Russian words related to realty

If you visit Russia for a long term or want to invest in Russian realty you need to know what words we use here when discussing or negotiating on realty.

Residential property in Russia

The most people in Russia, Ukraine and many parts of ex-USSR live in an accommodation that can be called a “condominium apartment” or a “flat”. Soviet and Russian standards are different from the Western standards (Russian standards are worse, unfortunately). Therefore I think there are no exact English word for this kind of buildings and accommodation. I will use the word “condominium” for all houses with multiple flats.
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Popular expressions with the word “хрен”, part 2

This is the continuation of the article on Russian slang expressions with the word “хрен”.
Here is another set of expressions.

“один хрен” — “it makes no difference”
Emample:
“Один хрен, мне там делать нечего”.
Translation: “anyway, I have nothing to do there”; polite analog: “всё равно мне там делать нечего”; another slang form: “один хрен, мне нехрен там делать” (tautology but understandable).

“хрен его знает” — “I don’t know”, “(I’ll be) damned if I know”
Very common.
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Popular expressions with the word “хрен”, part 1

The word “хрен” literally means “horseradish” and it has its normal meaning as well as a huge number of colloquial and slang expressions. Let’s look how it is used in some informal phrases.

Negation, refusal and denial

“хрен поймёшь!” — “like hell you can understand it!”
“его хрен найдёшь!” — “like hell you can find him!”
“хрен тебе!” — “like hell I will!”, “nuts to you!”

“ни хрена” — 1) (to mean “nothing”) “not a bloody thing”; 2) (reinforcement of negation) “not bloody likely”
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another contradictive Russian expression

When we mention a big young man in an informal talk, we can say “здоровый малый”. This is a kind of contradictive expression. Let’s examine it a little.

The word “здоровый” can mean “healthy” or “big”. The latter is assumed here.
The word “малый” can mean: Full text »

meanings of the Russian word “поправляться”

This word is interesting because it has more than one meaning and one of them even may seem contradictive.

1) get well, recover, be well again
About a person getting well after a disease.
Synonyms: выздоравливать, идти на поправку

2) gain weight, put on weight
This meaning may carry positive or negative sense.
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an interesting and funny obscene expression

I did not intend to describe a lot of abusive language here but may be I will make several exceptions. Like now.

We have an interesting and funny expression in our obscene lexicon. If you happen to hear it in a native Russian’s speech, you will unlikely catch the sense of this weird expression. Here it is: “слово за слово, хуем по столу”. The literal meaning is approximately this: “(said) a word for a word, (struck) a penis against a table”.
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a colloquial Russian word from Ukraine

Now I want to tell about one colloquial Russian word used in Ukraine: “западэнцы”. Notice the root “запад” (“west”).

This word is used in informal speech by Russian population of Ukraine. There are many Russians there and also many Ukrainians in Russia.
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use of the word “последний”

When you are talking to people of some professions connected with risk, avoid use of the word “последний” (“the last”). Use the word “крайний” instead of that.

This is because the word “последний” is associated with the end, and the end is associated with death, losses, fatal accidents, etc. That is why it is considered as an omen of misfortune, to say something like “когда мы последний раз …” (“when we … for the last time”, “during our last …”). Full text »

colloquial Russian word about indifference and risk

There is a short word for “couldn’t-care-less attitude”, “indifference to risk”: “пофигизм”.

The origin of this word is the informal expression “по фигу” (another form – “по хрену”). It’s easier to translate within a context:
“Мне всё по фигу” – “Everything is indifferent for me”
“Мне по фигу, что она скажет” – “I don’t care what she will say”
Somebody may say this when he/she is indifferent, angry (ignoring all arguments), reckless (ignoring all dangers).
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something about fish

If we mention something related to fish we use two different adjectives: “рыбный” and “рыбий”. Here is the difference.

“рыбный” – about something related to fish: dishes, smell, department (in a shop, a market, a factory), restaurant, trade.

“рыбий” – about something belonging to fish: fins, air bladder, fish scales, tail, head, fish oil.
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