So you are here to learn Russian! The first step to learning Russian is to learn the Russian alphabet. It may seem daunting to learn a new alphabet, but it is relatively easy. In fact, the great thing about Russian is that almost all words can be sounded out as they are written. Unlike English where the pronunciation of a word may not be clear from its written form. Russian also has one letter to one sound, unlike English where two letters often make one sound. (Example “sh”).
Either before or after this lesson we recommend you print the alphabet table, and stick it up next to the computer (or around the house), to help you with the following lessons.
The Russian alphabet is known as the Cyrillic alphabet. There are 33 letters in the Russian alphabet. 11 vowels, 20 consonants, and 2 pronunciation signs. Here is what the Russian alphabet looks like (in dictionary order).
А, Б, В, Г, Д, Е, Ё, Ж, З, И, Й, К, Л, М, Н, О, П, Р, С, Т, У, Ф, Х, Ц, Ч, Ш, Щ, Ъ, Ы, Ь, Э, Ю, Я
Now let's have a look at these letters in detail. For your reference we will make some notes about unusual hand-written forms, however this will be covered in another lesson so don't worry too much yet.
Russian letters that are (almost) the same.
А а - Pronounced like the "a" in the word "father" or "car". It is not the 'flat' "a" sound you sometimes hear in words like "cat" or "flat".
К к - Pronounced like the "k" in "kitten" or "kangaroo". This letter replaces the english "c" sound in words like "cat".
М м - Pronounced like the "m" in man. (Note: Unlike english, the hand-written "м" should always start from the bottom)
O o - When stressed, it is pronounced like the "o" in "bore". When un-stressed it is pronounced more like the letter "a". (See later notes.)
Т т - Pronounced like the "t" in "tap". (Note: The hand-written form for "т" should always start from the top, as it looks quite similar to the letter "м")
Russian letters that look like english letters but sound different.
(These are the most important to learn so you don't get them mixed up.)
В в - Pronounced like the "v" in "vet". (Equivalent to the english letter "v").
Е е - Pronounced like the "ye" in "yes".
Н н - Pronounced like the "n" in "no". (Equivalent to the english letter "n").
Р р - Pronounced like the "r" in "run", but it is rolled. (Equivalent to the english letter "r").
С с - Pronounced like the "s" in "see". (Equivalent to the english letter "s"). (It might help to remember that it's used like the "s" sound in the english words "centre" and "cent".)
У у - Pronounced like the "oo" in "boot" or "root".
Х х - Pronounced like the "h" in "hello". However, this is often pronounced more like the "ch" in the Scottish "Loch" or German "Bach", or the spanish "x" in "Mexico".
Russian letters that look unusual, but have familiar sounds
Б б - Pronounced like the "b" in "bat". (Equivalent to the english letter "b").
Г г - Pronounced like the "g" in "go". (Equivalent to the english letter "g").
Д д - Pronounced like the "d" in "dog". (Equivalent to the english letter "d").
З з - Pronounced like the "z" in "zoo". (Equivalent to the english letter "z").
И и - Pronounced like the "i" in "taxi". (Sometimes equivalent to the english letter "i", the short 'ee' sound.). (Note: The hand-written form for "и" looks a little like the english "u").
Л л - Pronounced like the "l" in "love". (Equivalent to the english letter "l").
П п - Pronounced like the "p" in "pot". (Equivalent to the english letter "p").
Ф ф - Pronounced like the "f" in "fat". (Equivalent to the english letter "f").
Э э - Pronounced like the "e" in "fed".
New Russian letters and sounds
(The sounds will be familiar, but they don't have their own letter in English).
Ю ю - Pronounced like the "u" in "universe". (Pronounced much like the english word "you").
Я я - Pronounced like the "ya" in "yard".
Ё ё - Pronounced like "yo" in "yonder".
Ж ж - Like "s" in "measure", "pleasure" or "fusion" or like "g" in colour "beige". (As there is no english symbol for this sound, it is usually represented as "zh")
Ц ц - Similar to the "ts" sound in "sits" or "its".
Ч ч - Pronounced like the "ch" in "chips" or "church" .
Ш ш - Pronounced like the "sh" in shut.
Щ щ - Pronounced like "sh" but with your tongue on the roof of your mouth. Try putting your tongue in the same position as you would to say "ch" but say "sh" instead. English speakers may find it hard to define the difference between "ш" and "щ".
Ы ы - Pronounced like the "i" in "bit" or "ill". (Said with your tounge slightly back in your mouth.)
Й й - This letter is used to form diphthongs. So "oй" is like the "oy" sound in "boy" or "aй" is like the "igh" in "sigh".
Pronunciation Symbols
(These letters have no sound on their own, but are still considered letters.).
Ъ ъ - The 'Hard Sign' is rarely used. It indicates a slight pause between sylables.
Ь ь - The 'Soft Sign' makes the previous letter 'soft'. Think of the "p" sound in the word "pew". (Try inflecting a very slight "y" sound onto letter before it.)
