know that verbs governs the instrumental (я интересуюсь музыкой). So this is another reason it's really helpful to know all the forms of кто and что, and also to just pay special attention to the case when you hear a verb used. I'm afraid there's no general way to predict which case a given verb will be used with. :(