Tomorrow is Another Day

Russian can be a very comforting language, with lots of ways to offer assurance that there will be a хеппи энд (happy ending). Some might call this magical thinking, but if you’re having a bad day or going through a lengthy bad patch, the words всё будет хорошо (everything will be fine) are just what you want to hear.

Things being what they are in the world – and in life – it’s handy to have a number of these linguistic bromides on hand to dole out whenever the going gets rough. They are all безличные конструкции (impersonal constructions), all conveniently referring to “things,” “it,” or “whatever is wrong.”

Your company has been purchased by a mini-oligarch so he can destroy the competition, and you just got your pink slip? Your friend nods sympathetically and says: Бывает. (It happens.)

When your friend is nervous about passing a test, getting a raise, or giving a speech, say: “Получится!” (It will be fine!) This is an all-purpose assurance of success. Aiming for a promotion? “Не беспокойся! Получится!” (What are you worried about? You’ll get it!)

Another word like this is образуется (things will shape up), which first appeared as an impersonal construction in Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, spoken by the servant Matvei, who, the narrator tells us, got it from another beloved old servant. This was a newly coined phrase at the time – at least in literature – but is now part of colloquial language. When someone complained on social media about a run of bad luck, her wise old classmate wrote: “Жизнь вроде зебры. Держись, всё образуется.” (Life comes in stripes like a zebra. Hang in there, things will get back on track.)

When it looks like things might end badly or tragically, обойдётся is the word to use. It means that the worst will be avoided and that things will turn out okay in the end. When your boss caught you watching something naughty on your office computer, you buddy might say: “Может, обойдётся? Мужик – нормальный.” (Maybe it will blow over? The boss is a regular guy.)

Утрясётся is the word to use when things have gotten confused and muddled, with perhaps false accusations being tossed around. “Ничего, со временем всё утрясётся.” (Don’t sweat it, in time it will all get sorted out), your friend tells you.

There are several other expressions for things – tensions, work, marriage, life – calming down after a period of upset. Sometimes your friends just tell you to wait it out: “Глядишь, успокоится.” (Before you know it, things will settle down.) Another word for this is угомониться (to calm down). You can use it as a command with overexcited children or rowdy neighbors: “Угомонись!” (Chill!) Or you can use it to reassure yourself that everything and everyone will eventually calm down: “Может быть, когда всё угомонится, снова сяду за свой столик и поработаю.” (Maybe when everything quiets down, I’ll sit down at my desk and work again.)

You can also use the staid утихомирится (quiet down): “Лет через пять всё в стране утихомирится.” (In five years or so things in the country will calm down.) Or the quirky устаканится: “Веру в то, что в конце концов всё как-то устаканится.” (I believe that, in the end, everything will turn out right.)

Наладится is the word of assurance that things will get sorted, calm down, and work out well. “В конце концов, впереди ещё целый день – жизнь наладится, и всё будет хорошо.” (In the end there’s another whole day ahead of us – things will work out fine, and everything will be great.)

Amen to that.