A note about vowels
You may have noticed that there are often two forms of a vowel, hard and soft. It may help to note the corresponding vowels.
| А ("a") | Я ("ya") |
| Э ("e") | Е ("ye") |
| У ("oo") | Ю ("yoo") |
| О ("o") | Ё ("yo") |
Ы and И are corresponding vowels but don't really follow this pattern.
Й is also considered a vowel
The "y" sound is always pronounced. It may take some time to get used to pronouncing it with consonants. Try the following:
НЕТ (No) - Pronounced "nyet". This is one syllable.
семь (Seven) - Pronounced "syem".
пять (Five) - Pronounced "pyat"
МЕТРО (Metro, underground railway) - Pronounced "mye-tro".Click the green play icon to listen to the word pronounced in Russian.
Spelling Rule 1.
There is a rule for spelling in russian you should keep in mind: "Never write Ы, Ю, or Я after the letters 'Г, К, Ж, Х, Ч, Ш, Щ' instead use И, У, А".
It is not important to worry about this yet, but it will help you understand how things are spelt in later lessons.
A note about stress.
In most languages, including English, some syllables are emphasised more than others. A good example would be the word “photograph”, where the first syllable is stressed. Compare this to “Photography” where the second symbol is stressed. Phonetically the sound of the vowel changes.
Russian works in much the same way. However in some words it’s important to know which syllable is stressed, this is because the letter “o” is pronounced very differently depending on whether it’s stressed or not. Other stressed vowels are important, but if you only remember the “o” rule, then you will still be able to speak well. Once you start to hear Russians speak, you will be able to copy the way they are pronouncing words. (On this site we will indicate a stressed vowel by underlining it. However, we will only do this to the first occurrences of a word. One syllable words are assumed to be stressed.)
Take notice of the following examples:
До свидания (good-bye) - Pronounced "da-svee-da-nee-ye". (The до is pronounced as if it is part of the next word). Спасибо (thank-you) - Pronounced "spa-see-ba". Да(yes) - Pronounced "da". Нет(no) - Pronounced "nyet". сто(100) - Pronounced "sto". Пока(Bye) Плохо(Bad) Хорошо(Good) Some Listening Practice
There are many more examples in the following lessons that also have Russian audio that you can listen to. It is important you learn the sounds by listening to the Russian audio in the following lessons. If you learn by listening, your speach will be much clearer.
There are hours of audio on this site. Here are some example sentences to get you started. Don't worry about learning the words, just try to learn the sounds of the letters.
Моя мама любит музыку - (My mother loves music) шесть книг - (six books) семь газет - (seven newspapers) восемь зданий - (eight buildings) девять собак - (nine dogs) десять студентов - (ten students) сто рублей - (one hundred roubles) сто долларов - (one hundred dollars) Russian numbers: 1 to 10
1 - один ("a-deen") 2 - два ("dva") 3 - три ("tree") 4 - четыре ("chye-tir-ye") 5 - пять ("pyat") 6 - шесть ("shest") 7 - семь ("syem") 8 - восемь ("vo-syem") 9 - девять ("dyev-yat") 10 -десять ("dyes-yat") Read through the numbers 1-10 a couple of times until you are comfortable with them. Try counting from 1 to 10 without referring to them. Then for practice, try counting backwards from 10 to 1 in Russian.
Russian numbers: 11 to 19
Now that you are comfortable with your first Russian numbers, try to learn the numbers from 11 to 19. To help you with reading practice we will not include the trans-literations.
11 - одиннадцать 12 - двенадцать 13 - тринадцать 14 - четырнадцать 15 - пятнадцать 16 - шестнадцать 17 - семнадцать 18 - восемнадцать 19 - девятнадцать Russian numbers: 20 and onwards
As you could see, the numbers 11-19 are simply formed by adding "надцать" to the numbers 1-9. (You will need to drop the soft sign, or the "е" in "четыре")
20 in Russian is "двадцать". The numbers 21-29 are formed in a similar way to English. Here are some examples:
20 - двадцать 21 - двадцать один
22 - двадцать два
23 - двадцать три
24 - двадцать четыре
Other compound numbers are formed in the same way, quite similar to English. (There is no need to use the word "and" in Russian). Here are the other numbers you will need to form numbers in Russia. It will be useful to learn as many of these numbers as you can because it makes it easier to understand the price of goods in Russian roubles.
30 - тридцать 40 - сорок 50 - пятьдесят 60 - шестьдесят 70 - семьдесят 80 - восемьдесят 90 - девяносто 100 - сто
200 - двести 300 - триста 400 - четыреста 500 - пятьсот 600 - шестьсот 700 - семьсот 800 - восемьсот 900 -
девятьсот1,000 - тысяча 1,000,000 - миллион 1,000,000,000 - миллиард For example: 131 - сто тридцать один
When reading phone numbers you may also need to know the name of the digit 0.
0 - ноль Saying Large Russian Numbers
At first it may be difficult to remember all those Russian numbers. But don't worry. You can always return to this lesson to revise them. In the next lesson or two we will cover some useful Russian words and phrases that will help you to introduce yourself and to buy things.
