Copyright: Grammar ®1995-96 Translation Experts


Table of contents

  Russian Grammar Reference Help Contents

©1995-1996 Translation Experts Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Alphabet & Pronunciation

Word Endings

Verbs

Cases

Nouns

Adjectives

Pronouns

Articles

Possessives

Spelling rules

Questions

Negation

Numbers

Time

Letters

Other Words

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Alphabet & Pronounciation

  Alphabet & Pronunciation

Number	Capital	Small	Sign	Pronunciation/Sound
1	A	a	[a]	as in f'a'ther
2	Б	б	[b]	as in 'b'ed
3	В	в	[v]	as in 'v'et
4	Г	г	[g]	as in 'g'et
5	Д	д	[d]	as in 'd'ept
6	Е	e	[ye]	as in 'ye'sterday
7	Ё	ё	[yo]
8	Ж	ж	[zh]	as s in plea's'ure
9	З	з	[z]	as in 'z'one
10	И	и	[ee]	as in m'ee't
11	Й	й	[y]	as in bo'y'
12	К	к	[k]	as in 'k'ettle
13	Л	л	[l]	as in peop'l'e
14	М	м	[m]	as in 'm'int
15	Н	н	[n]	as in 'n'ine
16	О	о	[o]	as in b'o'ttle
17	П	п	[p]	as in 'p'et
18	Р	р	[r]	as in e'rr'or (rolled)
19	С	с	[s]	as in 's'ign
20	Т	т	[t]	as in 't'ent
21	У	у	[oo]	as in b'oo't
22	Ф	ф	[f]	as in 'f'ather
23	Х	х	[h]	as the ch in Scots lo'ch'
24	Ц	ц	[ts]	as in i'ts'
25	Ч	ч	[ch]	as in 'ch'eck
26	Ш	ш	[sh]	as in 'sh'all
27	Щ	щ	[shsh]	as in fre'sh sh'eep
28	Ъ	ъ	[-]	'hard sign', a very brief  pause
29	Ы	ы	[i]	as in b'i't
30	Ь	ь	[y]	'soft sign' always pronounced simultaneously with the preceding consonant as the [ny] in canyon.
31	Э	э	[e]	as in f'e'd
32	Ю	ю	[yoo]	as in 'you'
33	Я	я	[ya]	as in 'ya'k

Stress in Words

When spoken at normal speed, Russian words are pronounced with a heavy stress on one of the syllables that comprise the word. Russian stress is heavier than English. If the word has more than one syllable, you must learn which syllable needs to be stressed. If you place the wrong stress on a Russian word, it can change the meaning and you may not be understood.


  Word Endings

Russian is an inflected language. Grammatical relationships between words are established by changes in the endings of words. For example, the Russian for "London" is Лондон [lon-dan] in the nominative case but "in London" is в Лондоне [vlon-da-nye].


  Verbs

Present Tense

Future Tense

Past Tense

Tense Rules

Future of the Verb "to be"

Refelxive Verbs

Imperative Form

Past Participles

Some Useful Verbs


 Present Tense

1st Conjugation -- Type 1A Verbs

Type 1A Verbs usually contain an a [a] before ть, for example, the Russian for to know is знать [znaty]. To make the equivalents of the present tense "I know," "he knows," et cetera, you need to start with the correct pronoun (e.g. я [ya] = I or вы [vi] = you), then, subtract the ть from the infinitive and add the required personal ending:

Note: зна- [zna-] is the stem. The endings for each personal pronoun are: -ю [yoo], -eшь [yesh], -eт [yet], -em [yem], -eте [yetye], -ют [yoot].

English	Russian	Pronunciation
I know	я знаю	[ya zna-yoo]
you know (familiar)	ты знаешь	[ti zna-yesh]
he/she/it knows	он/она/оно знает	[on/a-na/a-no zna-yet]
we know	мы знаем	[mi zna-yem]
you know (polite/plural)	вы знаете	[vi zna-ye-tye]
they know	они знают	[a-nee zna-yoot]

1st Conjugation -- Type 1B Verbs

The stem of Type 1B Verbs end in a consonant and are often hard to predict from the infinitive form, Жить [zhity] "to live" is a typical example. Its stem is жив- [zhiv]. The endings of Type 1B Verbs are the same as Type 1 Verbs except that they have y [oo] where Type 1 has ю [yoo], and e [ye] becomes e [yo] when the stress falls on it:

я живу	[ya zhi-voo]	I live
ты живёшь	[ti zhi-vyosh]	you live (familiar)
он живёт	[on zhi-vyot]	he lives
мы живём	[mi zhi-vyom]	we live
вы живёте	[ve zhi-vyo-tye]	you live (polite/plural)
они живут	[a-nee zhi-voot]	they live

2nd Conjugation -- Type 2 Verbs

Type 2 Verbs usually end with -ить [eety] in the infinitive. A good example is говорить [ga-va-reety] = "to speak." -ить [eety] is the ending and говор- [ga-var-] is the stem. Subtract the ить and add the following present endings: -ю [yoo], -ишь [eesh], -ит [eet], -им [eem], -ите [eetys], -ят [yat].

