Did you know that Russian people have their own way of forming emoticons in text? They amputate the eyes and the nose of :-) leaving just a bracket-mouth. The more brackets you use, the more positive the emotions you express are.

While one bracket means just a light smile or an expression of friendliness, using three or more brackets represents laughter. Sometimes if a person doesn’t put at least one bracket in his message, it seems as though he’s being very serious.

Let’s dig deeper into the Russian text lingo and learn how to speak exactly like a Russian on the internet.

Table of Contents

1. About Russian Texting Slang
2. Russian Texting Abbreviation Dictionary
3. Russian Internet Slang Words
4. Fun Exercise: Rewrite the Sentences Using Russian Texting Slang
5. Bonus: Great Websites to Practice Your Russian Texting Slang Skills
6. Conclusion
7. Answer Key

1. About Russian Texting Slang

Russian text language is very rich with various abbreviations, misspellings, and slang words. We’ve prepared a guide for you, so there’s no need to use a Russian texting translator. By the end of this guide, you’ll be able to understand and use all of the most important Russian slang words and expressions yourself.

Many Russian texting abbreviations come from the English — ЛОЛ (“LOL”), ИМХО (“IMHO”), and ОМГ (“OMG”). But most of the slang abbreviations are native Russian.

Don’t use these slang words in official text messages or emails because they may be offensive. But feel free to use them while chatting with your Russian friends; they’ll appreciate your effort and feel more comfortable texting with you.

Below, we’ve gathered abbreviations that are widely used now—2018—or getting there. Texting with Russian abbreviations may seem hard at first, but once you catch the logic, it’ll be hard to stop using them. Let’s get started!

2. Russian Texting Abbreviation Dictionary

1- Smiles and Russian Text Faces

• ))) means “LOL.” That’s the first thing that you should know about Russian text messaging. Typically, instead of “normal” emoticons, Russians use brackets.
• Here’s a common example of how a text conversation will typically start, using these brackets, or parentheses:

– Привет) (Privet) “Hi!”

– Привет)) Как дела?) (Privet. Kak dela?) “Hi! How are you?”

– Норм. Как у тебя? (Norm. Kak u tebya?) “Good. How are you?”

– Да тоже ничего.) (Da tozhe nichego.) “Also good.”

Additional information:

Some expressions may be confusing, so let’s study them.

• Норм (norm) is an abbreviation of Нормально (normal`no) and means “Okay.”
• Да тоже ничего (Da tozhe nichego) is a widely used expression that basically means “I am also good.” If you wanna say just “I am good,” use Да ничего так (Da nichego tak).
• Да (da) here doesn’t mean “Yes.” It has no definite meaning and serves as a sentence opener in spoken language (E.g. Да ты поправился! (Da ty popravilsya!) “You gained some weight!”).
• Ничего (nichego) is translated as “nothing” and basically means “nothing specific is going on in my life, everything is like usual.”

• The opening bracket ((( represents sadness or crying.
• Гы [gy] (Гыы, Гыыы). Some time ago, this meant “LOL.” It was used by less-educated people, so it still gives the slight impression of dumbness. However, in the modern Russian text lingo, it shows the delight of the speaker. For example:
• Да ты просто молодец!) (Da ty prosto molodets!) “Well done!”
• Гыыыы)) (Gyyy) *Expressing delight from appreciation of the effort*
• Note! Да (Da) here is also a sentence opener.
• Лол (Lol) means “LOL.” In gamer conversations, this is short for “League of Legends.”
• Ггг [Ggg] (гг, гггг) expresses understanding of a joke, but not necessarily a laugh. For example:
• Хватит дома сидеть, пойдём гулять. (Khvatit doma sidet`, poydyom gulyat`.) “Stop sitting at home, let’s go for a walk.”
• Чо, время такое, зима близко :) (Cho, vremya takoe, zima blizko.) “Well, that’s not me, that’s the time. The winter is coming.”
• Дешёвые отмазки) (Deshyovye otmazki.) “Poor excuse.”
• гг)) раскусила)) (Gg raskusila.) “LOL. You got me.”
• Хах (hah), ахаха (ahaha), хаха (haha), and хахаха (hahaha) mean “LOL” and can be replaced with two or more brackets.
• Кек (Kek) ultimately comes from Korean ㅋㅋ (kk) and means “LOL.” This is less used than the other ones, but may be appreciated by younger Russians who enjoy fresh ways of expressing laughter in texting.
• Ыыы (Yyy) means “LOL.” It expresses the crying sound you make after laughing for too long, and has the same meaning and impression as Гыыы (Gyyy).

