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It's not that Russian gramma isn't important (it's VERY VERY important and extremely complex), it's just that word order isn't important.

It's perfectly ok to say "znayu ne ya." Grammatically, that's perfect. The thing is that, like in every other language, people are a little lazy and repeat what they hear. So it falls into patterns. Most people will use the standard S-V-O word order in most cases.

But, people will still change word order to change the emphasis. For example, I could ask "vy ne znayete gde Sasha?" Here, the emphasis is on "Sasha." I don't care who knows where he is, I don't care where someone else is, I just want to know where Sasha is. But say I am in a group and we're teasing Mr. Filippov. Everyone else knows where Sasha is, but we just want to give him trouble because he doesn't know. We might ask the question "ne znayete gde Sasha vy?" That's a terrible example, but you get the point smile

The reason for this is because Russian is an inflectional language. Basically, the meaning is conveyed by the word endings, not the word order. So if I said "Ya lyublyu tebia," we know that it's ME loving YOU. I could say that as "tebia lyublyu ya" and it would still mean the same thing. The reason is that "ya" is in the nominative form (subject of the verb) and "tebia" is in the accusative form (object).

Anyways, if you have any more questions, feel free to ask smile

No problem, Proudly_Jewish. Glad to help!

Like I said, most people just follow the pattern they hear because when you are speaking and need to say something fast, it's easiest. It's grammatically correct, but rare.

That's why my example was so bad. Word order is frequently changed in questions to shift emphasis, I just can't think of a good example where people commonly do it.

But my point is just that it's still perfectly grammatically correct to mix up word order (and often done in music). It's just that people aren't used to hearing weird word orders and will look at you weirdly if you do it wink Which, I think, is partially why inflections dropped out of English in the early Middle English period.

I'm learning Russian as a second language (err... third? sixth? something like that...) now. I'm still VERY much a beginer. I'm just a grammar fanatic, lol xp

Ok, you know how you can say "ya lyublyu tebia" or "ya tebia lyublyu" or "tebia lyublyu ya"? Or "A ty kuda yedesh?" or "A kuda ty yedesh?"?

If you haven't studied grammar, it's quite possible that you wouldn't know about this. As I've said, you speak the language instinctively and may not be aware that you are changing word order.

Haha, no problem wink

I used to have one and I just tried to find the topic on the Russian message board I go to where it was suggested, but I couldn't find it sad

I actually like the online thing quite a bit better simply because I don't have to put stickers all over my keyboard. Those can be a real drag.

But if you want one, a google search should give you a couple choices. Of course, how well they work can really be a crapshoot. The one I had, for example, listed the key order wrongly (or maybe it was right on a differently configured keyboard?). So I actually had to sit in Word and test all the keys out before putting stickers on. I also had some problems with it working sometimes and then not working other times...

I just write phonetically because it's easier and I'm lazy wink

And hey! Swiss! I was born there and lived there until I was about 11 smile

Russian seems nice, but i dont think i would ever be able to understand cyril's alphabet.

Я люблю русского! heart heart heart