Russian Lessons and Articles

Whether you're just beginning to learn Russian or trying to tackle more advanced topics, this page will help you to quickly find a lesson on our website. The lessons below are organized by topic and answer a variety of questions about Russian grammar, vocabulary and language learning. In addition to these lessons, MasterRussian has many other Russian language resources available from the menu on the left!
 

Russian Nouns

Noun Gender and Number
In this lesson you will learn about three genders, as well as plural and singular forms of Russian nouns.

The Declension of Singular Nouns
Learn how Russian nouns change by case and number.

The Declension of Plural Nouns
There is no strict distinction between declensions of plural nouns in Russian. This lesson reviews the endings for plural nouns in all six cases and gives simple examples. There is short test with answers at the end of the lesson to check your comprehension.

Russian Pronouns

Classes of Russian Pronouns
A must have reference table that groups Russian personal pronouns into classes, lists all pronouns for each class, and provides English equivalents.

The Negative Pronouns
Take a lesson on words used to talk about things and people which do not exist.

The Relative Pronouns
Take a lesson on words used to interconnect the parts of a compound sentence. They are widely used in everyday conversations, so you might want to know them in advance.

The Indefinite Pronouns
A lesson on pronouns used to refer to indefinite or unknown things, people, features and quantities.

The Interrogative Pronouns
The interrogative pronouns are important, because they are used to ask questions. Take this lesson and you will learn how to ask about place, time, quality, quantity and possession.

The Possessive Pronouns
The possessive pronouns indicate that things belong to somebody or something else. In Russian language, they are the words "мой", "твой", "наш", "ваш", "чей". Take this introductory lesson and then put your comprehension to the test.

The Personal Pronouns
Pronouns are words that are used as substitutes for nouns. Here we take a look at the personal pronouns. You well become fluent in such Russian words as "ya", "mi", "ti", "vi", "on", "ona", "ono" and "oni".

The Demonstrative Pronouns
Learn about Russian demonstrative pronouns "тот" (that), "этот" (this), "такой" (such) and "столько" (so), which are widely used to talk about quality and quantity of objects.

The Determinative Pronouns
Words like ''oneself'', ''all'' and ''every'' are called the determinative pronouns. They refer to definite but not specific actions and features of objects. This lesson shows how Russian determinative pronouns change by gender, number and cases.

Cases in Russian

Usage of Cases
In Russian, it is the case of a noun that shows what role the noun plays in a sentence. The table below shows how the noun "Алексей" (a male name) changes by cases.

The Prepositional
Nouns get the prepositional case when you use them to designate a place, time, or an object of thought. This lesson will teach you how to use and form the prepositional in Russian.

The Instrumental
It is easy to remember that the instrumental is used to describe the instrument by which an action is performed. This lesson will teach you how to use and form the instrumental case of Russian nouns.

The Accusative
The accusative is used to talk about a person or thing to whom or which and action is being done. In this lesson you will learn everything you will need to use the accusative of Russian nouns correctly.

The Dative
The principal meaning of the dative case is "to" or "for". It is used to show that something is given or addressed to someone or something.

The Genitive
The principal meaning of the genitive case is "of". However Russians do not use "of" in itself and put nouns into the genitive instead. In this lesson you will learn how to use the genitive of Russian nouns.

The Nominative
Lesson on the usage of the initial form of Russian nouns.

The Cases of Russian Nouns at a Glance
The Russian "ear" is very sensitive to the endings of nouns. In this lesson you will learn about the case of a noun. Cases show what role nouns play in the sentence and set the rules of choosing correct endings.

Russian Adjectives

Long and Short Forms of Adjectives
Most Russian adjectives come in two forms: long and short. The long form is what you normally find when you look up a word in a dictionary. However, the short form of adjectives is quite common in today's conversational Russian. Besides that, you will most likely have to use the short form of an adjective in the end of a sentence. This lesson teaches how to form and use the short form of adjectives.

Intro to Adjectives
Adjectives are words that describe nouns or pronouns. All Russian adjectives must agree with nouns in number, gender and case. This lesson will give you an intro into the adjectives and teach some most common adjective endings, so that you'll be able to compose simple phrases.

Declension of Adjectives
Russian adjectives agree with nouns in gender, number and case. The change of adjectives depending on cases is called declension. This lesson shows typical endings for singular and plural adjectives.

Russian Verbs

A Must Have Table on Russian Verbs
A must have reference table that groups Russian personal pronouns into classes, lists all pronouns for each class, and provides English equivalents.

Subjunctive and Imperative Mood
A lesson on the mood of a Russian verb, an underlying concept of how it changes in person, number or tense.

Conjugation of Verbs
Learn how Russian verbs change to agree with the person they are referring to.

Future Tense
Learn Russian future tense verb forms.

Past Tense
Learn to talk about past actions and situations in Russian.