2- Expressing Opinion or Emotions in Russian Text Slang

• Имхо (imho) means “IMHO.” This is hardly used by millennials, but is still well-known and used by an older generation. Just keep this Russian slang abbreviation in mind.
• Хз (kheze) is short for хрен знает (khren znaet), хуй знает (khui znaet) and means “I don’t know.” Without a smiling bracket it sounds too harsh, so it’s better to put ( or ) after that—or more brackets, if you want to express strong emotions.
• Мб (mb) is short for может быть (mozhet byt`) and means “Maybe.”
• OMГ (OMG) simply means “OMG.”
• Ппц (Ppts) is short for пипец (pipets) and also means “OMG.” The word is a softer version of the obsolete verb пиздец (pizdets). This word originates from пизда (pizda) which means “c*nt.” Ппц (ppts) or пипец (pipets) has almost lost the obsolete meaning and is quite commonly used in Russian SMS slang.

3- Russian Shorthands for Texting Nouns

• МЧ (Emche) is short for молодой человек (“boyfriend”).
• Выхи (Vykhi) is short for выходные (“weekend”).
• Вел (Vel); велик (velik) is short for велосипед (“bike”).
• Зп (Zepe) is short for заработная плата (“salary”).
• Нг (Enge) is short for новый год (“New Year holiday”).
• Тыща (Tyshcha) is short for тысяча (“thousand”).
• Лям (lyam) is short for миллион (“million”).
• Комп (Komp) is short for компьютер (“computer”).
• Инет (Inet) is short for интернет (“Internet”).
• Ноут (Nout) is short for ноутбук (“laptop”).
• Анон (Anon) is short for аноним (“anonymous”).
• Чел (Chel) is short for человек (“person”).

4- Other Russian Texting Abbreviations

There are two ways to shorten the words. The first one is to write the word the way it sounds in a spoken language (e.g. «щас»). The second one is to leave in only the first letters or syllables of the word.

• Ща (Shcha); щас (shchas) is short for сейчас (“now”).
• Норм (Norm) is short for нормально (“ok; good”).
• Ток (Tok); тока (toka) is short for только (“only”).
• Те (Te); тя (tya) is short for тебе; тебя (“you”). It’s mostly used when imitating a childlike or cute speech.
• Се (Se); ся (sya) is short for себе; себя (“me; to me”). It’s mostly used when imitating a childlike or cute speech.
• Ваще (Vashche); аще (ashche) is short for вообще (“in general; at all”).
• Эт (Et) is short for это (“this”).
• Чо (Cho); че (chyo); чё (chyo) is short for что (“what”).
• Чот (Chot) is short for что-то (“rather; a bit; quiet”).
• Кто-нить (Kto-nit`) is short for кто-нибудь (“anybody; somebody”). The particle -нибудь in other words can also be shortened to -нить. It can be used with or without a hyphen.
• Пасиб (Pasib); пасиба (pasiba); пасибоу (pasibou) is short for спасибо (“thanks”).
• Пжст (Pzhst); пжлст (pzhlst) is short for пожалуйста (“please”).
• Здрасте (Zdraste) is short for здравствуйте; здравствуй (“hello”), and is very common.
• Дратути (Dratuti) is short for здравствуйте; здравствуй (“hello”). It’s used mainly for texting gamers or schoolchildren. The abbreviation comes from internet memes.

Useful fact! To memorize words better, input the word in Russian + мем (mem) in Google search, and you will see different memes with this word.

• Прост (Prost) is short for просто (“just; easy”).
• Чтоль (Chtol`) is short for что ли (“perhaps”).
• Наверн (Navern) is short for наверно; наверное (“probably”).
• Канеш (Kanesh); канешн (kaneshn) is short for конечно (“of course”).
• Скок (Skok); скока (skoka) is short for сколько (“how much; how many”).
• Сток (Stok); стока (stoka) is short for столько (“so much; so many”).
• Седня (Syodnya); сёдня (syodnya) is short for сегодня (“today”).
• Низя (Nizya) is short for нельзя (“must not”). It’s mostly used when imitating a childlike or cute speech.
• Спс (Sps) is short for спасибо (“thanks”).
• Хорош (Horosh) is short for хорошо (“good; okay”). In slang, хорош (horosh) means “stop it.”

5- Shortened Verbs and Expressions

Verbs that end with -тся (-tsya) or -ться (-t`sya) are sometimes written with a -ца (-tsa) ending.

Particles such as б (b) and ж (zh) used next to я (ya), ты (ty), and other pronouns in text slang are often typed without spacing: яж (yazh); тыб (tyb).

6- Obsolete Russian Abbreviations

• Нах (Nah) is short for нахуй (nahuy) and translates as “to dick,” meaning “f*ck this.”
• Пох (Poh) is short for похуй (pohuy) and translates as “till dick,” meaning “I don’t care.”

