LinguaThe same ending, a different job
The ending you learned for places does a second job: it names the topic of speaking, thinking, reading or writing. The preposition is о, and the questions are о чём? about a thing and о ком? about a person.
| Verb | Example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| говорить | говорить о работе | to talk about work |
| думать | думать о семье | to think about family |
| читать | читать о России | to read about Russia |
| спрашивать | спрашивать о погоде | to ask about the weather |
о, об or обо
The preposition changes shape so the words do not collide. Before a consonant it is о; before the vowels а э и о у it becomes об; and before two pronouns it becomes обо.
| Next word starts with | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| a consonant | о | о работе |
| a, э, и, о, у | об | об Анне |
| мне or всём | обо | обо мне |
The pronouns you will need most
Talking about people means talking about мне, тебе, нём, ней, нас, вас, них. These are the same case as the nouns above, and the ones beginning with н are used only after a preposition.
| Person | About whom |
|---|---|
| я | обо мне |
| ты | о тебе |
| он | о нём |
| она | о ней |
| мы | о нас |
| они | о них |
Мы говорим о работе.We are talking about work.
О ком вы думаете?Who are you thinking about?
Words in this lesson
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| погода | weather | Мы говорим о погоде. We are talking about the weather. |
| семья | family | Он редко говорит о семье. He rarely talks about his family. |
| фильм | film | Расскажи о фильме. Tell me about the film. |
| новость | piece of news | Расскажи мне новость. Tell me the news. |
| письмо | letter | В письме два вопроса. There are two questions in the letter. |
| рассказывать | to tell, to recount | Она рассказывает о поездке. She is telling us about the trip. |
| мечтать | to dream of | Он мечтает о море. He dreams of the sea. |
| забота | concern, care | Это наша общая забота. This is our shared concern. |
| история | story; history | Расскажите эту историю. Tell this story. |
| редко | rarely | Он редко звонит домой. He rarely calls home. |
Exercises
This lesson has 10 exercises in the app:
- multiple choice: 3
- match the pairs: 1
- fill the gap: 2
- build the sentence: 1
- translate the sentence: 2
- listen and type: 1
Try the first one
Which form of the preposition goes before Анне?
The answer, the other exercises, the audio and your progress are in the app – free at A0 and A1.