Russian Lessons: Learn Russian!
All the lessons prepared by your Russian Language Mods will be posted in this thread. Don't put too much pressure on us. We are under no circumstances a real and experienced teacher, but we are preparing these lessons voluntarily. If you don't like the way the lessons are structured, nothing forces you to follow them. Also, please be respectful to others at all time.

DO NOT CHAT IN THIS THREAD. You can only post questions concerning the lesson here.

If you have any suggestions about the content of the next lessons, feel free to send us a PM!

Getting Started
The key to learning any language is to immerse yourself in the language. Try to study a little each day if possible. Even if you only revise one or two words a day. If you are keen to get started you can go straight to Lesson 1. On this page you will find some tips that will help you to learn Russian.

About the Russian language

Some people say that the Russian language can be hard to learn. This is not really true, learning Russian no harder than learning other languages. The main difficulty for a lot of people is learning the new grammar structure. If you have learnt other languages before you will already be familiar with some of these grammar concepts, such as gender and cases.

In fact, there are many things that make Russian easier to learn than other languages. The key is to use these things to your advantage. Here are some things that make Russian easier.

1. Once you learn the alphabet, you can pronounce almost all words quite accurately. With Russian the pronunciation is normally quite clear from the written form of the word.

2. Russian does not use complicated sentence structures like English. You can normally say exactly what you want with just a few words. For example, in English to be polite we would say something like “can you please pass me the salt”, however in Russian they would say something simpler like “give salt please”. Speaking so directly may even feel unusual for an English speaker, however it is perfectly normal, just add the word ‘please’ to be polite. This makes it easy to say what you want in Russian, and it will probably be correct. Less words also makes listening to people easier, as you can just pick out the important words.

3. Russian uses the case system. Instead of having a strict sentence word order like in English, you just need to change the ends of the nouns. This makes Russian a very expressive language, because you can emphasise a point by changing the order of the words in a sentence. It also helps you understand what people are trying to say.

4. Russian does not use articles. (Like “a” and “the”)

5. Russian has less tenses than English. Russian does not bother with the difference between “I was running”, “I had been running”, etc.

Tips to help you learn Russian

We recommend that you try and immerse yourself in the language. Bookmark this site, and take a new lesson when ever possible. Here are some more ideas that might help you learn.

1. You should practice writing and speaking Russian. Even if you are only speaking to yourself. It will help it to stay in your memory.

2. After you have done a lesson, revise it that night. If you revise something on the same day, you are more likely to remember it. Particularly if you do it before you go to sleep.

3. Through-out the day, when you say something in English, try to think how you would say it in Russian.

4. Keep your lesson notes with you. Revise them whenever you are bored or waiting for something. For example on a train, or in someone’s car. You could even try making small flash-cards with a Russian word on one side, and the English on the other. Keep them in your pocket, and test yourself on a few words whenever you get the chance.

5. It is important to learn a word or phrase from ‘Russian to English’ as well as ‘English to Russian’. That way you will remember how to say it, not just recognise it when you hear it.

6. Most importantly, when you get the chance: Practice! Never be afraid to make mistakes. Everyone does! The people who make the most mistakes learn the most. Always try to explain what you want, even if it takes time. Even seek out Russians who can’t speak English and try to speak to them. You may not have the chance to practice at home, so if you travel to Russia practice as much as you can.

7. Join our forums section and practice typing things in Russian. To learn Russian you must practice. In particular you must practice writing and speaking, so that you learn to express yourself. Otherwise your only your reading will improve. You must write and speak!

Help with Russian pronunciation

If you are having some difficulty with the pronunciation, I found a free website that can help you out. If you go to Listen 2 Russian, there are audio clips that have the correct pronunciation to words that might be in our lessons. The site also has lessons of their own, so if you are comfortable with what you have learned and are ready to move on, you can also do those lessons as well.

Good luck!

If you would like to practice what you have learned in this thread, feel free to head on over to our chat thread and practice. English is allowed in the forum for those of you who are not fluent in Russian. Use the thread as an opportunity to practice and learn from your fellow members.

Lesson 1 - Russian Alphabet
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 it’s 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. We will break these into groups to help you remember them. You can find the dictionary order in the alphabet table. 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 "Adam".