Now you can return and try some of the exercises. You may also like to try our Russian Language Trainer to help you memorise what you have learnt in this Russian lesson. New Russian Audio: To help you learn Russian this lesson now has sound. Click the green icon to listen. (Help) Now that you understand the Russian letters and numbers, we will begin to learn some basic Russian phrases that you will commonly use as part of everyday communication. We will not attempt to introduce any grammar in this lesson. It is more important to learn some basic communication skills in Russian. Once you have a 'feel' for the language, you will find it easier to understand how the grammar works. When you were young, you learnt to speak before you learnt the grammar. We feel it is easier to learn Russian the same way, however don’t worry, we will cover grammar in later lessons. In this lesson you will learn the Russian language basics.
When you are in Russia it is important to realise that Russians have two manners of speaking, formal or friendly. It would be considered slightly rude to use the wrong form in the wrong situation. Use the friendly (or familiar) form when you are speaking to someone you consider a friend. In situations where you have never met the person before you would use the formal form, for example in shops or with taxi drivers. You would also use the formal form as a sign of respect to teachers, or in places like business meetings. Keep this in mind as you work through these Russian lessons. This is much easier than it sounds, as there are only a couple of words that change. (Mainly the Russian word for “you”.)
Please and Thank-You.
The two most important words you will learn in Russian are please and thank-you. You can just add these to any sentence to make it more polite.
Спасибо ("spa-see-ba") - Thank-You Пожалуйста ("pa-zhal-sta") - Please (and You're Welcome) The word Пожалуйста is also used to mean "You're Welcome", after somebody says thank-you. You should always say this after someone thanks you. Пожалуйста is pronounced a little different than it is written, you can basically forget the "уй".
Yes and No.
Two other very important Russian words are "Yes" and "No".
Да ("da") - Yes Нет ("nyet") - No Saying Hello.
When you are in Russia and you meet somebody, the first thing you will want to do is to say "hello". There are two forms of this word.
Здравствуйте ("zdra-stvooy-tye") - Hello (Formal) Привет ("pree-vyet") - Hi (Informal) Здравствуйте may be a little difficult for you to pronounce at first, but it is the most common Russian greeting so you should try to practice it. Привет is also commonly used with friends. However, keep in mind that Привет is informal (much like "hi" in English), and should only be used with friends. If somebody says Привет to you, then it is normally safe to proceed in the friendly tone.
Introducing Yourself.
In order to introduce yourself, you may need the following phrases.
Меня зовут ... ("min-ya za-voot") - My name is ... Как вас зовут? ("kak vas za-voot") - What is your name? Очень приятно ("och-en pree-yat-na") - Pleased to meet you. Note: The above 3 phrases are gramatically unusual. You should just learn the whole phrase, not the individual words.
How are you?
The most natural way to ask someone how they are in Russian is to ask: "how are things?"
Как дела? - How are things? Хорошо спасибо - Good/Well thank-you Плохо - Bad Saying Good-Bye.
There are also two words for saying good-bye.
До свидания ("da-svee-da-nee-ye") - Good-bye. (The до is pronounced as if it is part of the next word) Пока ("pa-ka") - Bye (Informal, slang) You should generally use до свидания, which is appropriate in formal or informal situations. You may also hear people say Пока, but we suggest you only use it as a response when it is said to you.
Asking about languages
When you are asking a yes/no question in Russian, there is no difference between the question and the statement, except for the question mark. When you are speaking Russian you should ask questions in a different tone. The tone of your voice should rise if you are asking a question. If you are making a statement your tone will naturally fall. You may find that you actually do this in English without meaning to. If all else fails, put a real questioning expression on your face.
Вы говорите по-английски? - Do you (formal) speak English? Вы говорите по-русски? - Do you (formal) speak Russian? Я говорю по-английски - I speak English Я говорю по-русски - I speak Russian Я понимаю - I understand Я не понимаю - I don't understand You may have noticed that the ending of the verb говорю (speak) changes depending on who the subject is. Don't worry too much about this yet. It will be covered in another lesson very soon. (lesson 5).
New Russian Audio: To help you learn Russian this lesson now has sound. Click the green icon to listen. (Help) As you learn Russian, one of the most important things you will learn is how to ask for something you want. The aim of lesson 4 is to enable you to buy things when you are in Russia. With just a few phrases you should be able to manage in Russian bars or cafes. In this lesson we will not introduce any grammar concepts. The lesson will focus on helping you to learn some new basic Russian phrases.
Finding a cafe
After a busy day in Russia, you might be looking for somewhere to have a drink. You could ask people with the following phrases.
Скажите, пожалуйста.... - Tell me please.... Скажите, пожалуйста, где кафе? - Tell me please, where is a cafe? Скажите, пожалуйста, где бар? - Tell me please, where is a bar? Russian does not use the articles “a” or “the”, so the phrase “Где кафе?” means both “where is a cafe?” and “where is the cafe?”. It will probably sound more natural to ask where the nearest café is.
Скажите, пожалуйста, где ближайшее кафе? - Tell me please, where is the nearest cafe?