3. Russian Internet Slang Words

These are words that come from the internet or internet memes. Most of them appeared over the last two or three years and aren’t familiar to older generations or people who don’t use the internet a lot.

• Баян (Bayan) is a Russian accordion, and basically means an old joke.
• Котэ (Kote) translates as “cat.” This is just an internet version of the common Russian word кот (kot) “cat.”
• Ламповый (lampovyy) is an adjective and is translated as “with a lamp.” Essentially, this means something mellow, heartfelt, or sincere.
• Ору (Oru) means “I’m laughing like crazy.”
• Печалька (Pechal`ka); печаль (pechal`) means “sad” or “too bad,” and could also mean “not the result I wanted.”
• Тролль (Troll`) is translated as “troll,” meaning a provocative person.
• Фейспалм (Facepalm) is a well-known word from English.
• Холивар (Kholivar) comes from the English “holy war” and basically means a quarrel.

4. Fun Exercise: Rewrite the Sentences Using Russian Texting Slang

1. Rewrite the dialogue with internet slang and abbreviations. You can find the answers at the end of this article. No need to rewrite the text on the picture.

Source: https://vk.com/wall-55623462_233497

(On the picture:)
КОГДА СМОТРИШЬ ИГРУ ПРЕСТОЛОВ (Kogda smotrish’ igru prestolov)
Я: МНЕ ТАК НРАВИТСЯ ЭТОТ ПЕРСОНАЖ, (Ya: mne tak nravitsya etot personazh)
НАДЕЮСЬ, ОН НЕ УМРЕТ… (nadeyus` on ne umryot…)
ПЕРСОНАЖ: (personazh)

Translation:

“When you are watching ‘Game of Thrones’
Me: I love this character so much, I hope he won’t die…
Character: )”

2. And now decipher the dialogue. Change slang words and abbreviations in usual words.

1.
Аня (Anya): [Sends the image above]
Олег (Oleg): Смешно. Но старая шутка же.
Аня (Anya): Ну не знаю. Только увидела.
Олег (Oleg): Смешно. Что на выходных делаешь?
Аня (Anya): Вообще не знаю.
Олег (Oleg): Пойдем на велосипедах кататься?
Аня (Anya): Пойдем!

2.
Лена (Lena): За компом?
Даша (Dasha): Ага
Лена (Lena): Посмотри скок сегодня градусов на улице пжст)
Даша (Dasha): А че мне за это будет?))
Лена (Lena): Даша!!! Хорош, прекрати
Даша (Dasha): ыыы) +18
Лена (Lena): о, норм, тепло. спс
Даша (Dasha): ;)

5. Bonus: Great Websites to Practice Your Russian Texting Slang Skills

1. Interpals
For beginners and higher levels. This is a great place to find language exchange partners. Many Russians use this website and will be happy to help you with your Russian texting skills.

2. VK
For middle and higher levels. If you’re learning Russian, you most likely already have an account on VK. If not, stop reading and register there immediately. It’s a Russian version of Facebook which is used by nearly every Russian. It has a great base of easily accessible user-generated content useful for Russian-language learners—video, audio, and books (even more than you can find on YouTube). There are also several different groups and communities that you can join. It’ll be a great opportunity to practice and meet new Russian friends who will be more than happy to explain and show you how to text in Russian. Here’s a community that publishes funny notes and has open comments: https://vk.com/dfzwe4. Practice!

3. 2ch
For upper-intermediate and advanced levels. This is a trending Russian chat consisting mostly of schoolchildren and students. Though the website UI is quite complicated, you can find and practice the newest and most trending Russian slang words and abbreviations with real Russians. Be aware, though, that schoolchildren might be rude.

6. Conclusion

One last piece of advice—don’t abbreviate ALL words in your texts; only abbreviate one or two. Otherwise, the message will look kind of dumb.

So, you’ve mastered texting with Russian abbreviations and slang words. An endless space of Russian internet and Russian chats has opened its gates so you can practice the freshly received knowledge and make new Russian friends.

Keep reading RussianPod101 and learn interesting Russian words and expressions that you can start using right away.

7. Answer Key

Please note that there may be different versions of the right answer.

1. Олег (Oleg): ))) Баян же)
Аня (Anya): Ну хз. Ток увидела.
Олег (Oleg): Кек. Че на выхах делаешь?
Аня (Anya): Ваще хз.
Олег (Oleg): Пойдем на велах кататься?
Аня (Anya): Пойдем!)

2. Лена (Lena): За компьютером?
Даша (Dasha): Ага.
Лена (Lena): Посмотри, сколько сегодня градусов на улице, пожалуйста.
Даша (Dasha): А что мне за это будет?
Лена (Lena): Даша! Прекрати.
Даша (Dasha): :-) +18
Лена (Lena): о, нормально, тепло. Спасибо!
Даша (Dasha): ;-)