English	Russian	Pronunciation
I speak	я говорю	[ya ga-va-ryoo]
you speak (familiar)	ты говоришь	[ti ga-va-reesh]
he/she/it speaks	он/она/оно говорит	[on/a-na/a-no ga-va-yet]
we speak	мы говорим	[mi ga-va-reem]
you speak (polite/plural)	вы говорите	[vi ga-va-ree-tye]
they speak	они говорят	[a-nee ga-va-ryat]

Note : There is only one Russian present tense that corresponds to both English present tenses: e.g. "I speak/am speaking" or "he works/is working."

Mixed Conjugation -- Exceptional Verbs

Хотеть [ha-tyety] = "to want" is a mixture of both Type 1B and Type 2 Verbs:

я хочу	[ha-choo]	I want	мы хотим	[ha-teem]	we want
ты хочешь	[ho-chyesh]	you want	вы хотите	[ha-tee-tye]	you want
он хочет	[ho-chyet]	he wants	они хотят	[ha-tyat]	they want


Future Tense

To form the present tense, use the same set of endings as used for the present tense but these endings are added to a different infinitive. "To write" in Russian is both писать and написать. писать is the imperfective (non-completed) aspect of the verb, and написать is the perfective (completed) aspect. The present tense is always formed from the imperfective aspect, while the future tense is most often formed from the perfective aspect. Usually the future tense is formed from imperfective aspect with the modal verb быть. Many perfectives are formed by adding a prefix to the imperfective.


Past Tense

1 Russian has only one past tense. It is formed by removing the -ть of the infinitive and replacing it with the ending -л:

Infinitive	Past
Russian	English	Russian	English
работать	to work	работал	worked was working
2 If the subject is feminine, add a to the л:

Past

Russian	English
Нина работала.	Nina worked/was working.
3 If the subject is neuter, add o to the л:

Past

Russian	English
Письмо было там.	The letter was there.
4 If the subject is plural, add и to the л:

Past

Russian	English
Нина и Борис работали.	Nina and Boris worked. Nina and Boris were working.
5 Most verbs that are irregular in the present tense are not irregular in the past tense and follow the above rules.


Tense Rules

1 When Russians report what someone said, they maintain the tense of the actual words.

2 In Russian -- after conjunctions such as когда (when), esли 'if', пока (while), пока ... не (until) -- if the meaning is future you must use the future tense.


Future of the Verb "to be"

English	Russian
I will be	я буду
you will be	ты будешь
he,she,it will be	он/она/оно будет
we will be	мы будем
you will be	вы будете
they will be	они будут


Reflexive Verbs

Present Tense

Russian contains many verbs ending in -ться [tsa]. The -ть is the normal infinitive ending and the -ся = "self."

1 -ся follows consonants and -сь follows vowels.

Russian	Pronunciation	English
я одеваюсь	[a-dye-va-yoosy]	I dress myself
ты одеваешься	[a-dye-va-yesh-sya]	you (familiar) dress yourself
он одевается	[a-dye-va-ye-tsa]	he dresses himself
мы одеваемся	[a-dye-va-yem-sya]	we dress ourselves
вы одеваетесь	[a-dye-va-ye-tyesy]	you (polite/plural) dress yourself/yourselves
они одеваются	[a-dye-va-yoo-tsa]	they dress themselves

Past Tense

1 -ся follows consonants and -сь follows vowels.

Russian	Pronunciation	English
я одевался	[a-dye-val-sya]	I dressed myself (man speaking)
я одевалась	[a-dye-va-lasy]	I dressed myself (woman speaking)
мы одевались	[a-dye-va-leesy]	we dressed ourselves


Imperative form of verbs

Imperative Form

1 When Russians ask someone to do something they do it with a form of the verb called the "imperative." For example:

English	Russian
Give me that book please.	Дайте мне эту книгу, пожалуйста.

2 Formation of the imperative:

A -й (те) is the ending if the stem of the verb ends with a vowel:

English	Russian
	verb	stem	imperative
read	читать	чита-	читайте
B -и (те) is the most common ending and is used if the stem of the verb ends in a consonant and the first person singular is stressed on the end (the я "I" form).

English	Russian
	verb	stem	imperative
to arrive (on foot)	приходить	приход-	приходите
C The rarest ending is -ь (те). This is the ending for verbs whose stems, like the verbs immediately above, end in a consonant but have the stress on the stem of the я ("I") form.