On the Menu
If you were in a Russian bar or café, here are some words you might see on the menu:
Меню - Menu Кофе - Coffee Чай - Tea Молоко - Milk Кока-Кола - Coca-Cola Лимонад - Lemonade Сок - Juice Борщ - Russian beetroot soup Суп - Soup Торт - Cake Водка - Vodka Пиво - Beer Вино - Wine Вода - Water Be careful, when you order vodka in russia, you will generally get straight vodka.
Do you have...?
If you want to ask someone if they have something, you can use the following phrase. (Just learn the whole phrase, it is gramatically unusual).
У вас есть ....? - Do you have ....? (formal) For example:
У вас есть кофе? - Do you have coffee? У вас есть чай? - Do you have tea? У вас есть водка? - Do you have vodka? Please give me
When you decide what you will have you will need to order. Here are some Russian phrases you might need, or be asked:
Что? ("shto?") - What? Что вы хотите? - What do you want? Я хочу ... - I want... Дайте, пожалуйста .... - Give me please... Сколько стоит? - How much is it?. Examples:
Дайте, пожалуйста, чай. - Please give me tea. Дайте, пожалуйста, кофе - Please give me coffee. Дайте, пожалуйста, кофе с молоком - Please give me coffee with milk. Дайте, пожалуйста, кофе с молоком и с сахаром - Please give me coffee with milk and sugar. What is it?
Some short but useful Russian phrases to ask what things are...
Что это? - What is it?
Это кофе. - It is coffee.
Простите, это кофе. - Excuse me, is it coffee?
Нет, это чай. - No, it is tea.
How Much?
The word "Сколько?" means "how much?" or "how many" in Russian. You can use it to ask the price of something.
Сколько? - How much? / How many?
Сколько стоить? - How much does it cost?
двадцать один рубль - 21 rubles.
How do you say?
Another very useful phrase is “how do you say?”. It will allow you to learn more Russian words by actually speaking Russian. Here are some useful phrases...
Как сказать "...." по-русски? - How do you say "...." in Russian?
Что значит "...." на английском? - What does "...." mean in English?
Where is the toilet...?
To finish up this lesson here is a Russian phrase to help you find out where a toilet is.
Скажите, Пожалуйста , Где Туалет - Tell me please, where is the toilet? The mens toilets are normally labeled with an "M".
The ladies toilets are normally labeled with a "Ж".
forward in understanding Russian grammar.
Definitions
Verbs are action words, they are things you can do. For example: run, walk, love, eat, want.
Pronouns are words that can replace names. For example: I, you, he, she, him, her, it.
In the sentence "I love him". "love" is the verb. The subject is "I", and the object is "him".
Russian Pronouns
Here are the Russian pronouns that can be used as the subject of a sentence. (Known as the nominative case.)
Я - I
Ты - You (informal)
Он - He, It (m)
Она - She, It (f)
Оно - It (n)
Мы - We
Вы - You (formal, or plural)
Они - They
Вы is used as the formal singular "you", and the plural "you" (slang: "yous" or "you all") when talking to more than one person.
Here are the Russian pronouns that can be used as the object of a sentence. (Known as the accusative case)
Меня - Me
Тебя - You (informal)
Его - ("yevo") - Him, It (m,n)
Её - Her, It (f)
Нас - Us
Вас - You (formal, or plural)
Их - Them
You should be familiar with using different pronouns for the subject and object of a sentence ("me" instead of "I"). Just remember that unlike English,Russian uses an extra version of the word "you". You should memorise these pronouns.
Russian Verbs
You will be pleased to know that Russian has only one present tense. In Russian there is only one way of saying "I work", "I am working" and "I do work".
Russian verbs change their endings depending on the subject. This happens a little in English, but not as much. (Example: I work, he works). This happens according to two different patterns known as the first conjugation, and the second conjugation. (There are also some irregular verbs). Both these patterns are quite similar, and once you get the hang of it, it is not too difficult.
The first conjugation
The first conjugation is used for verbs ending in "ть" but not "ить". It is the most common.
To form the verb for each person you need to drop the last two letters of the infinitive (normally "ть"), and add the appropriate ending ("ю", "ешь", "ет", "ем", "ете" or "ют").Let’s take a look at a verb that uses the first conjugation: работать (to work).
работать - To work. (infinitive, dictionary form) Я работаю - I work Ты работаешь - You work Он, Она, Оно работает - He, She, It works. Мы работаем - We work Вы работаете - You work. Они работают - They work. Let's try some other Russian words from the first conjugation:
понимать - To understand. (infinitive, dictionary form) Я понимаю - I understand. Ты понимаешь - You understand. Он, Она, Оно понимает - He, She, It understands Мы понимаем - We understand. Вы понимаете - You understand. Они понимают - They understand. Знать - To know. (infinitive, dictionary form) Я знаю - I know. Ты знаешь - You know. Он, Она, Оно знает - He, She, It knows. Мы знаем - We know. Вы знаете - You know. Они знают - They know. Remember you can make a statement negative by using the word "не" (not). For example:
Я не знаю - I don't know. Я не понимаю - I don't understand. Он не понимает - He doesn't understand. You can also form questions:
Ты знаешь? - Do you know?
