The Big Silver Book of Russian Verbs, 2nd Edition (Big Book Series)

I am just a beginner learning Russian, and whether you’re a beginner or not, this book is a very *complete* resource to make sure you learn HOW the verbs are used, as well as all of the conjugations… AND exercises in the back! But in my opinion, the example sentences for each verb are invaluable, because as I will explain below in some funny examples, translations are tricky.I have some advice for beginners, so keep reading from here only if you’re a beginner, otherwise you will probably already know this. Let me give you a really funny example:On page 70, I was reading about the verb вязать which means “to knit”. One of the example sentences under “idioms” was the following: "он с утра уже лыка не вяжет." Now, the translation for this (straight from the book) is: "since this morning he was so drunk he hasn't been able to talk straight." Nowhere in this sentence is any word related to alcohol or drunkenness, and the translation doesn’t have “knit” or anything related to it. Plus, Google Translate* gave me "in the morning he already does not knit a bast" lol... So, I actually thought this book was wrong. I asked a Russian. He informed me that there was actually no mistake here!! Here is his explanation:“This idiom has roots in history. Russian villagers used to make footwear and baskets from the wood fibers named "лыко". It's not difficult, you just weave these fibers in a cross pattern. It was done in the free time, and people could talk and sing while making stuff out of these fiber. To not be able to do that, the person should be REALLY drunk. Hence the verb "лыка не вяжет" describing a state of extreme intoxication.”You might think this sort of thing doesn’t exist in English, but it does! Think about "getting wasted" ... it means getting drunk! Another example: "He couldn't *wrap* his head around the idea." If a Russian student came across this example sentence for the verb "to wrap," they would be confused for sure, just like I was with the drunk basket weaving. These expressions and idioms are not explained in the book -- you need to find out from a native.And then there is the problem of specificity in Russian, here is an example: I wanted to say in Russian “I can’t make sentences,” and so I looked up the verb “to make,” which is сделать. Got it! When I tried to use this to make my Russian sentence, I was told it’s wrong… сделать is used more for making things, *physically*. The correct verb I should have used was составать which means “to compose.” You also wouldn’t use сделать to “make food”, but rather use the verb “to cook.” Ect, ect. Russian verbs are super specific, and it is one of the major differences between English and Russian - in English you would use other added words to help describe your action more specifically (for example, “I am running late”), whereas in Russian, you must simply select the correct verb (“to run late” is literally one single verb!) Welcome to the world of languages!So just be patient, and make sure you read ALL of the example sentences in order to see how the verbs are used! Regarding the idioms: Having a native speaker to guide you is pretty much a must, because unfortunately the idioms are not explained in this book... it would be too exhaustive to do that. If it doesn't make sense -- and it *won't* at times -- find a Russian!*P.S. Don't rely on Google Translate!!

As other reviewers have pointed out, the conjugations of pretty much any verb are freely available online, so I think the usefulness of this book comes down to two things:1. The explanation of the general conjugation rules of Russian at the beginning2. The verb index at the endVocabulary lists are also not hard to find online, but the verb index in this book is still nice to have since it lists the definition and conjugation model of each verb. However, the claim on the cover that the book includes "2500 verbs cross-referenced to conjugation models" is misleading, if not an outright lie. The reason is that the 555 verbs that make up the bulk of the book are mostly aspectual (imperfective/perfective) pairs, and when they exist, reflexive and non-reflexive forms are listed as a single verb. For instance, verb number 213 is мыть(ся)/помыть(ся), meaning the four individual forms мыть, мытся, помыть and помыться. This is counted as a single verb in the "555 fully conjugated verbs in all tenses" described on the cover.However, if you count verbs that way, the verb index in the back contains only 956, by my count. Only if you count imperfective and perfective forms and reflexive and non-reflexive forms separately can you get over 2000 (I count 2059). Of course, I counted these by hand, so these numbers could be slightly off, but not by enough to account for the discrepancy.Maybe it's reasonable to consider the different forms of a verb separately, but it's pretty misleading to list the numbers 555 and 2500 on the cover without making it clear they were counted in different ways. On top of that, like I said above, I only count 2059 verbs in the index, and the table of contents and verb index themselves only claim "more than 2000." I have no idea how they got up to 2500, since the main 555, the motion verb index and the irregular verb index are all included in the main verb index at the end.

As a 4th semester university Russian-language learner, I cannot express how useful this book has been and continues to be in my pursuit of learning Russian. My text book for class doesn't even do as well of a job with conjugations and examples of how to use them in speech as well as "The Big Silver Book of Russian Verbs" does! It is difficult to find compilations of Russian verbs and verb conjugations this extensive, explanatory and easy to understand, so when one of my classmates let me look at his, I knew that I needed to have it. I purchased it over break before my 4th semester started and as I use it, I wish that I would have had it since the beginning. It is cheap considering all of the information within it and the fact that if you are persistent with learning the language, you will use it and reference it over and over again.I purchased the Kindle edition, unlike my classmate, and am quite pleased with how the Kindle edition of it holds up to the print copy. The pages are coherently laid out and it is easy to navigate within it. Any graphs or images that are in it have not been distorted by the digital Kindle edition either, which is obviously a major plus for any Kindle user (who, if they are like me, fear that things such as diagrams and images may be distorted in the switch from print to digital).As I said, if you even think that this book would be helpful and/or useful for you, it most definitely will be!

El libro es excelente. El problema es que Amazon lo empaca en un sobre y llega maltratado.

Estou ainda aprendendo russo e o livro tem sido bem útil, toda vez que aprendo um verbo novo acabo marcando no livro pra poder voltar a praticar ele. Me ajuda bastante, pois antes precisava procurar online e perdia tempo. Até o momento todos os verbos que precisei num nível A1 encontrei no livro, com frases simples pra poder entender o contexto do verbo.

Layout is kind of dry... but I don't see how anyone can make this subject matter more interesting.Solid book for serious students learning Russian.

Aunque en inglés, la edición es buenísima y la calidad de las hojas también. Por 15 euros que ha costado tengo que decir que el trabajo que ha hecho el autor es excelente. Lo recomiendo.

Muy bien presentado y organizado. El estar en idioma Inglés no es obstáculo para comprender la conjugación del verbo de hecho creo es más atractivo de esta forma. Hay pocos material en ruso-español y está es una excelente opción.Спасибо!