Common greetings

Let us have a look at some of the most common greetings in Russian.

• Доброе утро – good morning
• Добрый день – good afternoon
• Добрый вечер – good evening
• Спокойной ночи – goodnight (when going to bed)

Saying Good-Bye.

There are also two words for saying good-bye. 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 with friends.

Introducing Yourself.

In order to introduce yourself, you may need the following phrases. Note: The above 3 phrases are grammatically unusual. You should just learn the whole phrase, not the individual words.

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
• Тётя – auntie
• Дядя – uncle
• Родители – parents
• Дети – children
• Внучка – granddaughter
• Внук – grandson
• Семья – family

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.

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.

Possessive Pronouns: In order to talk about your family you normally need to use possessive pronouns. You should always choose the possessive 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

• 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 possessive pronouns.

• Это мой дом – This is my house
• Это моя квартира – This is my apartment
• Это твоя квартира? – Is this your apartment?

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. 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”.

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 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.

How are you?

The most natural way to ask someone how they are in Russian is to ask: “how are things?”

Asking about languages

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. The ending of the verb говорю (speak) changes depending on who the subject is.

English			Russian
Hello			Привет – Privet
Good evening			Добрый вечер – Dobryj večer
Goodbye			пока – poka
See you later			До скорого – Do skorogo
Yes			Да – Da
No			Нет – Net
Excuse me!			Пожалуйста – Požalujsta
Thanks			Спасибо – Spasibo
Thanks a lot			Большое спасибо ! – Bolšoe spasibo !
Thank you for your help			Спасибо за вашу помощь – Spasibo za vašu pomoŝ
Don’t mention it			Прошу вас – Prošu vas
Ok			Ладно – Ladno
How much is it?			Скажите пожалуйста, сколько это стоит? – Skažite požalujsta, skolko èto stoit?
Sorry!			Извините – Izvinite
I don’t understand			Я не понимаю – Ja ne ponimaju
I get it			Понятно – Ponjatno
I don’t know			Я не знаю – Ja ne znaju
Forbidden			Запрещено – Zapreŝeno
Excuse me, where are the toilets?			Скажите пожалуйста где туалет? – Skažite požalujsta gde tualet?
Happy New Year!			С новым годом! – S novym godom!
Happy birthday!			С днём рождения! – S dnëm roždenija!
Happy holiday!			С праздником! – S prazdnikom!
Congratulations!			Поздравляю! – Pozdravljaju!

Restoraunt:

Russsian Course

 Russian Course 2 Russian Course 3 Russian Vocabulary Russian Vocabulary 1  ]]>

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?

Thus one Russian present tense corresponds to several English present tenses. Compare:

In Russian	In English
я читаю	I readI am readingI have been reading

2.

Verb Conjugation A Russian verb has six forms in the present tense, one for each of the subject pronouns (1st, 2nd and 3rd persons, singular and plural). By looking at the ending of the verb we can tell the person and the number of the verb. This is called verb conjugation.The Present tense form consists of a verb stem followed by an ending denoting person and number. Most Russian verbs fall into two groups: first conjugation and second conjugation.First conjugation verbs take the endings -ю(-у ); -ешь; -ет; -ем; -ете and -ют (- ут) in the Present Tense.Second conjugation verbs take the endings -ю (-у); -ишь; -ит; -им; -ите and -ят (-ат) in the Present Tense. Study the formation of the present tense:

1-st conjugation verbs                       2-nd conjugation verbs

Infinitive		читать to read	гулять to walk		говорить to speak	смотреть to watch	учить to learn (memorize)
я – I  ты – you  он, она – he,she  мы – we  вы – you  они – they		чита–ю  чита–ешь  чита–ет  чита–ем  чита–ете  чита–ют	гуля–ю  гуля–ешь  гуля–ет  гуля–ем  гуля–ете  гуля–ют		говор-ю  говор-ишь  говор-ит  говор-им  говор-ите  говор-ят	смотр-ю  смотр-ишь  смотр-ит  смотр-им  смотр-ите  смотр-ят	уч-у  уч-ишь  уч-ит  уч-им  уч-ите  уч-ат

Notes

• Conjugations are memorized with pronouns.
• To form the present tense of first conjugation verbs remove the ending -ть from infinitive and add the appropriate present tense ending.
• To form the present tense of second  conjugation verbs remove three final letters (и or е and -ть) from infinitive and replace them by the appropriate present tense ending.
• Never break a spelling rule when adding endings to verbs, i.e. after  к, г, х, ж, ш, щ, ч, ц  write у and а instead of юand я (я учу, они учат).