Ты понимаешь? - Do you understand? The second conjugation
Verbs where the infinitive ends in "ить" use the second conjugation.
Now we will introduce some verbs from the second conjugation. There are also some other verbs that use this conjugation.
The second conjugation uses the endings "ю" (or "у") "ишь" "ит" "им" "ите" "ят" (or "ат"), which replace "ить".
Note 2: The first person singuar is affected by the rule of consonant mutation. Remember, this only applies to the first-person singular (Я). говорить - To speak. (infinitive, dictionary form) Я говорю - I speak. Ты говоришь - You speak. Он, Она, Оно говорит - He, She, It Speaks.
Мы говорим - We speak.
Вы говорите - You speak.
Они говорят - They speak.
слышать - To hear. слышу - I hear. слышишь - You hear. слышит - He, She, It hears.
слышим - We hear.
слышите - You hear.
слышат - They hear.
For Example:
Я говорю по-английски - I speak English Он говорит по-русски - He speaks Russian Вы говорите по-русски? - Do you speak Russian? Мы не говорим по-русски - We don't speak Russian. Собака не говорит по-английски - The dog doesn't speak English. Irregular Verbs
There are a number of irregular verbs in Russian. (Verbs that don't exactly follow the above rules). However, often once you know the stem of the verb, you can often predict the endings. Even irregular verbs normally follow a similar pattern to those above.
Some examples:
Ехать - To go (by transport). Я еду - I go (by transport). Ты едешь - You go (by transport). Он, Она, Оно едет - He, She, It goes (by transport). Мы едем - We go (by transport). Вы едете - You go (by transport). Они едут - They go (by transport). Notice that once you know the stem "Ед" it almost follows the first conjuction, except that "у" replaces "ю".
Жить - To live. Я живу - I live. Ты живёшь - You live. Он, Она, Оно живёт - He, She, It lives. Мы живём - We live.
Вы живёте - You live.
Они живут - They live.
Notice that "ё" is used instead of "е" when the stress falls on the ending.
Examples:
Я живу в Лондоне - I live in London.
Он едет домой - He is going home
Conclusion
Definitions
Noun - A noun is a thing, name or place. Example: dog, cat, Moscow, cup, paper, pen.
Cases - Cases are a grammatical way of determining what a noun does in a sentence. In English we do this by having a strict word-order. In Russian we use 6 cases.
Vowel - Letters that can be said with an open vocal tract. The letters А, Я, Э, Е, У, Ю, О, Ё, Ы, И and Й. (A,E,I,O,U in English).
Consonant - A letter that is not a vowel. (Except ь, ъ because they have no sound).
Gender of nouns.
In Russian, as with many other languages, each noun is assigned a gender. Russian has three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter (neutral). In the cases of words like “father” these relate to physical gender. In the case of other objects like “pen”, “cup”, “house”, there is no physical meaning attached to the gender. However you will still need to know the gender because it affects how words are formed. Luckily, unlike many languages, in Russian it is almost always possible to tell what the gender of a noun by its spelling. This is not true in some other languages where you just have to memorise them.
When you use a noun as the subject of a sentence, it will be in its dictionary form. In this form you can easily work out it’s gender. If the noun is in another part of the sentence the ending is changed to suit the case. From the dictionary form of a noun, here is how you can tell what the gender is:
1. Look at the last letter of the word:
2. If it is a consonant, or “й”, the word is masculine.
3. If it is “а” or “я” it is feminine.
4. If it is “о” or “е” it is neuter.
5. If it is a soft sign “ь” then it could be either masculine or feminine.
There are very few exceptions to these rules. But there are five notable exceptions, this occurs mainly because of physical gender.
Папа - (Daddy, Papa) - Is Masculine
Дядя - (Uncle) - Is Masculine
Дедушка - (Grandfather) - Is Masculine
Мужчина - (Man) - Is Masculine
Кофе - (Coffee) - Is Masculine
Some examples:
Masculine : паспорт (passport), документ (document), брат (brother), Хлеб (bread).
Feminine : газета (newspaper), Россия (Russia), Дочь (daughter)
Neuter : здание (building), радио (radio), письмо (letter)
Cases in Russian
Russian grammar uses the case system. The case system is also used in languages like Latin, Greek and German. In fact it was also used in Old English. In Russian there are six cases. To help you understand what cases are we will compare them to English...
In English the subject of the sentence must be first noun. For example...
