You remember we saw earlier the forms весной, зимой (Instrumental Case). How can we say “in autumn”? Осенью! осень – autumn → осенью (Instrumental Case) just like… любовь – love → любовью (Instrumental Case) Both feminine ending in a soft sign -ь! Когда ты со своей жизнью разберёшься? – When are you going to sort out your life??? жизнь – life → жизнью (Instrumental Case)

подросток – teenager

под (under) + рост (development, growth) – he hasn’t grown yet – he is young/teenager

Теперь и сам не рад, что встретил. – Now, I’m not happy that I met you.

The verb встретиться that we saw earlier is reflexive and takes Instrumental Case.

встретиться c кем-то – to meet someone

Another way to say the same thing is using встретить + Accusative Case:

Я встретил тебя. – I met you.

ты → тебя (Accusative Case)

He firstly met the girl on the crossroad but he is not happy any more as she doesn’t love him.

Моя душа полна тобой… – My soul is full of you.

полн – полна – short form adjective of…

полный – полная – full, covered

Зачем, зачем на белом свете есть безответная любовь? – Why, why on this world is there unrequited love?

ответ – answer

безответная любовь – without an answer (без + ответа) – любовь без взаимности

Зачем – What for? For what reason? ~ С какой целью? – With what intention-goal?

Зачем ты это сделал? – Why did you did this?

свет – world

Белый свет is an old phrase, from the pre-Christian time. People believed once that there are several worlds. The main two worlds are the world of living people (daylight, bright, white) and world of dead (dark, black). So белый свет is the world we live in! 🙂

Когда на улице Заречной в домах погашены огни – When the lights are off in the houses of Заречная street.

Where???

на улице – on the street

улица – street → на улице (Prepositional Case)

Заречная улица → на Заречной улице

Тверская улица → на Тверской улице (famous street in the centre of Moscow)

дом – house → дома – houses

Заречная comes from река – river

огонь – огонек – light, fire

погашены огни means that there is not light at home, the lights are switched off and the people are sleeping…

Горят мартеновские печи, и день и ночь горят они. – Open-hearth furnaces are burning, and they are burning day and night.

печь – oven, furnace (feminine)

Гореть – to burn, to fire, to tingle

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

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

So, the furnaces are burning day and night. Can you guess whether гореть is perfective or imperfective? Since the verb here describes an action of long duration… it is an imperfective one!

Мартеновские печи is a type of metallurgical furnace where steel is made. Those furnaces were very typical in Soviet-time plants. Nowadays they are considered outdated and are gradually replaced by new, more effective ones.

Below you can see how they looked.

река → речка (diminutive form)

печь – печка (diminutive form)

Печка can also refer to a wood stove in a kitchen, something typical in Russian countryside houses. Below you can see a печка in a house.

I just remembered the famous Russian cartoon Трое из Простокващино. If you haven’t watched it, please do. You can find it here with English subtitles. There you will see a печка!!

The meaning of the previous verse is that when everyone is sleeping in town (погашены огни) the hero of our song can’t sleep because he is thinking of his beloved one. So, the whole night he is looking at the fires coming out from the pipe plant. Another scenario is that when everybody else is sleeping he is doing his night shift looking at the burning furnaces.

Я не хочу судьбу иную. – I don’t want any other fate.

судьба – fate

иной – другой – different

Пришли иные времена. – Different times have come. (From the famous song Любовь – волшебная страна featured in the film Жестокий романс – Cruel romance)

Его поведение не что иное, как трусость. – His behaviour is nothing less than cowardice.

Мне ни на что не променять ту заводскую проходную, что в люди вывела меня. – I wouldn’t change for anything that plant entrance which gave me recognition.

променять – to exchange

– На что хочешь это променять? – What would you like to exchange this for?

– Ни на что! – For nothing!