3.

First conjugation verbs with stems ending in a consonant For a few but common first conjugation verbs the stem of the present tense is different from the stem of the infinitive. Such verbs have present tense stems ending in a consonant which is not reflected in the infinitive stem. Memorize two of them for now: жить – to live (infinitive stem: жи-, present tense stem: жив-) and писать – to write (infinitive stem: писа-, present tense stem: пиш-).Study their present tense forms. Note the difference between the infinitive stem and the present tense stem:

Infinitive		жить to live	писать to write
я – I ты – you он, она – he,she мы – we вы – you они – they		жив-у  жив-ёшь  жив-ёт  жив-ём  жив-ёте  жив-ут	пиш-у  пиш-ешь  пиш-ет  пиш-ем  пиш-ете  пиш-ут

Notes

• First conjugation verbs with present tense stems ending in a consonant have the ending -у for я-form and -ут forони-form, instead of expected -ю, -ют. Compare: я читаю, они читают but я живу, они живут.
• The vowel е is replaced by ё under stress in verb endings (ты читаешь, ты пишешь but ты живёшь)
• Always learn both the infinitive and the conjugation of each verb.
• Past tense of all verbs is formed from the infinitive stem: он жил, она жила, оно жило, они жили; он писал, она писала, оно писало, они писали.

Russian Verbs

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.  (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?

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Russian Pronouns

These 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 Possessive Pronouns

Possessive pronouns indicate who something belongs to. They may replace a person’s name in the sentence, “Ivan’s Book”. Words like “My, Your, Our, His, Her” in English. Please note that the genders indicated in the following tables refer to the gender of the noun that these pronouns modify. (ie the noun owned). For example in the phrase “My book”, you would use the 1st person (my) and feminise gender (book is feminine) (Моя). Don’t confuse this with the pronouns “his” and “her” (Его and Её).

Singular possessive pronouns.

	1st Person				2nd Person
	Masc.	Fem.	Neut.	Plural	Masc.	Fem.	Neut.	Plural
English	My, Mine				Your, Yours
Nominative Case	Мой	Моя	Моё	Мои	Твой	Твоя	Твоё	Твои
Accusative Case (animate)	Мой Моего	Мою	Моё	Мои Моих	Твой Твоего	Твою	Твоё	Твои Твоих
Genitive Case	Моего	Моей	Моего	Моих	Твоего	Твоей	Твоего	Твоих
Dative Case	Моему	Моей	Моему	Моим	Твоему	Твоей	Твоему	Твоим
Instrumental Case	Моим	Моей	Моим	Моими	Твоим	Твоей	Твоим	Твоими
Prepositional Case	Моём	Моей	Моём	Моих	Твоём	Твоей	Твоём	Твоих

3rd Person : Always use Его (m.n) (his, its) or Её (f) (her) regardless of the case of the noun modified. Plural possessive pronouns.

	1st Person				2nd Person
	Masc.	Fem.	Neut.	Plural	Masc.	Fem.	Neut.	Plural
English	Our				Your, Yours
Nominative Case	Наш	Наша	Наше	Наши	Ваш	Ваша	Ваше	Ваши
Accusative Case (animate)	Наш Нашего	Нашу	Наше	Наши Наших	Ваш Вашего	Вашу	Ваше	Ваши Ваших
Genitive Case	Нашего	Нашей	Нашего	Наших	Вашего	Вашей	Вашего	Ваших
Dative Case	Нашему	Нашей	Нашему	Нашим	Вашему	Вашей	Вашему	Вашим
Instrumental Case	Нашим	Нашей	Нашим	Нашими	Вашим	Вашей	Вашим	Вашими
Prepositional Case	Нашем	Нашей	Нашем	Наших	Вашем	Вашей	Вашем	Ваших

3rd Person : Always use Их regardless of the gender and case of the noun modified.

Russian Reflexive Pronouns

Personal Reflexive Pronoun “Себя” (-self) The Russian pronoun “Себя” means self. It is used when the pronoun is the same person or thing as the subject. Example “He talked about himself (Он говорил о себе)”. Himself is a reflexive pronoun.