English	Russian
	verb	stem	imperative
to forget	забыть	забуд-	забудьте


Past Participles

1 Past passive participle from perfective verbs:

Perfective verbs ending -ан, -ана, -ано, -аны, -ен, -ена, -ено, or -eны are past participles corresponding to an English form of the verb ending -ed (-t) or -en (-n).The past passive participle is generally formed from the same stem as the я form of the verb.

There is also a past participle ending -т, -та, -то or -ты for irregular verbs whose infinitive does not end -ать or -ить.

If the person responsible for the action is mentioned, the person is in the instrumental case.

2 Present passive participle from imperfective verbs:

These rare participles are formed from imperfective verbs by adding the adjective ending -ый to the мы form of the present tense.

3 Present active participle from imperfective verbs:

This form corresponds to English participles ending in -ing. In Russian, it has an ending suffix containing -щ-. The vowel before the щ is always я, ю, а or y, and after the щ comes an adjective ending.

4 Past active participles from imperfective/perfective verbs:

These have the ending suffix -вш- + adjective ending. They can be formed from both imperfective and perfective verbs.


Some Useful Verbs

English	Imperfective	Perfective
to understand	понимать (1A)	понять (1B)
	я понимаю,	я пойму, ты поймёшь
	ты понимаешь
to watch	смотреть (2)	посмотреть (2)
	я смотрю,	я посмотрю, ты посмотришь
	ты смотришь
to take	брать (1B)	взять [vzyaty] (1B)
	я беру, ты берёшь	я возьму, ты возьмёшь
to speak/say	говорить (2)	сказать [ska-zaty] (1B)
	я говорю,	я скажу, ты скажешь
	ты говоришь
to go (on foot)	идти (1B)	пойти [pay-ti] (1B)
	я иду, ты идёшь	я пойду, ты пойдёшь
to go (ride)	ехать (2)	поехать [pa-ye-haty]
	я еду, ты едешь	я поеду, ты поедешь
to see	видеть (2)	увидеть [oo-vee-dyety]
	я вижу, ты видишь	я увижу, ты увидишь
to smile	улыбаться (1A)	улыбнуться [oo-lib-noo-tsa] (1B)
	я улыбаюсь	я улыбнусь
	ты улыбаешься	ты улыбнёшься
to do	делать (1A)	сделать [zdye-laty]
	я делаю, ты делаешь	я сделаю, ты сделаешь
to buy	покупать (1A)	купить [koo-peety] (2)
	я покупаю,	я куплю, ты купишь
	ты покупаешь
to meet	встречать (1A)	встретит (2)
	я встречаю	я встречу
	ты встречаешь	ты встретишь
to telephone	звонить (2)	позвонить (2)
	я звоню, ты звонишь	я позвоню, ты позвонишь
to answer	отвечать (1A)	ответить (2)
	я отвечаю,	я отвечу, ты ответишь
	ты отвечаешь
to open	открывать (1A)	открыть (1)
	я открываю	я открою
	ты открываешь	ты откроешь
to arrive	приходить (2)	прийти (1B)
(on foot)	я прихожу	я приду
	ты приходишь	ты придёшь
to arrive	приезжать (1A)	приехать (1B)
(via transport)	я приезжаю	я приеду
	ты приезжаешь	ты приедешь
to tell, relate	рассказывать (1A)	рассказать (1B)
	я рассказываю	я расскажу
	ты рассказываешь	ты расскажешь
to read	читать (1A)	прочитать (1)
	я читаю, ты читаешь	я прочитаю,
		ты прочитаешь
to return	возвращаться (1A)	вернуться (1B)
	я возвращаюсь	я вернусь
	ты возвращаешься	ты вернёшься


  Cases

General information

Genitive

Dative

Prepositional or Locative

Instrumental

Imperative


General Case Information

Russian adjectives, like nouns, have different endings to show gender, case, singular/plural. Adjectives always have to be in the same case as their accompanying nouns.


Genitive Case

1 The genitive case literally means "of somebody or something" as a "glass of vodka'"or "the brother of Boris."

2 The genitive case is the most useful case in Russian after the nominative and accusative.  It is used for four main purposes:

> counting

> possession

> after many prepositions

> in negative constructions


Dative Case

1 The dative case generally denotes the person or object towards whom or which the action is directed.

2 Two common prepositions take the dative case:

Prepositions	Use
Russian	English	Russian	English
к	towards	к дому/ко мне	towards the house/me
		к нему/к нам	towards him/us
по	along	по улице	along the street


Prepositional or Locative Case

The three most common prepositions requiring the prepositional (locative) case

are:

в [v] or [f] (depending on the word following it) = in

на [na] = on

о [a] = about

For example, the answer to "Where is he?" -- Где он? [gdye on?] -- might be "He's in Moscow." "He is (He's) = он [on], "in" = в, and "Moscow'"= Москве [mask-vye].


