Food, Restaurant and Health

Я бу́ду суп, пожа́луйста.

I'll have the soup, please.

The order formula, and the one to make your default. «Я буду» is the compound future of Lesson 2 used with no infinitive after it at all — literally "I shall be [having] the soup". The thing ordered is in the accusative, and because суп is masculine and inanimate that accusative looks exactly like the nominative. You have had this sentence since Lesson 16; here it becomes a pattern you can load with anything.

Мне таре́лку борща́, пожа́луйста.

A plate of borscht for me, please.

Literally "to me a plate of borscht, please" — no verb at all. The dative мне does the politeness work (Lesson 9), the container word тарелка is in the accusative because it is the thing being handed over, and the thing it holds is in the genitive: борща. This elliptical frame is what a Russian actually says at a counter.

Мо́жно мне меню́?

May I have the menu?

«Можно» plus a dative person plus the thing wanted is the all-purpose permission-and-request frame from Lesson 4, and it never needs a verb. меню is indeclinable, so it stays меню in the accusative as in every other case — only «можно мне» tells you the sentence is a request. Intonation is ИК-3, the sharp rise on «мож-», exactly as in any yes/no question.

Что вы бу́дете зака́зывать?

What will you be ordering?

What a waiter asks. Two sounds to listen for: «что» is pronounced [ʂto], with the ч hardening to ш before the т, and the -ывать suffix of заказывать keeps both its ы and the stress, just like показывать. The imperfective is right here because the question is about the process of choosing, not about one completed act.

Да́йте, пожа́луйста, счёт.

The bill, please.

The вы imperative of дать — a request that needs no «можно» and no dative — plus a one-syllable noun spelled with four consonants. сч is read as a single long soft sound [ɕː], the sound of щ, so счёт is heard as "shchot". пожалуйста can sit in the middle of a Russian sentence without sounding fussy — that is its natural home in a request like this one.

Э́то о́чень вку́сно.

This is very tasty.

The short neuter form of вкусный, used on its own as a predicate with no subject at all — the same trick as «мне холодно» from Lesson 4. Say it after a good meal and you have made your host or your waiter happy. Note that the stress of «вкусно» is where the adjective has it, on the root; the -о ending is never stressed in this form.

Прия́тного аппети́та!

Enjoy your meal! (literally: of a pleasant appetite)

Learned whole, like «спасибо». Both words are in the genitive, because the sentence is an elliptical wish — literally "(I wish you) of a pleasant appetite" — and Russian expresses a wish that way rather than with a verb. Listen for the -ого ending: it is pronounced [əvə], never [-ovo], so «приятного» sounds like "prih-YAHT-nuh-vuh". You say it to the people you are eating with, and they say it back.

Чай без са́хара, пожа́луйста.

Tea without sugar, please.

без + genitive, the preposition from Lesson 8, and the standard way to specify a drink: «без сахара», «без молока», «со льдом». Two sound changes run together here — the з of «без» devoices to [s] in front of the с of «сахара», and the unstressed а after that с reduces to [ə], so the middle of the phrase is one blurred [ˈsaxərə].

Ча́шка ко́фе и кусо́к то́рта.

A cup of coffee and a slice of cake.

Two portion frames side by side, and they behave differently in one respect. «Чашка кофе» shows кофе not moving at all, because it is indeclinable; «кусок торта» shows a real genitive, то́рта. In both, the container is the grammatical subject and the contents are genitive — and remember that торт keeps its stress on the root in every form, while кусок moves it to the ending as soon as it declines (куска́).

Буты́лку воды́, пожа́луйста.

A bottle of water, please.

The elliptical order: "(give me) a bottle of water, please". The container is accusative — буты́лку — because it is the thing being handed over, exactly like таре́лку in «Мне тарелку борща»; the contents stay genitive. And here is the mobile stress of вода at work: вода́ in the nominative, but воды́ in the genitive after a portion word. Lesson 1 gave you «во́ды» for the plural nominative; this is the same spelling with the stress in the other place, and only the frame tells you which one you are looking at. Naming the bottle rather than ordering it — «вот бутылка воды» — keeps it nominative.

У вас есть сала́т?

Do you have any salad? (lit. at you there is salad?)

The existence frame «у + genitive + есть» from Lesson 4, aimed at a shop or a restaurant. The thing that exists stays in the NOMINATIVE — «есть салат», not *супа — which is the difference between this sentence and the portion frame. In the negative the noun flips to the genitive: «У нас нет салата».

Извини́те, я не зака́зывал сала́т.

Excuse me, I didn't order the salad.

The polite complaint, and the model for every problem you report in a restaurant. «Извините» (Lesson 19) softens the opening; the imperfective past «я не заказывал» states the fact of your order, which is exactly what the imperfective is for (Lesson 13) — the perfective «не заказал» would suggest one particular salad you declined. A woman says «я не заказывала». The follow-up is the same shape: «Я заказывал чай без сахара» — I ordered tea without sugar.

