🇷🇺 Russian · A1 · Greetings & Introductions

Where are you from?

Kazan

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]".

Vladivostok

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 русски
    по-русски

    Always 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?

This is the mini version

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