‘Ivan gives flowers to Anna’. (Иван даёт цветы Анне)
In English it makes no sense to swap the position of the words ‘Ivan’ and ‘flowers’. The meaning of the sentence would be completely changed. In Russian it is possible to change the order of these words, and still keep the same meaning. You may wish to do this to emphasise something. Although it is common in Russian to use a similar word order to English. The Russian word’s position is not so important because it’s meaning in the sentence is indicated by it’s case. To indicate each case we change the ending of word. Lets look at the six cases (You don’t need to remember this yet):
Nominative case : The subject of the sentence. (“Ivan”)
Accusative case: The object of the sentence. (“flowers”)
Dative case: The indirect object of the sentence (“Anna”)
Genitive case: Indicates ownership. (Eg. “Anna’s flowers”)
Instrumental case: Indicates ‘with’ or ‘by means of’. (“Anna writes with a pencil”)
Prepositional case: Used after certain propositions. (In, on, at, and about.)
For example the word Anna in the six different cases would be:
Nominative case: Анна
Accusative case: Анну
Dative case: Анне (to Anna)
Genitive case: Анны (Anna’s)
Instrumental case: Анной (with Anna)
Prepositional case: Анне (about Anna)
We will teach you how to form the cases over the next few lessons so don’t worry too much now. It is just important to understand that case effectively gives a word its meaning in the sentence.
Understanding the case system is often one of the biggest hurdles for people learning Russian, so we will take it slowly. Once the case system is understood the Russian language will really open up to you, and we can concentrate more on vocabulary. Our lessons are designed for English speakers so we will not assume much knowledge of grammar.
It’s important not to worry much about the fine details of grammar at first. You will learn it more naturally when you start using Russian. Remember that Russian children all learnt to speak Russian before they understood any grammar. Just try to get a good general overview of the grammar.
Interestingly, some remnants of the case system still exist in English, especially pronouns. For example we must use ‘me’ instead of ‘I’ when not the subject.
The Nominative Case. (The subject of a sentence)
The nominative case is used for the subject of a sentence. In the sentence “I love her”, the word “I” is the subject. The nominative case is the dictionary form for nouns, so there is nothing special to learn here.
The only time you need to change the ending is to form the plural. In English we make a plural by adding “s”. In Russian, in the nominative case, you make a plural by using the letters “и”, “ы”, “я” or “а”.
For masculine nouns:
If the word ends in a consonant, add “ы”.
Replace “й” with “и”
Replace “ь” with “и”
For feminine nouns:
Replace “а” with “ы”
Replace “я” with “и”
Replace “ь” with “и”
For neuter nouns:
Replace “о” with “а”
Replace “е” with “я”
Examples:
студент becomes: студенты (student - students)
газета becomes: газеты (newspaper - newspapers)
здание becomes: здания (building - buildings)
The Accusative Case. (The object of a sentence)
To form simple sentences like “I want a dog”, you need to use the accusative case also. The accusative case is used for the object of a sentence, in this case the word “dog”. The only time we use the accusative case in English is with pronouns. We use “me” instead of “I” and “him” instead of “he”. Russian uses the case for all nouns.
Russian is very free about word order. For example, in Russian it may be possible to change the order of the words in a sentence, without changing the actual meaning. This doesn’t work in English because we rely on the subject always coming first. However, in Russian it still makes perfect sense because the object will still be in the accusative case. It is normal in Russian to use the same word ordering as English.
Definition: An “animate” noun is something that is alive (person or animal, not plants). An “inanimate” noun is a non-living object.
Here are the rules for forming the accusative case from the dictionary (nominative) form.
Masculine Nouns:
1. If the noun in inanimate, there is no change.
2. If noun is animate and ends in a consonant, add “а”.
3. If noun is animate, replace “й”, with “я”.
4. If noun is animate, replace “ь”, add “я”.
Feminine Nouns:
1. Replace “а” with “у”.
2. Replace “я” with “ю”.
Neuter Nouns:
1. Inanimate nouns do not change (almost all neuter nouns are inanimate).
Examples:
спорт remains: спорт (sport)
музыка becomes: музыку(music)
Москва becomes: Москву(Moscow)
газета becomes: газету(newspaper)
здание remains: здание(building)
Иванbecomes: Ивана(Ivan)
You will learn about the plurals of the accusative case in a later lesson.
To Love
Let's start with the Russian verb "to love":
Любить (Люблю, Любишь) (View Conjugations) Remember that a noun after “I love” should be in the accusative case as it is the object of the sentence. Here are some uses of the word:
Я люблю спорт - I love sport. Я люблю музыку - I love music. Я не люблю музыку - I don't like music. Ты любишь музыку? - Do you love music? Я люблю Москву - I love Moscow. Он любит Москву - He loves Moscow. Иван любит чай - Ivan loves tea. Надя любит вино - Nadya loves wine. Надя не любит вино - Nadya doesn't like wine. "I love you" in Russian
You should now know enough Russian to say 'I love you'
Я тебя люблю - I love you.
This particular phrase is usually said with the word order above. It would still make sense to say: Я люблю тебя. Try inserting different pronouns (from lesson 5) into this phrase to change the meaning. Remember to select the pronoun to match the case:
Я его люблю - I love him.
Я её люблю - I love her.
Она любит меня - She loves me
What?
The word "Что?" (pronounced "shto?") means "What?". You can use it to form questions.
Что ты любишь? - What do you love?
