by Shaman
“Ya Russkiy” (“I Am Russian”) is a pop rock single by Shaman, the stage name of singer Yaroslav Dronov. Released in July 2022, it debuted at number one on Russia's YouTube Music chart and drew both praise and criticism. In our translation the singer breathes in the air, feels the sun looking at him and the free wind flying over him, and says the wind is just like him. He only wants to love and to breathe, needs nothing else and says he cannot be broken. The chorus repeats the title line between short statements: he is going all the way, his blood comes from his father, he was lucky, and he is Russian to spite the whole world. In the second verse his song flies into the sky and calls him along, while his heart burns inside him, lighting the way home.
Koinei's own English translation. The original Russian lyrics are not shown on this page: open the reader to follow them word by word with the audio.
I am Russian
I breathe in this air
The sun in the sky
Looks at me
Over me flies
The free wind
It's the same, as I am
And I want simply
To love and to breathe
And I don’t need anything else
I am so as I am
And you can not break me
And all because
I am Russian
I'm going all the way
I am Russian
My blood's from my father
I am Russian
And I was lucky
I am Russian
To spite the whole world
I am Russian
Into the sky flies
This song
And calls me with it
And inside me burns
My heart
Lighting the way home
(repeat the 3 lines from “And I want simply”)
That's just how I am
(repeat the 8 lines from “And you can not break me”)
I am Russian
To spite the whole world
I am Russian (x2)
(repeat the 8 lines from “I'm going all the way”)
| Word | Say it | Meaning | Type | In the song |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| русский | russkiy | Russian | adjective | русский: nominative, singular, masculine |
| небо | nebo | sky | noun | небе: prepositional, singular, neuter |
| хотеться | khotetsya | to want | verb | хочется: singular, reflexive, imperfective; here “wants” |
| другой | drugoy | other | adjective | другого: genitive, singular, masculine |
| сломать | slomat | to break | verb | сломать: infinitive, perfective |
| идти | idti | to go | verb | иду: 1st person, singular; here “go” |
| конец | konets | end | noun | конца: genitive, singular, masculine |
| кровь | krov | blood | noun | кровь: nominative, singular, feminine |
| отец | otets | father | noun | отца: genitive, singular, masculine |
| повезти | povezti | to be lucky | verb | повезло: past, neuter, perfective; here “was lucky” |
| мир | mir | world | noun | миру: dative, singular, masculine |
| назло | nazlo | in spite | adverb | назло |
«Я русский» (Ya russkiy) “I am Russian”
Russian normally drops быть (to be) in the present tense, so Я русский is a complete sentence, literally “I Russian”. Our translation marks the missing verb as “(am)”. The verb comes back in the past and future: я был русским, я буду русским. Русский is an adjective and agrees with the speaker, so a woman says я русская. The same word gives русский язык, the Russian language.
«мне повезло» (mne povezlo) “I was lucky”
Russian often talks about luck, needs and wishes without a grammatical subject. The person goes into the dative case, мне (to me), and the verb повезти stands in the neuter past form повезло, literally “it turned out lucky to me”. The same idea is behind хочется (one feels like), which our translation renders “I want”, and behind нужно (needed). To say “you were lucky”, change only the pronoun: тебе повезло.
«надо мной» (nado mnoy) “over me”
Над (over, above) takes the instrumental case, so я becomes мной. Before мной the preposition adds a vowel and becomes надо, which is easier to say. Other short prepositions do the same: со мной (with me), ко мне (to me), подо мной (under me). The song's во (in), used later with мне, is в with the same added vowel.
«миру назло» (miru nazlo) “to spite the world”
Назло (out of spite, to spite) takes the person or thing being spited in the dative case: мир (world) becomes миру, and весь (whole) becomes всему. The dative usually comes first, as in the song, but назло всем (to spite everyone) is also common. A related everyday phrase is как назло, “as if on purpose”, used when something goes wrong at the worst moment.
Translation, word notes and commentary by Koinei. Rights holders: see Copyright and takedown requests.