К к - Pronounced like the "k" in "kitten" or "kangaroo". This letter replaces the English "c" 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".

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", but always rolled.).

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 "ee" in "see". (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)

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 there 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, И and Й don't really follow this pattern.

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.
МЕТРО (Metro, underground railway) - Pronounced "mye-tro".

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)

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.

Conclusion

You have now seen how the whole alphabet works and is pronounced. It is time to practice. Feel free to go to the chat thread to practice your new skills, reading words that are almost the same as the English equivalent.

Lesson 2 - Russian Numbers
The next step in learning Russian is to learn the Russian numbers. Once you learn the numbers you will find it much easier doing things like shopping, or catching a train or tram. You will be able to understand when people give you the price of something. We will start with the numbers 1-10.

The 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 confortable with them. Try counting from 1 to 10 without refering to them. Then for practice, try counting backwards from 10 to 1 in Russian.

The 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

The 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 - девятьсот

1,000 - 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

Conclusion

At first it may be difficult to remember all those 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.

Lesson 3 - Basic Phrases
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 have 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 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.)

Conclusion

You have now reached the end of your first lesson that involves useful Russian phrases. After some practice you should be comfortable introducing yourself.

Lesson 4 - In a Bar/Cafe
The aim of lesson four is to enable you to buy things if you make a visit to 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 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?”.

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
Вино - Wine
Вода - Water

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?

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.

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".

Conclusion

This has been a shorter Russian lesson. However these Russian phrases should be helpful if you are in a Russian café or bar. You may wish to try these new phrases out in the chat thread or in your very own home. In the next lesson we will introduce verbs and pronouns, and you will be able to start constructing your own sentences.

Lesson 5 - Verbs & Pronouns
Now that you have mastered some basic Russian phrases, it is time to start forming your own Russian sentences. To do this you need to learn about Russian verbs and pronouns. This lesson will enable you to start forming short Russian sentences. When you are learning to speak Russian it is easiest to start by just using short sentences. Often you can break a long sentence into several short ones. This is a long lesson, and introduces some of the most difficult concepts in Russian. So don't worry if you need to go slow, or it takes some time to understand at first. You can always come back and review this lesson. When you have completed this lesson you will have taken a major step forward in understanding Russian grammar.

Remember

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 1: The second conjugation is affected by the spelling rules.

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

You now know the main concepts involved in forming Russian verbs. This lesson contained alot of grammar, which is some of the hardest in the Russian language, so don't worry if you found this lesson a little difficult at first. In lesson 7 you will get some more practice. In the next lesson we will introduce some grammar associated with nouns (things), so by lesson 7 we will have covered enough grammar to have some practice forming sentences.

To help you remember some of the concepts learnt in this lesson, you may wish to work through the exercises.

Lesson 6 - Gender of Nouns, Nominative & Accusative Case
In this lesson we will introduce some of the Russian grammar that is associated with nouns. This is the second lesson in a row that will deal with a lot of the Russian grammar, but afterwards you will start to see a little less, as we concentrate more on Russian phrases and vocabulary in the following lessons.

This lesson will introduce two concepts: Gender of nouns, and cases. Specifically the accusative case. Other cases will be introduced through-out later lessons.

Remember

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, which will be discussed in future lessons.

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)

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”

Some examples:
студент (student) becomes: студенты (students)
газета (newspaper) becomes: газеты (newspapers)
здание - (building) becomes: здания (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). 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).

Conclusion

Now you know all the theory to move onto lesson 7. In the next lesson we will focus on forming sentences, vocabulary building and take a rest from grammar. Remember to keep on practicing!

Lesson 7 - I Love ...
Now that we have done the hard work learning some Russian grammar, it is time to start using it. In this lesson we will form simple Russian phrases and sentences. After this lesson you should be able to ask or tell people what you want and like.

To Love

Let's start with the Russian verb "to love":

Любить (Люблю, Любишь)

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.

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.

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 two verbs in a row. In Russian you should leave the second 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?

Conclusion

You should now know the basics for forming simple Russian sentences. In this lesson we learnt expressions that are useful for talking about things that you like. There is quite a bit of vocabulary in this lesson, so you may wish to review some of it again later. In particular, if you can memorise the verbs you will find it easier to express yourself in Russian.