Instrumental Case

The primary meaning of the instrumental case is "by means of." The secondary meaning is to denote a person in conjunction with whom the action is performed "with whom."

1 The primary meaning of the instrumental case is "by means of," for example:

English	Russian
She wrote with (by means of) a pencil.	Она писала карандашом.
In the above, the -oм in карандашом "pencil" = "by means of."

2 After six prepositions:

English	Russian
with	с
behind	за
between	между
above	над
in front of/before	перед
under	под
For example: "Meet (get to know) Natasha." = "Познакомьтесь с Наташей."

3 With parts of the day and the seasons of the year to mean "in" or "during."

English	Russian	English	Russian
morning	утро	in the morning	утром
day	день	in the afternoon	днем
evening	вечер	in the evening	вечером
night	ночь	during the night	ночью
spring	весна	in spring	весной
summer	лето	in summer	летом
autumn	осень	in autumn	осенью
winter	зима	in winter	зимой
4 After a number of verbs of which the most common are:

English	Russian
to be	быть
to become	стать
to occupy oneself with	заниматься
to study	заниматься


Imperative Case

When Russians ask people to do things they do it with a form of the verb called the imperative."


  Nouns

Noun Gender

Case Endings


Noun Gender

In Russian, there is no word for "is." Russian does not require any equivalent for "am," "is" or "are."

Russian nouns all belong one of three different genders (masculine, feminine and neuter), depending on a conventional agreement from ancient times. Gender of nouns is important because it determines how you form the plural and the various cases, and how you form the ending of accompanying adjectives.

1 Most masculine nouns end in a consonant or й:

Russian	город	брат	Лондон	Борис	Андрей
Pronunciation	[go-rat]	[brat]	[lon-don]	[ba-rees]	[an-dryey]
English	town, city	brother	London	Boris	Andrey (Andrew)
Notice that the pronoun он [on] "he" also ends with a consonant.

2 Most feminine nouns end -а or -я:

Russian	женщина	водка	Нина	Москва	неделя
Pronunciation	[zhen-shshee-na]	[vot-ka]	[nee-na]	[mask-va]	[nye-dye-lya]
English	woman	vodka	Nina	Moscow	week
Notice that она [a-na] "she" also ends with -a.

3 Most neuter nouns end with -o or -e (oно) [a-no] = "it":

Russian	утро	свидание	письм
Pronunciation	[oo-tra]	[svee-da-nee-ye]	[peesy-mo]
English	morning	rendezvous	letter

4 Nouns ending with -ь (soft sign):

Most of these are feminine but many are masculine, so it is necessary to learn the gender with each soft sign noun.

Feminine examples:

мать	Сибирь	ночь
[maty]	[see-beery]	[nochy]
mother	Siberia	night
Masculine examples:

царь	Игорь	рубль
[tsary]	[ee-gary]	[roobly]
tsar	Igor	rouble
5 Nouns of foreign origin with the un-Russian endings -и, -у, -ю are neuter unless they denote people:

	neuter	feminine
Russian	такси	Мэри
Pronunciation	[tak-see]	[me-ree]
English	taxi	Mary
But кофе (coffee) is masculine.

6 Nouns ending with an a [a] or я [ya] which denote males are masculine:

Russian	дядя	Ваня	папа
Pronunciation	[dya-dya]	[va-nya]	[pa-pa]
English	uncle	Vanya	dad
7 Russian does not normally need or use equivalents such as Mr., Mrs. or Ms. to connote gender because the ending is enough: A. Каренин [a ka-rye-neen] is a man, while A. Kаренина [a ka-rye-nee-na] is a woman.


  Noun Case Endings

Nominative

Genitive

Dative

Accusative

Prepositional or Locative

Instrumental


Noun Nominative Case

1 If the noun ends with either б в д з л м н п р с т ф оr ц, add ы. If it ends with one of these consonants + a, replace a with ы. For example:

Singular	Plural
магазин	shop	магазины	shops
гостиница	hotel	гостиницы	hotels
сувенир	souvenir	сувениры	souvenirs

2 If the noun ends with -ь (soft sign), -й or -я replace this ending with и.

Singular	Plural
вещь	thing	вещи	things
рубль	rouble	рубли	roubles
неделя	week	недели	weeks
трамвай	tram	трамваи	trams
3 If the noun ends with г, к, х, ж, ш, щ or ч add и. If it ends with one of these consonants + a, then replace a with и:

Singular	Plural
язык	language	языки	languages
книга	book	книги	books
дача	dacha	дачи	country cottages
4 If the noun is neuter and ends with o then replace o with a and change the1 stress:

Singular	Plural
слово	word	слова	words
вино	wine	вина	wines
5 If the noun is neuter and ends with е then replace е with я:

Singular	Plural
упражнение	упражнения


Noun Genitive Case

Genitive Singular

1 The masculine and neuter endings are governed by the following rules:

> if the noun ends with a consonant, add -a

> if the ending is -o, replace it with -a

> if the ending is -ь (soft sign), -й or -е, replace it with -я

Nominative	Genitive	Pronunciation	Use	English
дом	дома	[do-ma]	два дома	two houses
брат	брата	[bra-ta]	два брата	two brothers
Иван	Ивана	[ee-va-na]	брат Ивана	Ivan's brother
письмо	письма	[peesy-ma]	два письма	two letters
рубль	рубля	[roo-blya]	два рубля	two roubles
Игорь	Игоря	[ee-ga-rya]	дочь Игоря	Igor's daughter
свидание	свидания	[svee-da-nee-ya]	до свидания	good-bye
2 All feminine nouns have exactly the same endings as in the nominative plural.

Genitive Plural

1 Nouns which end -ь in the nominative, whether masculine or feminine -- replace the -ь with -ей:

Nominative	Genitive Plural	English
рубль	пять рублей	five rubles
2 Most masculine nouns ending with a consonant -- add -ов:

Nominative	Genitive Plural	Pronunciation	English
магазин	пять магазинов	[ma-ga-zee-naf]	five shops
3 Feminine nouns which end with -a and neuter nouns ending with -o -- eliminate the -a 3 or -o:

Nominative	Genitive Plural	Pronunciation	English
книга	пять книг	[kneek]	five books


Noun Dative Case

1 Masculine and neuter nouns ending with a consonant or -o have -y:

Russian: Я дал доллар Ивану.

English: I gave a dollar to Ivan.

2 Masculine and neuter nouns ending with -ь, -й, -е have -ю:

Russian: Мы покажем Андрею город.

English: We shall show (to) Andrey the city.

3 All feminine nouns have the same ending as the prepositional case.


noun accusative case

Noun Accusative Genitive Case

1 Many Russian nouns do not change in the accusative but those nouns (masculine or feminine) which end with -а or -я and masculine nouns denoting people and animals have a special accusative ending:

> nouns ending -a change the a to y (Москву, Нину)

> nouns ending -я change the я to ю (Россию)

2 Masculine nouns which denote people or animals (other than those ending in -a or -я) add -a, or, if the nominative ends with -й or a soft sign, they replace the й or soft sign with я.


Noun Prepositional or Locative Case

1 e [ye] is the prepositional ending for most nouns whatever their gender:

улица [oo-lee-tsa]	street
на улице [na-oo-lee-tse]	in the street/on the street

2 Feminine nouns ending in a soft sign ь replace the soft sign with и [ee]:

Сибирь [see-beery]	Siberia
в Сибири [fsee-bee-ree]	in Siberia

3 Nouns ending in ия [ee-ya] and ие [ee-ye] also have и [ee] as the ending:

в упражнении [voo-prazh-nye-nee-ee]	in the exercise

4 Nouns with non-Russian endings in the nominative (-и, -у, -ю) are indeclinable:

такси [tak-see]	taxi


Noun Instrumental Case

Singular

1 Masculine and neuter nouns ending with a consonant or -o in the nominative use -oм in the instrumental:

Nominative	Instrumental
English	Russian	English	Russian
pencil	карандаш	with a (by means of) pencil	карандашом
2 Masculine nouns ending with -ь or -й and neuter nouns ending in -e -- replace the -ь, -к or -е with -ем:

Nominative	Instrumental
English	Russian	English	Russian
sea	море	by the sea	морем
3. All nouns (masculine and feminine) ending -a use -ой in the instrumental:

Nominative	Instrumental
English	Russian	English	Russian
winter	зима	in winter	зимой
4 All nouns (masculine or feminine) ending in -я use -ей in the instrumental:

Nominative	Instrumental
English	Russian	English	Russian
family	семья	with her family	с её семьёй

Plural

1 The ending -ами is used if the nominative singular ends in a consonant, -a or -о and the nominative plural does not end in -я.

2 The ending -ями is used if the nominative singular ends in -ь, -я or -е, or if the noun has an irregular nominative plural ending -я, in which case ями replaces the я of the plural ending.


  Adjectives

Case Endings

Ordinal Numbers

Comparatives


Adjective Case Endings

Russian adjectives, like nouns, have different endings to show gender, case, singular/plural. Adjectives always have to be in the same case as their accompanying nouns.

Singular Nominative Case

1 Every adjective ending in -ый [i] has an ending attached to the stem of the adjective:

Accompanying Noun	Adjective Ending (added to the stem)
Masculine singular	-ый [i]
Feminine	-ая [a-ya]
Neuter	-ое [a-ye]
2 Adjectives like родной [rad-noy] "native" and другой [droo-goy] different/other behave as described in the rule above except that the ending always has the stress.

Plural Nominative Case

Adjectives match nouns, so a plural noun needs a plural adjective. The ending for all genders is -ые [i-ye].

Singular Genitive Case

1 With singular masculine and neuter nouns, the adjective ending is -ого or -его after the spelling rule letters ж, ч, ш, щ or ц:

Russian: килограмм хорошего русского сыра

English: a kilo of good Russian cheese

2 With singular feminine nouns, the ending is -oй (-ей аfter ж ч ш щ ц):

Russian: килограмм русской колбасы

English: a kilo of Russian sausage

Plural Genitive Case

The ending for all genders is -ых (or -их, if the last letter of the stem is one of the seven spelling rules letter:

Russian: килограмм красивых свежих американских яблок

English: a kilo of beautiful fresh American apples

Dative Case

1 If the prepositional form is masculine or neuter (i.e. if it ends -ом or -ем), add -у to the -ом or -ем:

Russian: вашему русскому другу

English: to your (male) Russian friend

2 If the prepositional form is feminine (i.e. if it ends -ой or -ей), the ending is the same as the prepositional form:

Russian: вашей русской подруге

English: to your (female) Russian friend

Accusative Case

Accompanying Noun	Adjective Ending	Remark
	(added to the stem)
Feminine	-ую [oo-yoo]	same as the accusative ending for feminine nouns are the same vowels y or ю.
Masculine (denoting people and animals)
	oго [ava]
Masculine (denoting things)	-ый [i]	same as the nominative case
Neuter	-ое [a-ye]	same as the nominative case

Prepositional or Locative Case

Accompanying Noun	Adjective Ending (added to the stem)
Masculine or Neuter	-ом [om]
Feminine	-ой [oy]


  Ordinal Numbers

English	Russian	English	Russian
first	первый	sixteenth	шестнадцатый
second	второй	seventeenth	семнадцатый
third	третий	eighteenth	восемнадцатый
fourth	четвертый	nineteenth	девятнадцатый
fifth	пятый	twentieth	двадцатый
sixth	шестой	twenty-first	двадцать первый
seventh	седьмой	thirtieth	тридцатый
eighth	восьмой	fortieth	сороковой
ninth	девятый	fiftieth	пятидесятый
tenth	десятый	sixtieth	шестидесятый
eleventh	одинадцатый	seventieth	семидесятый
twelfth	двенадцатый	eightieth	восьмидесятый
thirteenth	тринадцатый	ninetieth	девяностый
fourteenth	четырнадцатый	hundredth	сотый
fifteenth	пятнадцатый


  Comparatives

English Adjective	Russian Adjective	English Comparative	Russian Comparative (also for adverbs ending in -o)
good	хороший	better	лучше [loo-che]
cheap	дешёвый	cheaper	дешевле [dye-she-vlye]
easy	лёгкий	easier	легче [lyeh-chye]
large	большой	larger	больше [boly-she]
little	маленький	less	меньше  [myeny-she]
long	длинный	longer	длиннее [dlee-nye-ye]
much	большой	more	больше [boly-she]
beautiful	красивый	more beautiful	красивее [kra-see-vye-ve]
difficult	трудный	more difficult	труднее [trood-nye-ye]
expensive	дорогой	more expensive	дороже [do-ro-zhe]
interesting	интересный	more interesting	интереснее [een-tee-rye-snye-ye]
often	часто	more often	чаще [cha-shshye]
nice	приятный	nicer	приятнее [pree-yat-nye-ye]
quick	быстрый	quicker	быстрее [bi-strye-ye]
slow	медленный	slower	медленнее [mye-dlye-nye-ye]
small	маленький	smaller	меньше [myeny-she]
bad	плохой	worse	хуже  [hoo-zhe]

Rules for formation of comparatives:

1 If the adjective ends in -ный, -лый, -рый, or -вый, replace the -ый with -ee.

2 If the adverb ends in -но, -ло, -ро, or -во, replace the -о with -ee.

3 Most adjectives have a change of the last consonant and the ending -e.

4 Some common adjectives have unpredictable comparatives as in English: e.g. good/better and bad/worse. Some exceptional adjectives have no a simple comparative degree.

5 You can also form the compound comparative by simply placing the word более [bo-lye-ye] (more) or менее [mye-nye-ye] (less) before the adjective or adverb.


  Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

Russian	Pronunciation	English
я	[ya]	I
ты	[ti]	you (familiar form; used to address family, friend or child)
он	[on]	he
она	[a-na]	she
оно	[a-no]	it
мы	[mi]	we
вы	[vi]	you (polite or plural form; used to address more than one person or an unknown person)
они	[a-nee]	they

Dative Case

The primary meaning of the dative case is "to" a person:

English	Russian	Pronunciation
to me	мне	[mnye]
to you	тебе (familiar)	[tye-bye]
to him	ему	[ye-moo]
to her	ей	[yey]
to it	ему	[ye-moo]
to us	нам	[nam]
to you	вам (polite/plural)	[vam]
to them	им	[eem]

Accusative & Genitive Case

Nominative	Accusative and Genitive
я	[ya]	I	меня	[mye-nya]	me
ты	[ti]	you (familiar)	тебя	[tye-bya]	you (familiar)
он	[on]	he	его	[ye-vo]	him
она	[ona]	she	е	[ye-yo]	her
оно	[a-no]	it	eго	[ye-vo]	it
мы	[mi]	we	нас	[nas]	us
вы	[vi]	you (polite/plural)	вас	[vas]	you  (polite/plural)
они	[a-nee]	they	их	[(y)eeh]	them

Prepositional of Personal Pronouns

мне	[mnye]	обо мне	[a-ba-mnye]	about me
тебе	[tye-bye]	о тебе	[a-tye-bye]	about you (familiar)
нём	[nyom]	на нём	[na-nyom]	on him
ней	[nyey]	о ней	[a-nyey]	about her
нём	[nyom]	в нём	[vnyom]	in it
нас	[nas]	о нас	[a-nas]	about us
вас	[vas]	о вас	[a-vas]	about you (polite/plural)
них	[neeh]	о них	[a-neeh]	about them

Instrumental Case

Nominative	Instrumental
я	[ya]	I	мной	[mnoy]
ты	[ti]	you (familiar)	тобой	[ta-boy]
он	[on]	he	им	[yeem] (ним after prepositions)
она	[ona]	she	ей	[yey] (ней after prepositions)
оно	[a-no]	it	им	[eem] (ним after prepositions)
мы	[mi]	we	нами	[na-mee]
вы	[vi]	you (polite/plural)	вами	[va-mee]
они	[a-nee]	they	ими	[ee-mee] (ними after prepositions)

Example of usage:

English	Russian
with him	с ним
between us	между нами
in front of you	перед вами


  Articles

Russian does not use equivalents of a or the.

Russian	Я англичанин.
Pronunciation	[ya an-glee-cha-nin]
English	I am an Englishman. (literally "I Englishman")


  Possessives

In Russian it is normal to omit the possessive if the possessor is clear from the context. In other contexts you will need to specify ownership.

Nominative	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
my	мой [moy]	моя [ma-ya]	моё [ma-yo]
your (familiar)	твой [tvoy]	твоя [tva-ya]	твоё [tvo-yo]
our	наш [nash]	наша [na-sha]	наше [na-she]
your (polite/plural)	ваш [vash]	ваша [va-sha]	ваше [va-she]

Accusative Forms

Masculine Inanimate	Masculine Animate	Feminine	Neuter
мой	моего [ma-ye-vo]	мою	моё
твой	твоего [tva-ye-vo]	твою	твоё
наш	нашего [na-she-va]	нашу	наше
ваш	вашего [va-she-va]	вашу	ваше

Plural Forms

Singular	Plural
мой	my	мои	[ma-ee]
твой	your (familiar)	твои	[tva-ee]
наш	our	наши	[na-shi]
ваш	your (polite/plural)	ваши	[va-shi]


  Spelling Rules

1 After the following seven consonants one finds и instead of ы -- г, к, х, ж, ш, ч and щ (e.g. the plural of язык is языки)

2 After the following eight consonants one finds a not я, y or ю -- г, к, х, ж, ш, ч, щ and ц

3 After the folowing five consonants one finds o only when the o is stressed. When the ending is unstressed, one finds e instead of o -- ж, ш, ч, щ and ц. So, the instrumental of муж (husband) is мужем (not -ом) but the instrumental of отец (father) is отцом.


  Questions

Questions to which there is a "yes" or "no" answer use exactly the same words as in the equivalent statement and in the same order, for example:

	English	Russian
Statement	He knows.	Он знает.
Question	Does he know?	Он знает?

Question Words

(what) что (note: ч =sh in this word, [shto] ); (who) кто [kto]; (when) когда [kag-da]; (why) почему [pa-chye-moo]; (where) где [gdye]; (how) как [kak] are all words that pose a question, for example:

English	What is this?
Russian	Что это?
Pronunciation	[shto-e-ta?]
English	Who here speaks English?
Russian	Кто здесь говорит по-английски?
Pronunciation	[kto zdyesy ga-va-reet pa-an-glee-skee?]
English	What (how) are you called?
Russian	Как вас зовут?
Pronunciation	[kak vas za-voot?]
English	Why does he not know?
Russian	Почему он не знает?
Pronunciation	[pa-chye-moo on nye zna-yet?]
English	Where does Boris work?
Russian	Где работает Борис?
Pronunciation	[gdye ra-bo-ta-yet ba-rees?]


  Negation

Not = не [nye] and is placed in front of whatever is negated.