English	Myself, himself, herself.
Nominative Case	—-
Accusative Case	Себя
Genitive Case	Себя
Dative Case	Себе
Instrumental Case	Себой
Prepositional Case	Себе

Reflexive possessive pronoun “Свой”

The Russian pronoun “Свой” means “one’s own”. It replaces the normal possessive pronoun when it refers to the subject. Example “Ivan loves his (own) dog (Иван любит свою собаку)”. Unlike English, in Russian the reflexive is required in the 3rd person. If you were to use the normal possessive pronoun it would indicate the dog belongs to someone else. It is optional in the 1st and 2nd person but normally used if the subject is “Ты”.

	Masc.	Fem.	Neut.	Plural
English	My own, his own, her own
Nominative Case	Свой	Своя	Своё	Свои
Accusative Case (animate)	Свой Своего	Свою	Своё	Свои Своих
Genitive Case	Своего	Своей	Своего	Своих
Dative Case	Своему	Своей	Своему	Своим
Instrumental Case	Своим	Своей	Своим	Своими
Prepositional Case	Своём	Своей	Своём	Своих

Emphatic pronoun “Сам”

The Russian pronoun “Сам” is simply used to emphasise something. It translates to “myself, himself, herself” etc. It’s use is optional, it emphasises part of the sentence, rather than changing it’s meaning. Some examples could be: “I did it myself (Я сам сделал)”, “I will phone the president himself”.

	Masc.	Fem.	Neut.	Plural
English	Myself, himself, herself
Nominative Case	Сам	Сама	Само	Сами
Accusative Case (animate)	Сам Самого	Саму	Само	Сами Самих
Genitive Case	Самого	Самой	Самого	Самих
Dative Case	Самому	Самой	Самому	Самим
Instrumental Case	Самим	Самой	Самим	Самими
Prepositional Case	Самом	Самой	Самом	Самих

Russian Demonstrative Pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns are commonly used when you are pointing to something, or indicating what you are talking about with your body. “This” is used to indicate something close by, and “That” is used to indicate something not so close.

This

	Masc.	Fem.	Neut.	Plural
English	This
Nominative Case	Этот	Эта	Это	Эти
Accusative Case (animate)	Этот Этого	Эту	Это	Эти Этих
Genitive Case	Этого	Этой	Этого	Этих
Dative Case	Этому	Этой	Этому	Этим
Instrumental Case	Этим	Этой	Этим	Этими
Prepositional Case	Этом	Этой	Этом	Этих

That

	Masc.	Fem.	Neut.	Plural
English	That
Nominative Case	Тот	Та	То	Те
Accusative Case (animate)	Тот Того	Ту	То	Те Тех
Genitive Case	Того	Той	Того	Тех
Dative Case	Тому	Той	Тому	Тем
Instrumental Case	Тем	Той	Тем	Теми
Prepositional Case	Том	Той	Том	Тех

Russian Determinative Pronouns

All

	Masc.	Fem.	Neut.	Plural
English	All, the whole
Nominative Case	Весь	Вся	Всё	Все
Accusative Case (animate)	Весь Всего	Всю	Всё	Все Всех
Genitive Case	Всего	Всей	Всего	Всех
Dative Case	Всему	Всей	Всему	Всем
Instrumental Case	Всем	Всей	Всем	Всеми
Prepositional Case	Всём	Всей	Всём	Всех

Russian Interrogative Pronouns

Interrogative pronouns are used to ask questions. “What?” and “Who?” have cases based on there location in the sentence. For example you would use the prepositional to ask “About what?”. Example: “What are you talking about (О чём вы говорите?)”

What?

English	What
Nominative Case	Что
Accusative Case	Что
Genitive Case	Чего
Dative Case	Чему
Instrumental Case	Чем
Prepositional Case	Чём

Russian Interrogative Pronouns

Interrogative pronouns are used to ask questions. “What?” and “Who?” have cases based on there location in the sentence. For example you would use the prepositional to ask “About what?”. Example: “What are you talking about (О чём вы говорите?)”

What?

English	What
Nominative Case	Что
Accusative Case	Что
Genitive Case	Чего
Dative Case	Чему
Instrumental Case	Чем
Prepositional Case	Чём

Who?

English	Who
Nominative Case	Кто
Accusative Case	Кого
Genitive Case	Кого
Dative Case	Кому
Instrumental Case	Кем
Prepositional Case	Ком

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