However, if you see the word "Что" in the middle of a sentence, it is probably the conjunction "that". The word "Что" has two uses, so don't be confused. An example could be:
Я знаю, что ты любишь музыку. - I know that you love music.
Using other Russian verbs
To express yourself better in Russian you will need to learn some more Russian verbs. Let's introduce some new Russian verbs now. If you would like, you can see how these verbs are conjugated by clicking here. Смотреть - to watch.
Читать - to read.
Слушать - to listen
Изучать - to study
Думать - to think
Работать - to work
Хотеть - to want
Here are some possible uses of these verbs:
Я смотрю телевизор - I am watching television. Я слушаю радио - I am listening to the radio. Я слушаю музыку - I am listening to music. Я читаю журнал - I am reading a magazine. Я читаю газету - I am reading the newspaper Я читаю книгу - I am reading a book. Я изучаю русский язык - I study Russian. (lit: I study the Russian language). Я так думаю - I think so! Как вы думаете? - What do you think? (lit: How do you think?) Я хочу чай - I want tea. Что вы хотите? - What do you want? Sometime you will want to talk about an action. For example "I like to read" or "I want to read". In such cases you are using 2 verbs in a row. In Russian you should leave the 2nd verb in the infinitive form. For example:
Я люблю читать - I love to read. Я люблю путешествовать - I love to travel. Я хочу купить журнал - I want to buy a magazine. Very
A very useful Russian word is the word for "very". You can include it into many phrases. It sometimes replaces the word "really" also. For example:
Очень - very. (or really)
Я очень люблю спорт - I really love sport. Я очень люблю Москву - I really love Moscow. Question Words
You may also find these question words useful during your travels around Russia.
Где? - Where? Кто? - Who? Что? - What? Как? - How? Почему? - Why? In this lesson we will introduce the prepositional case. It will also attempt to expand your vocabulary to include a number of places. The prepositional case is one of the easiest Russian cases to learn. It is also one of the most useful. It will allow you to expand your use of Russian phrases to include useful phrases like “I live in Russia”. The prepositional case has no meaning of it’s own. It is simply used after certain Russian prepositions. Afterwards we will introduce you to the Russian words for ‘to go’.
The prepositional case is used after the prepositions “в” (in), “на” (on/at), “о” (about).
Forming the prepositional case
To form the prepositional case you should take the nominative form (dictionary form) and do the following to the end of the word:
Masculine Nouns:
1. Add : “е”.
2: Some nouns (mostly single syllable) take “у” (but not after preposition “о”)
Feminine Nouns:
1. Replace “а” with “е”.
2. Replace “я” with “е”.
3. Replace “ь” with “и”.
4. Exception: Replace “ия”, it becomes “ии”
Neuter Nouns:
1. Replace “о” with “е”
2. “е” remains unchanged.
Using prepositions and the prepositional case.
As with any language, Russian prepositions can sometimes have slightly different uses and meanings than in English. Here are some tips to help you, although these aren’t precise rules.
The word “в” (in) is used to replace the English word “at”, when you are referring to enclosed spaces or buildings. (Eg. ‘at school’)
The word “на” (on/at) replaces the English word “at” when you are talking about open spaces or places that were traditionally open spaces. (Eg. ‘at work’, ‘at a station’, ‘at a concert’).
Now you can easily tell people where you live:
Где вы живёте? - Where do you live? Я живу в Москве - I live in Moscow. Я живу в Лондоне - I live in London. Я живу в Петербурге - I live in St. Petersburg. Я живу в Сибири - I live in Siberia. As with "Лондоне" you should change the case of other cities, suburbs and places, even though they are not Russian.
You can also describe where something or someone is:
Где она? - Where is she?
на вокзале - at the station
на почте - at the post office
в саду - in the garden
в лесу - in the forest
на улице - on the street
Что на столе? - What is on the table? На столе книга и карандаш - On the table is a book and a pencil. Other Places
Here are some names of other useful places. (They are in dicionary form)
кино - cinema
театр - theatre
аптека - pharmacy
парк - park
стадион - stadium
школа - school
библиотека - library
кафе - cafe
площадь - square
ресторан - restaurant
банк - bank
гостиница - hotel
музей - museum
больница - hospital
Location and Direction
Sometimes, prepositions have more than one meaning, you can tell this by the case. When answering questions asked with the word "Где" (Where is (location)), your answer will involve the prepositional case. However, when you answer questions asked with "Куда" (Where to), you would use the accusative case. Here are some examples for you to compare.
Куда вы идёте - Where are you going (to)? (Indicates direction) Я иду в школу -
I am going to school. Где вы работаете? - Where do you work? (Indicates a location) Я работаю в школе - I work at (in) a school. Here are some useful words and phrases for finding your way around Russia.
прямо - Straight ahead. налево - To the left. направо - To the right. прямо потом направо - Straight ahead then to the right.