Present Tense
Learn how to use the Russian present tense.

Verb Person and Number
Learn how Russian verbs change by person and number.

Aspect of the Verb
Aspect is probably the most difficult thing about the Russian verb.

The Infinitive
Learn about the initial form of the Russian verb.

Russian Numbers

Ordinal Numbers
Ordinal numbers designate order in counting. They answer the question "which one?" For example, the phrases "the 5th day" and "the 8th word" use ordinal numbers. Like in English, Russian ordinal numbers are formed from cardinal numbers. However there are more endings you must know when speaking Russian as opposed to the only one ending "-th" in English.

Cardinal Numbers
Numerals (numbers) designate quantity or order in counting. They are divided into ordinal, collective, fractional and cardinal numbers. This lesson teaches the usage of Russian cardinal numbers that designate the number of people or things, and answer the questions "how many" or "how much?"

Learning Tips and Advice

How to Learn Russian
Hints on independent, quick, and firm learning.

Best Podcast for Learning Russian
Learning Russian can be easier than you think. Three modern language teaching methods from Mark Thomson.

How to Learn Russian: Pronunciation
Dealing with pronunciation and grammar.

How to Learn Russian: Listening and Reading
Developing your listening and reading skills.

How to Learn Russian: Speaking and Writing
The last article in a series focuses on speaking and writing skills.

Welcome to Russian!
Read what it is all about to learn a foreign language.

Sentence Structure
The Russian sentence structure is very flexible. In this lesson will learn the general way to arrange a sentence in Russian, as well as how the word order affects the meaning and the style of a sentence.

How to Tell Time in Russian
The most difficult thing about telling time in Russian is to decline hours and minutes. With this "how-to" you will learn how to tell time in Russian in just 10 minutes.

Russian Vocabulary

Russian Speaking Vocabulary
Vocabulary lessons with audio that will help you to learn basic to intermediate Russian vocabulary.

How To Say "No" In Russian
There is a Russian proverb that says "Хорошего понемножку" which can be translated to English as "It's too much of a good
thing". Even a good thing can become boring and one will have to say "no" to it. Before it's too late, let's learn how to form negative constructions in the Russian language.

Compliments and Praise
Whether it is the special Valentine's Day or any other day of the year, you always have several ways to express your feelings through a sincere compliment.

Vocabulary Exercise: Synonyms and Antonyms
Take this intermediate level exercise to improve your Russian vocabulary. The goal of the exercise is to think of words that are opposite (antonyms) or similar (synonyms) in meaning to words given in the the sentence. Answers provided to check your progress.

Beware False Friends
"False friends" a.k.a. "false cognates" are words that sound or look similar to other foreign words but have different meaning. Here you will find several false cognates with definitions and examples that illustrate the difference.

"To Be" vs. "To Have"
Learn how possession is expressed in Russian.

Writing a Business Letter
Learn how to structure a business letter and what phrases to use to make it look professional.

Describing People
Just make several choices to describe people in Russian with these easy-to-use patterns.

What is a Synecdoche?
Sounds like a strange word? Learn what it means, and how to do it in Russian.

Greeting People
It may seem unusual, but Russians tend to understand "How are you?" literally.

Writing a Business Letter
Writing a good business letter in Russian can be easy. This guide shows you how to structure a business letter and what phrases to use to make it look professional.

Methods for Learning Russian Words
Memorizing new words have never been so quick and easy as it can be now.

Methods for Learning Russian Words (2)
Three new methods to increase your Russian vocabulary.

How-To's

How To Tell Time In Russian
The most difficult thing about telling time in Russian is to decline hours and minutes. With this "how-to" you will learn how to tell time in Russian in just 10 minutes.

How to type Cyrillic letters in Win 95/98
Unless you have Russian version, Windows 95/98 needs some additional set up to type Russian letters. Read these simple instructions to learn how.

How to View Pages in Russian in Windows 95/98
You can set up your Windows 95 or later to display proper Russian letters when browsing Web-pages with Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator. Usually this requires installing additional Multilanguage Support Module and telling your page viewer to use proper fonts.

Product Reviews

Product Review - By Heart 1.71
Need a tool to build your Russian vocabulary and improve language learning? Then this review will help you decide whether By Heart is right for you. Read on to learn more about the product features, pros and cons, and how to download a trial version of the program.

Other Russian Lessons

Popular Russian Names For Boys
Russians have three names: the first or given name, the surname or family name, and patronymic. The following list includes 90 first names for boys most widely used nowadays in Russia.

Popular Russian Names For Girls
Find your favorite female Russian name in our list of 90 most widely used first names for girls.

Contemporary Russian Coins
The Russian monetary unit is a ruble, divided into 100 kopecks. There are yellow and steel coins made of an alloy. This feature shows the heads and tails for 1, 5, 10, 50 kopecks as well as 1, 2 and 5 rubles.

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