Russian Lessons: Time Schedule

я 
люблю тебя) usually sounds this way (let's use our transliteration skills): Ya lyu-'blyu 
te-'bya. 
However, you can say it in 5 other different ways just by shifting your words around, 
namely: 
1. Ya te-'bya lyu-'blyu (the meaning practically did not change);
2. Lyu-'blyu ya te-'bya (sounds more poetic); 
3. Lyu-'blyu te-'bya ya (after saying this, you can sigh with sadness because your 
darling did not notice or did not appreciate your love); 
4. Te-'bya ya lyu-'blyu (now you emphasized that you love him/her and 
nobody else); 
5. Te-'bya lyu-'blyu ya! (this exclamation sounds almost as a warning: I love you, 
so watch out or else... ) 
(f) When asking questions in Russian, you do not need to change the order of the 
sentence; nor you need any special verb (like "do" in English). For example, if you are 
unsure about your own feelings you can ask with surprise in your voice: Ya te-'bya lyu-
'blyu? (Do I love you?) 
Compare please this last Russian sentence with that which is given as example No.1 in 
the previous paragraph and means "I love you". Obviously, when you speak and 

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cannot use the question mark, the only way to show that you are asking a question (and 
not making a statement) is to use the appropriate intonation: your voice moves up, 
becoming higher towards the end of the sentence. 
(g) Unlike English language, Russian does not use any special verbs in its negative 
sentences (only a negative particle 
не [nye], which means “not"). Furthermore, in 
sentences of “she is a doctor" or "she is not a doctor” type, the respective Russian 
equivalents will have no verb at all: 
она доктор [a-'na 'dok-tar] (positive statement) or
она не доктор [a-'na 'nye 'dok-tar] (negative statement). 
(h) And at last, the biggest relief for a learner of Russian language: Russian has only 3 
active and 3 passive tense forms: Present, Past and Future; whereas the total number 
of English tenses exceeds 20. 
Those of you who wish to study the Russian Grammar in detail can be referred to the following 
site: