Talking About What People Are Like
The course already gives you умный, честный, злой and весёлый. This lesson adds the words Russians reach for when they judge behaviour rather than mood.
| word | meaning | its opposite |
|---|---|---|
| скромный | modest, unassuming | гордый |
| гордый | proud | скромный |
| вежливый | polite | грубый |
| грубый | rude, rough | вежливый |
| нервный | nervous, on edge | спокойный |
| жестокий | cruel | добрый |
| He is a very modest person. | Он очень скромный человек. |
Гордый Cuts Both Ways
Гордый is praise when you are proud OF someone, and criticism when someone is proud IN GENERAL: too proud to ask, too proud to apologise. Context decides, exactly as in English.
| He is too proud to ask for help. | Он слишком гордый, чтобы просить помощи. |
Three Abstract Nouns
Ум is the mind as a faculty — intelligence. Душа is the soul, and it turns up in everyday Russian far more often than "soul" does in English. Доброта is kindness as a quality, and горе is grief — a heavy word, not for small disappointments.
У него добрая *душа. — He has a kind soul. Спасибо за вашу доброту.* — Thank you for your kindness.
| She has a kind soul. | У неё добрая душа. |
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