Dialogue: At the Pharmacy

A trip to the pharmacy packs several B1 points into a handful of lines. To ask for a remedy you need от + genitive — Russian medicine is "for [against] a cough", not "for a cough"; you reach for the vague что́-нибудь ("something or other") because you don't know the product name; and the pharmacist's dosing instructions ride on the imperfective imperative (Принима́йте, for a repeated action) plus a frequency phrase (три ра́за в день) that combines numeral government with в + accusative. Here is a natural exchange at a Russian аптека; read it whole, then line by line.

The dialogue

Line by line

— Здра́вствуйте! У вас есть что́-нибудь от ка́шля?

The polite Здра́вствуйте sets the вы register. Then the core request, built on two B1 structures.

• У вас есть…? — the standard "Do you have…?", literally "By you is there…?" — the Russian way of expressing possession is "X exists by someone", у + genitive (вас) + есть. So "do you have" = У вас есть.
• что́-нибудь от ка́шля — "anything for a cough". Two things to unpack:
  • что́-нибудь is the indefinite pronoun "something / anything (or other)". The -нибудь series means "any item will do, I have nothing specific in mind" — perfect when you don't know which product you want. In a question it reads as English "anything".
  • от ка́шля is от + genitive (ка́шель → ка́шля), the construction for "medicine for a symptom". The logic is against: a remedy works against the cough, so Russian uses от ("from, against"), not для ("for the benefit of"). ка́шель has a fleeting vowel — the -е- drops in every case but the nominative: ка́шель → ка́шля, ка́шлю, ка́шлем.

— Да, вот э́то. Хорошо́ помога́ет при сухо́м ка́шле.

The pharmacist hands something over: вот э́то ("here, this one") — вот points to a present object. Then Хорошо́ помога́ет при сухо́м ка́шле = "It works well for a dry cough."

• помога́ть ("to help, work") is used impersonally here with the subject (the medicine) dropped — "[it] helps well".
• при сухо́м ка́шле — при + prepositional, the medical "in the case of / for the condition of": при сухо́м ка́шле "in the case of a dry cough", при температу́ре "when you have a fever". Note this is a different preposition from от: от ка́шля names what the remedy fights; при ка́шле names the condition under which you'd use it. сухо́м ка́шле is the prepositional of сухо́й ка́шель — the adjective takes -ом, the noun -е, and the fleeting vowel drops again (ка́шле).

— А как его́ принима́ть?

The customer asks the dosing question: Как его́ принима́ть? — "How do I take it?", more literally "How [is one] to take it?". This is a very common B1 pattern: как + accusative object + infinitive, with no subject, expressing "how should one / how does one":

• его́ is the accusative of оно́/он (referring to сре́дство or the product), the object of "take".
• принима́ть ("to take [medicine]") is the infinitive, and importantly it is imperfective — the act of taking medicine is conceived as a process/regimen, not a single completed event. (Russian uses принима́ть specifically for taking medicine; пить "to drink" is the colloquial alternative — пить табле́тки.)

— Принима́йте по одно́й табле́тке три ра́за в день по́сле еды́.

The dosing instruction, dense with B1 grammar.

• Принима́йте — the imperative, вы-form, and crucially imperfective. Why imperfective? Because the instruction is for a repeated, habitual action — take it again and again over the course of treatment. A perfective imperative (прими́те) would mean "take it [once, now]". Regimens, rules, and standing instructions use the imperfective imperative. This is one of the clearest places the aspect choice in the imperative carries real meaning.
• по одно́й табле́тке — "one tablet (each / at a time)". The distributive по
  • dative (одно́й табле́тке) means "one apiece / at a time per dose". This distributive по is exactly the "X each" of по одно́й табле́тке, по два рубля́, etc.
• три ра́за в день — "three times a day". This is numeral government (раз → ра́за, genitive singular after три) plus frequency with в + accusative: в день ("per day"). The whole phrase три ра́за в день is the model for any frequency: два ра́за в неде́лю "twice a week", пять раз в год "five times a year" (note раз → раз, the zero genitive plural, after 5+).
• по́сле еды́ — по́сле + genitive (еда́ → еды́), "after food / after meals".

— А реце́пт ну́жен?

A short check: Реце́пт ну́жен? ("Is a prescription needed?"). ну́жен is the short adjective "needed", masculine to agree with masculine реце́пт. Russian expresses "X is needed" with нужен/нужна́/ну́жно/нужны́ agreeing with the thing needed — реце́пт ну́жен ("a prescription is needed"), спра́вка нужна́ ("a certificate is needed"). Rising intonation alone turns it into a yes/no question; no word order change is required.

— Нет, э́то безрецепту́рное сре́дство. Выздора́вливайте!

The answer and a warm send-off.

• безрецепту́рное сре́дство — "an over-the-counter remedy", literally "a prescription-less remedy". без- = "without", реце́пт = "prescription", so безрецепту́рный = "non-prescription". сре́дство ("remedy, agent") is the neutral pharmacy word for a product; the adjective безрецепту́рное agrees as neuter.
• Выздора́вливайте! — the standard "Get well soon!", an imperfective imperative of выздора́вливать ("to recover, get better"). It's imperfective because recovery is a process you're wishing them through; it's the fixed health farewell, like English "feel better".

Register: вы throughout

The exchange is entirely on вы, the only appropriate register for a pharmacy. You see it in the verb forms — Принима́йте, Выздора́вливайте are both вы-imperatives (the ты-forms would be принима́й, выздора́вливай). A pharmacist addresses an adult customer with вы; you address the pharmacist with вы. The tone is professional and courteous, and the health send-off Выздора́вливайте! is a genuine politeness routine, not optional decoration — Russians regularly close a pharmacy or doctor interaction this way.

Vocabulary gloss

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• A remedy "for" a symptom is от + genitive (literally "against"): что́-нибудь от ка́шля, табле́тки от бо́ли — never для.
• что́-нибудь is the vague indefinite "anything (or other)", right when you don't know the product name.
• Dosing uses the imperfective imperative for a repeated regimen (Принима́йте), reserving the perfective (прими́те) for a one-off.
• Frequency = numeral + раз + в + accusative: три ра́за в день, два ра́за в неде́лю (mind раз → ра́за → раз across 2–4 and 5+).
• Watch the related prepositions: от ка́шля (what it fights) vs при ка́шле (the condition); по́сле еды́ (after) with the genitive.
• The pharmacy stays on вы, and Выздора́вливайте! is the expected health send-off.