by The Red Army Choir
“Katyusha” is a Soviet song from 1938, with music by Matvey Blanter and words by Mikhail Isakovsky, first performed that autumn in Moscow by Valentina Batishcheva. Katyusha is an affectionate form of the name Yekaterina (Katherine). In our translation apple and pear trees are in blossom and mist drifts over the river when Katyusha comes out onto the high, steep bank. She starts a song about a gray steppe eagle, the one she loved, whose letters she kept. She asks her song to fly after the bright sun and carry her greetings to a soldier on the distant border. Let him remember a simple girl and hear how she sings; let him protect his native land, and Katyusha will keep their love safe. During the Second World War the Red Army's rocket launchers were nicknamed “Katyusha” after this song.
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.
Apple and pear trees blossomed
Mist drifted over the river
Katyusha stepped to the shore
Onto the high, steep bank
(last 2 lines x2)
She came out and began to sing
About a gray steppe eagle
About the one she loved
About the one, whose letters she kept.
About the one she loved
About the one, whose letters she kept
You, song, a girl's little song
You fly after the bright sun
And to the soldier on the distant border
Send greetings from Katyusha
(last 2 lines x2)
Let him remember the simple girl
Let him hear how she sings
Let him protect his native land
And Katyusha will save her love
(last 2 lines x2)
(repeat the 4 lines from “Apple and pear trees blossomed”)
Katyusha stepped to the shore
Onto the high, steep bank
| Word | Say it | Meaning | Type | In the song |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| расцветать | rastsvetat | to bloom | verb | расцветали: past, plural, imperfective; here “bloomed” |
| яблоня | yablonya | apple tree | noun | яблони: nominative, plural; here “apple trees” |
| выходить | vykhodit | to go out | verb | выходила: past, feminine, imperfective; here “went out” |
| берег | bereg | shore | noun | берег: accusative, singular, masculine |
| высокий | vysokiy | high | adjective | высокий: accusative, singular, masculine |
| крутой | krutoy | steep | adjective | крутой: accusative, singular, masculine |
| письмо | pismo | letter | noun | письма: accusative, plural, neuter; here “letters” |
| беречь | berech | to keep | verb | берегла: past, feminine, imperfective; here “kept” |
| дальний | dalniy | distant | adjective | дальнем: prepositional, singular, neuter |
| пограничье | pogranichye | borderland | noun | пограничье: prepositional, singular, neuter |
| передать | peredat | to send | verb | передай: imperative, singular, perfective; here “send” |
| привет | privet | greeting | noun | привет: accusative, singular, masculine |
«на берег» (na bereg) “onto the shore”
На with the accusative shows where someone goes: Katyusha comes out на берег, “onto the shore”. With the prepositional it shows where someone is: на берегу, “on the shore”, with the stressed ending -у that some masculine nouns take after в and на. The two adjectives for the bank in the next line, “high” and “steep”, are accusative too, which for masculine things looks just like the nominative.
«сизого орла» (sizogo orla) “gray eagle”
Про (about) takes the accusative. For living masculine beings the accusative borrows the genitive ending, so орёл (eagle) becomes орла, and an adjective with it ends in -ого, as in the quote. Pronouns follow the same rule: “about the one she loved” uses the accusative forms of тот (that one) and который (who), which look like their genitives. Notice too that орёл loses its ё in every other form, a vowel that comes and goes like the о of сон, сна (dream).
«песенка девичья» (pesenka devichya) “a girl's little song”
Песенка is a diminutive of песня (song), made with the suffix -енк-. Diminutives often show affection more than small size, and names work the same way: Катюша is a fond form of Катя, itself short for Екатерина. Девичья (a girl's) is the feminine of девичий, an adjective of a type that shows belonging, like волчий, “a wolf's”, with the feminine волчья.
«Катюша сбережёт» (Katyusha sberezhot) “Katyusha will keep safe”
Беречь (to keep, to protect) is imperfective and сберечь is its perfective partner. He бережёт his native land: the present tense of an ongoing duty. She сбережёт their love: a perfective verb has no present, so this form is the future, a result that will be reached. Пусть before a verb means “let”: пусть идёт дождь, “let it rain”.
Translation, word notes and commentary by Koinei. Rights holders: see Copyright and takedown requests.