Звезда is a special song for two reasons:

First, the lyrics are simple and ideal for beginners.

Second, it was made for Kuka – a wonderful film that you should definitely watch.

Don’t Google the film right now. We’ve got some work to do first. I’ll tell you about the film later.

Let’s listen to the song first. I’ve made a video with both lyrics and translation on the screen. Off we go!

Звезда – The Song

Звезда – The Lyrics

Улицы давно пусты,

Я ждала тебя, а ты…

На звезде я прячу все мечты,

Там есть двое, это я и ты.

 

Холодно опять одной,

Мы разделены стеной,

Почему я прячу на звезде

Все послания тебе.

 

Гори, гори, моя звезда,

В душе моей твоя слеза,

Гори, гори, моя звезда,

Гори сейчас и навсегда.

 

Улицы, дожди, зонты,

Я опять одна, а ты…

Всё равно я прячу на звезде

Всю любовь мою к тебе.

 

Гори, гори, моя звезда,

В душе моей твоя слеза,

Гори, гори, моя звезда,

Гори сейчас и навсегда.

 

Звезда – The Anatomy

Улицы давно пусты. – The streets are empty long ago.

улица – street

улицы – streets

улиц – genitive plural

В Петербурге много красивых улиц и мостов. – There are a lot of beautiful streets and bridges in Saint Petersburg.

мост – bridge

мосты – bridges

звезда - Learn Russian through Songs - https://explorerussian.com

давно – a long time ago

Мы давно знаем друг друга. – We know each other for a long time.

пусты – empty (plural – short form adjective)

What’s the long – complete form of the adjective?

пустой (masc.) – пустая (fem.) – пустое (neut.) – пустые (plural)

In my opinion, if you are a beginner you can live without the short form adjectives. But if you want to know more about them read here.

 

Я ждала тебя. – I’ve been waiting for you.

Since a girl is singing, we use the feminine form of the past tense ждала.

The verb ждать – to wait takes accusative case:

Я жду тебя. – I am waiting for you (тебя – accusative case of ты).

Я жду Елену. – I’m waiting for Елена (Елену – accusative case of Елена).

 

You remember we have seen this exact phrase in a previous song:

Если б ты знал, как долго я тебя сегодня ждала. – If you only knew how long I’ve been waiting for you today…

 

Я ждала тебя, а ты… – I’ve been waiting for you, but you…

А is used to show contrast here. I’ve been waiting for you, but you…??? Where have you been? You are probably not thinking about me…

 

На звезде я прячу все мечты. – I hide all the dreams on a star.

Why is she saying this?

Probably she hangs all her hopes for this love on the stars, or the stars are the only ones who know about her secrets.

If you have more ideas about what’s going on here, please leave a comment below. 🙂

звезда – star

на звезде – on the star (prepositional case)

Just like…

на улице – on the street

На улице can also mean outside, outdoors.

Дети играют на улице. – Kids are playing outside.

Wrong form ID

прятать – to hide, conceal (imperfective)

Я прячу – I hide

(прячешь, прячет, прячем, прячете, прячут)

спрятать – hide (perfective)

спрятаться – hide oneself (perfective)

Кошка спряталась в одежде. – The cat hid in the clothes…

Hidden Cat - звезда - Learn Russian through Songs - https://explorerussian.com

Do you remember any more verbs with the imperfective/perfective pair differing only in an C?

ходить – сходить (to go)

просить – спросить (request, ask)

прятать – спрятать (to hide)

мечта – dream

мечты – dreams

мечтать – to dream

  • О чём ты там мечтаешь? – What are you dreaming about over there?
  • Я мечтаю о моей жизни в Москве!. – I’m dreaming about my life in Moscow!

 

Там есть двое, это я и ты. – There are two there, you and me.

там – there (на звезде – on the star is implied…)

двое – two, couple (here it’s more like a couple, you and me…)

Я люблю Петербург! Там есть мосты, музеи, и красивая архитектура. – I love St. Petersburg. There you can find bridges, museums and beautiful architecture.

Note that people call Saint Petersburg either with the full name Санкт-Петербург, or with the short one Петербург, or just Питер. 

звезда - Learn Russian through Songs - https://explorerussian.com

музей – museum → музеи – museums

герой – hero  → герои – heroes

Холодно опять одной. – It’s cold to be alone again. 

The complete sentence here would be:

Мне холодно опять быть одной. – It’s cold for me to be alone again.

опять – again

  • Идёт дождь. – It’s raining.
  • Опять??? – Again???

одной – instrumental case of одна – alone

Мы разделены стеной. – We are separated by a wall.

разделить – divide, separate (perfective)

Нас разделили на 4 группы. – They divided us into 4 groups. 

разделиться – to get divided, separated (perfective and reflexive verb)

Мы разделились на 4 группы. – We split in 4 groups.

стена – wall

стеной – instrumental case

стена – стеной (instrumental case)

одна – одной   (instrumental case)

Wrong form ID

Почему я прячу на звезде все послания тебе? –  Why do I hide all the messages to you on a star?

послания – messages, letters

послать – to send (perfective)

Я пошлю тебе СМС. – I will send you an SMS.