  Numbers

Number	Russian	Pronunciation
0	ноль	[noly]
1	один	[a-deen]
2	два	[dva]
3	три	[tree]
4	четыре	[chye-ti-rye]
5	пять	[pyaty]
6	шесть	[shesty]
7	семь	[syemy]
8	восемь	[vo-syemy]
9	девять	[dye-vyaty]
10	десять	[dye-syaty]
11	одиннадцать	[a-dee-na-tsaty]
12	двенадцать	[dvye-na-tsaty]
13	тринадцать	[tree-na-tsaty]
14	четырнадцать	[cheye-tir-na-tsaty]
15	пятнадцать	[peet-na-tsaty]
16	шестнадцать	[shes-na-tsaty]
17	семнадцать	[syem-na-tsaty]
18	восемнадцать	[va-syem-na-tsaty]
19	девятнадцать	[dye-veet-na-tsaty]
20	двадцать	[dva-tsaty]
21	двадцать один	[dva-tsaty a-deen]
22	двадцать два
23	двадцать три
24	двадцать четыре
25	двадцать пять
30	тридцать	[tree-tsaty]
31	тридцать один	[tree-tsaty a-deen]
40	сорок	[so-rak]
50	пятьдесят	[pee-dye-syat]
60	шестьдесят	[shez-dye-syat]
100	сто	[sto]
1000	тысяча	[ti-sya-cha]
2000	две тысячи	[dvye ti-sya-chee]


time

   Times

Time of Day

English	Russian
What is the time?	Который час? or Сколько времени?
It is one o'clock.	Час.
It is 2, 3, 4 o'clock	Два, три, четыре часа.
It is six o'clock.	Шесть часов.
It is five past one.	Пять минут второго.
It is now a quarter past two.	Сейчас пятнадцать минут третьего.
It is twenty-two minutes past four.	Двадцать две минуты пятого.
It is half past ten.	Половина одиннадцатого.
It is now half past two.	Сейчас половина третьего.
When?	Когда?
at three o'clock	в три часа
at half past two	в половине третьего

To express a.m. or p.m., you can either use the 24-hour clock or a.m. or p.m.:

5.30 a.m. (05:30)	пять часов тридцать минут
9.15 pm (21.15)	двадцать один час пятнадцать минут
The train arrived at 11.37 p.m. (23:37)	Поезд пришел в двадцать три часа тридцать семь минут.

Divisions of the day in spoken Russian:

English		Russian
night	midnight to 4 am	ночь
morning	4 am to midday	утро
day	midday to 6 pm	день
evening	6 pm to midnight	вечер

Months

In Russian, all months are masculine.

English	Russian
	Nominative	Genitive
January	январь [yeen-vary]	января [yeen-va-rya]
February	февраль [fyev-raly]	февраля [fyev-ra-lya]
March	март [mart]	марта [mar-ta]
April	апрель [a-pryely]	апреля [a-prye-lya]
May	май [may]	мая [ma-ya]
June	июнь [ee-yoony]	июня [ee-yoo-nya]
July	июль [ee-yooly]	июля [ee-yoo-lya]
August	август [av-goost]	августа [av-goo-sta]
September	сентябрь [syen-tybry]	сентября [syen-tee-brya]
October	октябрь [ak-tyabry]	октября [ak-tee-brya]
November	ноябрь [na-yabry]	ноября [na-yee-brya]
December	декабрь [dye-kabry]	декабря [dye-ka-brya]

Days of the Week

English	Russian
Monday	понедельник
Tuesday	вторник [ftor-neek]
Wednesday	среда
Thursday	четверг [cheyt-vyerk]
Friday	пятница
Saturday	суббота [soo-bo-ta]
Sunday	воскресенье [vas-krye-sye-nyye]


  Letters

Letter opening

Writing to	English	Russian
a friend	Dear Natasha:	Дорогая Наташа!
a friend	Hello Natasha:	Здравствуй, Наташа!
a president/ a businessman/ an unknown person	Dear Mr. Boris Yelsin	Уважаемый Борис Ельцин
a businesswoman	Dear Mrs Tatyana Nikolayeva	Уважаемая Татьяна Николаевна!

Letter closing

Writing to	English	Russian
a close friend	I kiss,	Целую,
a close friend	I embrace,	Обнимаю,
a friend	Good-bye,	До свидания,
formal letter	Yours sincerely,	С уважением,

All forms of the pronoun вы are capitalized (out of respect).

Russian addresses begin with the country and end with the name of the recipient.


  Other Words

это [e-ta] = "this," "that" or "it":

Russian	Pronunciation	English
Что это?	[shto e-ta]	What is this/that?
Это письмо.	[e-ta peesy-mo]	This/that/it is a letter.
Это мой друг.	[e-ta moy drook]	This is my friend.