Expressing how you feel

Happy, sad, bored, scared — and the dative-plus-adverb construction Russians love.

Russian has two main ways to talk about emotional states. The first is straightforward adjectives (рад = glad). The second is a signature impersonal construction — dative + adverb — that handles 'I'm bored', 'I'm sad', 'I'm scared'.

Adjective + nominative for happy / glad / sure

Some emotions use a regular adjective with the person in the nominative: - Я рад. / Я рада. = I'm glad. - Я уверен. / Я уверена. = I'm sure / confident. - Я счастлив. / Я счастлива. = I'm happy. These take short adjective forms in the predicate, agreeing with the speaker's gender.

Dative + adverb for 'feel X'

For many emotional states, Russian uses the impersonal dative + adverb: - Мне грустно. = I'm sad (lit. 'to-me sad'). - Ему скучно. = He's bored. - Ей страшно. = She's scared. - Нам весело. = We're having fun. - Мне стыдно. = I'm ashamed. The person feeling the emotion is in the DATIVE, and the adverb stands alone — no 'is/am'.

Past and future of these constructions

Add the appropriate form of быть (always neuter to agree with the impersonal predicate): - Past: Мне было грустно. = I was sad. - Future: Мне будет грустно. = I will be sad. The person stays in the dative; only быть is added.

Verbs of emotion

- любить = to love (already known). - ненавидеть = to hate. - бояться = to be afraid (+ genitive of what you fear). Я боюсь собак. = I'm afraid of dogs. - скучать = to miss / be bored. Я скучаю по тебе. = I miss you (по + dative for the missed person).

Examples

Мне грустно сегодня.

I'm sad today.

Ему было скучно на работе.

He was bored at work.

Past — было.

Я рад тебя видеть.

I'm glad to see you.

рад + accusative + infinitive.

Анна боится собак.

Anna is afraid of dogs.

бояться + genitive.

Я скучаю по маме.

I miss mom.

скучать по + dative.

Нам было весело вчера.

We had fun yesterday.