A common synonym of послать is

отправить – to send (perfective)

Я отправлю тебе ссылку. – I will send you the link.

ссылка – link (hyperlink)

Remember, the indirect object is in dative case (to whom? – тебе) whereas the direct object (what? – СМС, ссылку) is in accusative case.

 

Гори, гори, моя звезда. – Shine, shine, my star.

гореть – shine

This verb in conjugated just like the usual говорить – to speak

(горю, горишь, горит, горим, горите, горят)

Note here that there is another popular song with the title “Гори, гори, моя звезда” interpreted by Anna German.

 

в душе моей твоя слеза – your tear is in my soul

душа – soul

в душе моей – in my soul (prepositional case)

We saw earlier в моей жизни – in my life (again prepositional case)

 

Гори сейчас и навсегда. – Shine now and forever.

навсегда – forever

Я приехал в Москву навсегда. – I came to Moscow (to live) forever.

 

Улицы, дожди, зонты – Streets, rains, umbrellas

We saw улицы earlier.

Улицы пусты. – The streets are empty. 

дожди – rains

дождь – rain

Идёт/шёл дождь. – It’s raining/was raining.

Идёт/шёл снег. – It’s snowing/was snowing.

or…

Падает снег. – Snow is falling.

падать – drop, fall (Я падаю)

Выпасть – drop, fall (perfective)

Снег выпал вчера в Петербурге. – Snow fell yesterday in St. Petersburg.

Snow falling in Saint Petersbury - звезда - Learn Russian through Songs - https://explorerussian.com

зонт – umbrella

Возьми зонтик! – Take an umbrella!

зонтик – “little umbrella” diminutive form of зонт

just like…

дождик – “little rain” diminutive form of дождь

 

How can I not remember here the beautiful song “Я спросил у ясеня” – I asked the ash tree. 

… долго дождик слёзы лил за моим окном. – For long rain was pouring tears outside my window.

You can listen to the above phrase in the song here.

We saw слеза – tear and above слёзы – tears.

 

Я опять одна, а ты… – I’m alone again, and you…

А here is used again for contrast.

Я тут одна страдаю, а ты где-то занимаешься своими делами, и тебя это не волнует. ~~ I’m here alone again suffering, and you are somewhere dealing with your stuff but this is not a problem for you.

 

Всё равно я прячу на звезде – No matter what, I hide on a star…

Всё равно – in any case, it doesn’t matter, anyway

It’s also close to несмотря ни на что – no matter what

Милая, я люблю тебя. Несмотря ни на что. – My honey, I love you. No matter what.

Все равно я тебя люблю. I love you no matter what/unconditionally.

Мы с Леной немножечко разные, но всё равно мы любим друг друга. – I and Lena are a little bit different but anyway we love each other.

немножечко is the diminutive form of…

немножко – a little bit which is again a variation of…

немного – a little bit

Yes, you know that already; Russians love diminutives.

 

всю любовь мою к тебе – all my love to you…

What does she hide? All love. That’s the direct object and it will be in the accusative case:

всю любовь – accusative case of вся любовь – all love

К + Dative Case

Remember that к takes dative case:

любовь к тебе – love to (towards) you

любовь к русскому языку – love to (towards) the Russian language

Приходи ко мне! – Come to me (visit me)!

More Grammar Points

Difference between Давно and Долго

When we want to say that long time has passed since something happened we use давно. For example:

Мы давно не виделись. – We haven’t seen each other for a long time!

Мы давно не были в театре. – It’s been a long time since we have been to the theatre.

 

When we want to give emphasis to the duration of a process we use долго. For example:

Мы по телефону долго говорили вчера. – We talked for a long time on the phone yesterday.

Я долго здесь жду тебя. – I’ve been waiting here a long time for you.

 

Earlier we saw the example:

Мы давно знаем друг друга. – We’ve known each other for a long time.

Here you might say the focus is the years we have known each other. However, we use давно because it’s not about a lengthy process like a long call, meeting etc. We met each other a long time ago and since then we’ve been friends.

 

And an example from Yakusheva’s song we analysed in a previous article:

Если б ты знал как долго я тебя сегодня ждала. – If you only knew how long I’ve been waiting for you today…

The focus is on the duration of the action. She’s been waiting for him the whole day…

Кука – The Film

Now that you’ve learned so many new things you can enjoy the film.

The film is set in St. Petersburg and follows the title character Kuka, a six-year-old girl who lives alone and is too independent for her age. Kuka is an orphan, who receives her Grandmother’s pension and runs the house by herself; cooking, cleaning and doing the shopping. When her Grandmother dies, the girl, fearing that she will be taken away to the orphanage, keeps it a secret and lives alone in her Grandmother’s house.

Wanna get a flavour of the film? Watch the trailer below:

Wanna see the whole film on YouTube? Make yourself a big pot of popcorn, sit comfortably, turn your Russian ear on and watch here. 

I’m sorry I couldn’t find the film with English subtitles…  However, you can find some bits of the dialogues in Russian here.

Enjoy and thanks for reading! 

Angelos

звезда - explorerussian.com