Going Places in Russian
In Russian there are two words that can be used to express “I am going”. The first indicates you are going on foot, the second indicates that you are going by some form of transport. Both these words are verbs of motion, and are grammatically quite complex, but as these words are so important for basic Russian, we will introduce them now in a simple way. A more detailed lesson on verbs of motion will follow at a later stage
Each of these 2 verbs (and all verbs of motion) come in pairs. The first indicates ‘to go in one direction’, the second indicates ‘to go in more than one direction’ or to ‘go somewhere repetitively’. You will notice from the examples that this often relates to when you use 'going' or 'go' in English. So to express ‘to go’ in Russian, there are actually four ways:
Идти - To go on foot, in one direction.
(Я иду, Ты идёшь, Он идёт, Мы идём, Вы идёте, Они идут)
Я иду в школу - I am going to school.
Я иду в кино - I am going to the cinema.
Ты идёшь в кино? - Are you going to the cinema?
Он идёт в гостиницу - He is going to the hotel.
Мы идём в кафе - We are going to the cafe.
я иду в университет - I am going to the university
Ходить - To go on foot, in more than one direction, or repetitively.
(Я хожу, Ты ходишь, Он ходит, Мы ходим, Вы ходите, Они ходят )
Я хожу в школу - I go to school.
Я часто хожу в кино - I often go to the cinema
Мы ходим в кафе каждый день - We go to the cafe every day.
Ехать - To go by transport, in one direction.
(Я еду, Ты едешь, Он едет, Мы едем, Вы едете, Они едут )
Я еду в школу - I am going to school. (by transport)
Я еду в кино на метро - I am going to the cinema on the metro.
Он едет в гостиницу на такси - He is going to the hotel by taxi.
Мы едем в кафе - We are going to the cafe. (by transport)
Он едет в Лондон - He is going to London
Ездить - To go by transport, in more than one direction, or repetitively
(Я езжу, Ты ездишь , Он ездит , Мы ездим, Вы ездите, Они ездят)
Он часто ездит в Лондон - He often goes to London
Я езжу в театр каждый день - I go to the theatre every day.
Они часто ездят в Амстердам - They often go to Amsterdam
In our next Russian lesson will introduce words and phrases associated with families. This will allow you to talk of your family which is a very popular topic of conversation in Russia. One of the important concepts that we will introduce in this lesson is possesive pronouns. Possesive pronouns are words such as: my, your, his, her, our. Personal pronouns are normally used indicate the ownership of an object, the other method to indicate ownership is to use the genative case.
Russian Family Words
Here are the words Russians commonly use to refer to members of their family:
Мать - mother
Отец - father
Мама - mum
Папа - dad
Сестра - sister
Брат - brother
Дочь - daughter
Сын - son
бабушка - grandmother
Дедушка - grandfather
Жена - wife
Муж - husband
Just like English, in Russian there are two ways to refer to your mother and father. For example we use the words mum and dad. Most commonly Russians use the words Mama and Papa to refer to their parents.
Here are some other words that it is a talk about members of your family.
Тётя - auntie
Дядя - uncle
Родители - parents
Дети - children
Внучка - granddaughter
Внук - grandson
Семья - family
Basic russian phrases
Quite often you want to tell people how many brothers and sisters you have. Here are some Russian phrases you could use.
У меня есть сестра - I have a sister. У меня есть брат - I have a brother. У тебя есть дети? - Do you have children?. У меня есть сын и дочь - I have a son and a daughter. У меня нет детей - I don't have any children. Note: This grammar explained in lesson 10.
Possesive Pronouns
In order to talk about your family you normally need to use possesive pronouns so we will introduce them now. You should always choose the possesive pronoun that matches the gender of the item it owns.
Мой (m), Моя (f), Моё (n), Мои (pl) - my
Твой (m), Твоя (f), Твоё (n), Твои (pl) - your
Его (m n) ("yevo"), Её (f) - his, her
Наш (m), Наша (f), Наше (n), Наши (pl) - our
Ваш (m), Ваша (f), Ваше (n), Ваши (pl) - your
Их - their
Now you will be able to combine Russian words and phrases that your learnt in earlier lessons to talk about your family. Here are some Russian phrases and sentences you could say with words you already know.
Моя мама любит музыку - My mother loves music Моя сестра читает газету - My sister is reading a newspaper Мой брат любит спорт - My brother loves sport Твой брат любит спорт - Your brother loves sport Наш брат любит спорт - Our brother loves sport When you introduce members of your family you will need to adapt one of the phrases we learnt lesson 3. For example, you may wish to say her name is Anna. However, the only problem is that this particular phrase is unusual. The pronouns need to be used in the genative case which we have not learnt yet. So here are two examples that you can use for now:
Меня зовут Анна - my name is Anna Её зовут Анна - her name is Anna Его зовут Иван - his name is Ivan. This is...
The Russian word Это means 'this is'. Here is how you can use it with some possesive pronouns.
Это мой дом - This is my house Это моя квартира - This is my apartment Это твоя квартира? - Is this your apartment? Common greetings
Finally, we will introduce some common greeting phrases that you may wish to use every now and again.
Доброе утро - good morning Добрый день - good afternoon Добрый вечер - good evening Спокойной ночи - goodnight (when going to bed)
