Который: Expressing '..who../..that..'

Который is an essential building block for your Russian! Learn how to express 'who' and 'that' in phrases like 'the book that you read' and 'the student who arrived.' In this video we cover a few important issues about endings and proper word order.
Note that there's a typo at 4:01 - stress in понра́вился should be on the second syllable (audio is correct).

[@languagetraveladoptee]

I absolutely love your channel! As a self taught learner of Russian I often look up videos sometimes to feel like there is an actual teacher explaining things to me. Thank you for your dedication and very clear explanations for all things Russian grammar!

[@part9952]

Я знаю студента, которому было так скучно. Ich kenne den Studenten, dem so langweilig war. Thats really like german! Since im Austrian thats really nice. Its now been 3-4 months since i started learning russian and i really have made a lot of progress. Thanks to my Kazakh friend i write to and your great videos (plus a bit of research on the internet). Большое спасибо за твою помощь. Мой любимый язык русский. Я просто люблю как этот язык звучит! Каждый день, если у меня есть время, я пробываю говорить по-русски. Тоже с моими друзьями, которых первый язык русский язык, я очень много пишу! ( Я надеюсь мой русский сейчас не был так плохо а что вы понимали всё я вам хотел сказать! )

[@ladislavsom5096]

I am Slovakian who learns russian which is very familliar language to slovak from english video.. Its good.. Even i have to admit that your pronaunciation is good :D. I can assure to you i know what am i speaking about becouse in our university study a lot of russian and ukraine students.

[@alisatheinvestigator8329]

Thank you so much for your videos! You are the best at explaining grammar in the whole youtube Russian grammar community!

[@russiangrammar]

Спасибо, Алиса! ))

[@tacitmurky9675]

That's easy :) More interesting is to explain tricky interrogatives, like difference between Зачем-Почему?, and Где-Откуда-Куда?. And this: What is the weather? - Какая погода? (Expecting a quality.) How's weather? - Как погода? (Feeling.) What is your favorite book? - Какая (!) твоя любимая книга? (Expecting a name.) Что (это) за книга? (Expecting a name.) Это стихи Пушкина. Какова эта книга? (Expecting a quality.) Она толстая и интересная. Какая это книга? (Ambiguous, context-dependent.) …And more.

[@part9952]

Я это тоже хочу знать! Русский язык так красиво. But there are many tricky things ;)

[@lescommercantesdindochine1954]

"Category" comes to mind, and helps me remember this.

[@chadbailey7038]

So so awesome. Just the video I needed!

[@charosmasharipova7867]

Thanks for the interesting lesson))

[@marcocarbone6110]

Thank you very much

[@PumpkinSmasher79]

Вот как! Спасибо за* урок*, друг.

[@russiangrammar]

Пожалуйста! (Remember to use за with expressions of thanks, exchange - Спасибо за, Благодарю за..) :)

[@russiangrammar]

Oops, I should have mentioned - за + accusative for these contexts: so спасибо за урок, за книгу, за помощь, за совет, etc.

[@PumpkinSmasher79]

Russian grammar Yes, I've cought a little rust, but doesn't "для" also mean "for" and use the genetive? As in "Подарок для тебе"?

[@russiangrammar]

Prepositions are tricky! 'For' has many different uses in English, which don't all correspond to для. Best to focus specific contexts for для - for the benefit of/for the sake of/on behalf of/... but you're right that для is always used with the genitive. Подарок для тебя = a present for you, though dative alone is also possible for this context: подарок тебе = a present for you.

[@RobiulIslam-wq8qs]

Nice

[@user-wu7ye1pf9j]

This a very helpful lesson, particularly when dealing with the correct case in the second clause, just one query 2:22 не было или не был? ie студент

[@russiangrammar]

не́ было is correct. We express absence and non-existence with the genitive, so in effect there is no subject in that 2nd clause (которого вчера не было); for subjectless constructions, the verb will have the neuter form. Compare: Маши нет "Masha isn't here" ~ Маши не было "Masha wasn't here/was absent." It's like the expressions for "didn't have" - see kzbin.info/www/bejne/qp7LfoajntF-arc, at about 1:20.

[@user-wu7ye1pf9j]

Got it! Thanks

[@paganinyyo]

Excuse me sir, I have a doubt about this sentence: "я знаю студента, которому..." If the noun is masculine in dative, shouldn't end with 'у'? I'm confused, is this like an exception?

[@russiangrammar]

If it were dative it would end in -у (or -ю), but here студента is accusative, since знать is used with a direct object in the accusative case. которому is dative because of its function *in the clause where it appears* - here, the impersonal expression needs the dative case (compare to Мне скучно - 'I'm bored'). So it's possible that который and the noun it refers to may have different case endings, as in the examples starting from 1:38.

[@paganinyyo]

@@russiangrammar You're awesome, большое спасибо за ответ, который отлично) Сейчас это ясно.

[@alisatheinvestigator8329]

Do you have a video explaining future tense?

[@russiangrammar]

I do have this one on the future for imperfective verbs: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fmiqc3imotGgqKc For perfective verbs, just conjugate it as if it were the present - but a perfective verb will have future meaning. So for читать (imperf.)/прочитать (perf.): я буду читать (imperfective, future), and я прочитаю (perfective future). Я буду читать по-русски каждый день. I'll read Russian every day. Я прочитаю вашу статью завтра. I'll read your article tomorrow.

[@onthesearch5]

At 4:01the stress at понравился must be on the a not on и ! Но вообще люблю туториал или сайт !

[@russiangrammar]

Правильно, Berthold, спасибо! I've added a note above. The stress should of course be on the 2nd syllable in понра́вился (the audio is correct).

[@ladislavsom5096]

3:24 Lol that is stiff? :D To use preposition in middle of sentence? :D its normal in Slovan countries. For us is stiff to use it in the end.. try our short prepisitions fit in end of the sentence :D. With that prepisition in middle we alert what we will be speaking about.. when you fit up preposition in end of the sentence you know about meaning of sentence late in my opinion :D :D.

[@silvr94]

he said that it sounds stiff in English and that in Russian it's completely normal

[@VandrothSoryn]

Why do you need a comma before который?

[@russiangrammar]

A comma is usually used before many conjunctions, including который when it's used as in this video. Russian punctuation can get kind of involved, but there's a nice summary of basic rules for commas here: www.russian-blog.com/commas/

[@SNVampyre]

Because it's start of new sentence.

[@russiangrammar]

More precisely: the start of a new clause. :)

[@ladislavsom5096]

its norm. We always use comma before that and many other worlds. its like linking two sentences together that are consequential to each other. We used to have some break before coma usually.. Its becouse that santence used to be too long. So if its too long (usually when you use world like который in all forms) you use comma before that becouse there is pause expected. Nobody in slovan countries would say that sentence fluently with same tempo