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.)