Where are you from?
Vocabulary
- странаcountry
- городcity
- языкlanguage
- русскийRussian (person/language)
- я говорюI speak
- я живуI live
- откуда ты?where are you from?
- я из...I am from...
- национальностьnationality
- иностранецforeigner
- родной языкnative language
- по-русскиin Russian
Talking About Your Origin
Asking where someone is from:
- Informal: Откуда ты? — Where are you from?
- Formal: Откуда вы? — Where are you from? (polite)
Answering:
- Я из России. — I am from Russia.
- Я из Франции. — I am from France.
- Я живу в Москве. — I live in Moscow.
Key countries and nationalities:
- Россия → русский (m) / русская (f) — Russian
- Франция → француз (m) / француженка (f) — French
- Германия → немец (m) / немка (f) — German
- США → американец (m) / американка (f) — American
- Япония → японец (m) / японка (f) — Japanese
Saying what language you speak:
- Я говорю по-русски. — I speak Russian.
- Я говорю по-английски. — I speak English.
- Я немного говорю по-русски. — I speak a little Russian.
The adverb pattern по-[language] is the standard way to say "in [language]".
Expressions
- Откуда ты?Ask a friend where they are from
- Я из Москвы.Say you are from Moscow, city name in genitive
- Я говорю по-русски.Tell someone you speak Russian
- Я немного понимаю.Say you understand a little
- Говорите помедленнее, пожалуйста.Ask someone to speak more slowly
- Как это по-русски?Ask how to say something in Russian
- Ты говоришь по-английски?Ask if someone speaks English
Common mistakes
Я из Россия.Я из России.After из the noun must be in genitive case
Мама сказала: «Я русский».Мама сказала: «Я русская».Nationality words act like adjectives and must agree with the speaker's gender: русская for a woman.
Я говорю русский.Я говорю по-русски.Use по- prefix with hyphen to say in a language
по русскипо-русскиAlways use a hyphen in this adverb pattern
Я из город Москва.Я из Москвы.No need to add город, just put the city in genitive
Quick quiz
Question 1 of 5
How do you say “language” in Russian?
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