Две табле́тки в день.

Two tablets a day.

The dosage answer, and a neat piece of numeral government: таблетка is feminine, so "two" is две and not два, and the noun after two, three or four goes into the genitive singular — табле́тки, not таблеткы and not таблеток. «В день» is literally "into the day" and means "a day, per day", the same в + accusative that gives «в два часа».

Я не ем мя́со.

I don't eat meat.

The sentence a vegetarian learns first. ем is the irregular "я" form of есть "to eat" from Lesson 6, and мясо is accusative — which for a neuter inanimate noun is identical to the nominative, so nothing here shows the case except the grammar. With не the object can also go into the genitive, «я не ем мяса», which sounds a shade more categorical; the accusative is the neutral default.

Мне нра́вится э́тот суп.

I like this soup.

The other way to say you like something, and the one that catches people out. With нравиться YOU are in the dative (мне) and the THING you like is the grammatical subject, so it stands in the nominative: «мне нравится суп», «мне нравится курица», «мне нравятся торты». The verb agrees with the thing, never with you.

У меня́ боли́т живо́т.

My stomach aches. (lit. at me the stomach aches)

The health frame of this lesson. «У меня» is the possession frame you know from «у меня есть брат», but what follows is not «есть» — it is болит, and the thing that aches is its SUBJECT, so живот stands in the nominative. Read it literally as "at me aches the stomach" and the case stops being a mystery.

У меня́ боля́т зу́бы.

My teeth ache.

The same frame in the plural, and two things happen at once: the verb becomes болят, agreeing with the plural subject, and зуб becomes зу́бы with the stress pulled back onto the root. That stress is the single exception in an otherwise end-stressed paradigm — зуба́, зубо́в, зуба́м, but зу́бы.

Вчера́ у меня́ боле́ла голова́.

Yesterday I had a headache.

The past tense of this frame agrees in GENDER and number with the body part, never with you: голова is feminine, so болит becomes болела. «У меня болело горло» (neuter), «у меня болел зуб» (masculine), «у меня болели зубы» (plural). This is the same rule the ordinary past tense follows (Lesson 2), applied to a sentence where the subject sits at the end.

У меня́ температу́ра.

I have a temperature.

No verb, no adjective, no «есть» — just the possession frame and a bare noun in the nominative, and it means "I have a fever". Russian leaves out the copula in the present tense, so the noun alone carries the diagnosis. The word is long and the stress is late: everything before it reduces.

Я заболе́л.

I have fallen ill.

The perfective partner of болеть, and the aspect choice from Lesson 13 in one word: «я заболел» is the moment it started, «я болею» is the state you are still in. A woman says «я заболела»; the past tense agrees in gender, not in person. The prefix за- here adds its core idea of beginning — the same за- that turns motion into setting off (Lesson 15).

У меня́ алле́ргия на ры́бу.

I am allergic to fish. (lit. I have an allergy to fish)

The government to remember: аллергия НА + accusative. «На рыбу», not *на рыбе and not *на рыбы. It is the directed-at «на» of Lesson 6, the same preposition and case as in «я смотрю на телевизор». This is the sentence to have ready in a restaurant, and it is worth learning with the specific food you actually react to.

Что у вас боли́т?

What aches? / Where does it hurt?

The doctor's opening question. «Что» is the subject here and it is in the nominative, which is why the verb is the default third-person singular болит even though the answer may be plural: «Что у вас болит?» — «У меня болят зубы». Note «что» pronounced [ʂto], the standard reading of this word in every context.

Что с ва́ми?

What is the matter with you?

«С» + instrumental, the case from Lesson 10, in its "what has happened to" sense. The informal version is «что с тобой?». It is broader than the health question above — it covers anything visibly wrong with somebody — and it is the phrase to reach for when somebody looks unwell or upset.

У вас есть реце́пт?

Have you got a prescription?

What the pharmacist asks. The existence frame again, with рецепт in the nominative. One word covers both a doctor's prescription and a cooking recipe in Russian, and the setting decides which you are being offered.

У меня́ нет реце́пта.

I haven't got a prescription.

нет + genitive, the rule from Lesson 8 that never has an exception: whatever «есть» held in the nominative, «нет» puts in the genitive. So «у меня есть рецепт» but «у меня нет рецепта». The stress does not move — реце́пт, реце́пта — and the final т of the genitive reduces to a schwa.

Ско́лько сто́ит э́то лека́рство?

How much is this medicine?

The price question of Lesson 11 with the new noun dropped in. стоить keeps its stress on the root in every form — сто́ит, сто́ят — and never behaves like its near-homophone звони́т. «Лекарство» is the substance; if you want to price one countable unit, ask «сколько стоит эта таблетка».