How to express emotions and physical states in Russian

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Today we will find out how to express emotions and physical states in the Russian language.

We use the construction “быть+adverb ending in О” to express exterior or interior states, for example, weather, temperature, climate, but also physical and emotional states of people.

Сего́дня хо́лодно.
It is cold today.

Вчера́ было хо́лодно.
It was cold yesterday.

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За́втра то́же бу́дет хо́лодно.
It will also be cold tomorrow.

Please, note that we don’t use the verb “быть” in the Present tense. However; in the Past we use the neutral form, “было”, and in the Future we use the 3rd person singular form, “будет”.

When we want to describe a physical state of a person, we use the same construction, but the noun for the person concerned is used in the Dative case.

Dative for the person+The verb быть+Adverb

Владимиру жа́рко.
Vladimir is hot.

Юле было хо́лодно.
Yulia was cold.

Мне ску́чно.
I am bored.

Тебе́ о́чень весело.
You are very happy.

Взро́слым бу́дет неинтере́сно.
Adults will be not interested.

Ему́ любопы́тно.
He is curious about it.

Remember that the words “хорошо́” and “пло́хо” mean “to feel well” and “to feel badly” in the construction with the Dative case:

Ма́ме было пло́хо вчера́, но сейча́с ей уже хорошо́.
Mom was feeling badly yesterday, but now she is feeling well.

The word “удо́бно” means “to suit smb”, used with the Dative case:

Вам в 8 (во́семь) удо́бно?
Does it suit you if we meet at 8?

The word “неудо́бно” means “to feel awkward”:

Ему́ неудо́бно говори́ть с мои́ми роди́телями.
He feels awkward when he speaks to my parents.

And now let’s check if you understood everything correctly and do the following exercise. Good luck!

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