There are about 150,000 words in modern Russian. But worry not—even I, a native speaker, probably know only half of those words. (Difficult to count, you know?)
Anyway, as a beginner in Russian, you’d need no more than 300-500 words to start expressing simple ideas. For this reason, our list of basic Russian words for beginners could be a good place for you to start.
On this list, you’ll find the essential vocabulary needed to talk about people, places, everyday objects and their attributes, and simple actions. You’ll learn how to count to ten and use your first prepositions to talk about location.
Make sure to check the intro chapter (How to Make the Most of this Beginner Vocabulary List) first, and then we’ll get started.
1. How to Make the Most of this Beginner Vocabulary List
Beginner words are like bricks for building basic sentences. But you can’t assemble a strong wall without some mortar—and in a language, this “mortar” is grammar.
The relationships between words are much more complex in Russian than in English. It’s not always easy or practical to replace one word with another, and you need to have an idea of how words interact with each other in a sentence.
You’ve probably heard that it’s better to learn vocabulary in chunks. This doesn’t mean that you should avoid learning separate words and cram full sentences instead, though some find this approach effective. But whenever looking up a word, it’s worth checking the dictionary entry notes and some example phrases to see how the word fits into a sentence. The word itself and its entourage often form collocations.
Collocations define the word’s closest “friends.” For instance, if it’s a verb, it might have a preposition it’s usually used with: to be interested in, to rely on. If it’s an adjective, it could have its favorite intensifier: ridiculously expensive (and not completely), very tired (and not utterly).
And, again, let’s not forget about the grammar. Russian nouns, for example, have grammatical gender. The gender of a noun determines the ending of the adjective attached to it. Most prepositions assign a specific case to a noun, changing its ending as well. Yes, it’s all about the endings.
RussianPod101 keeps both of these aspects in mind. Most of our vocabulary lists include examples so you can see how each word functions in a sentence.
I’m not expecting a beginner to be familiar with Russian grammar yet. To make your life easier, I’ve mentioned some basic grammar features for every part of speech. Ideally,you should keep them in mind when trying to insert a word into a phrase. Otherwise, you might end up with a bunch of words that you have no idea what to do with. Those grammar notes are there just to give you an idea of what you could learn next. No need to push yourself; take it slowly.
Here’s your Beginner Words Toolkit that will help you get started:
➤ A dictionary with simple collocations and/or example sentences. Why not try Yandex Translate or Linguee, for instance?
➤ A flashcard tool to keep your vocabulary in order and to revise it on a regular basis
And, obviously, the list itself! ⬇
Make flashcards for the new words you’re learning. You can quiz yourself by looking at one side of the card then flipping it to see the answer. Make sure you master both directions and don’t forget to shuffle the cards every day.
2. Pronouns
Pronouns are the first words you should add to your Russian beginner vocabulary base. It would be difficult to have a fluid conversation without them, as they reduce redundancy and help maintain flow.
We’ll cover three types of Russian pronouns here: personal, demonstrative, and indefinite.
Personal Pronouns
These change their form depending on the person, number, case, and (sometimes) gender.
➤ We’ve carefully crafted a guide on Russian pronouns for those who want to know everything about them. (And a little bit more.)
Person
English
Russian
1st person singular
I
я (ya)
2nd person singular
you [informal]
ты (ty)
3rd person singular
hesheit
он (on) она (ona) оно (ono)
1st person plural
we
мы (my)
2nd person plural
you [formal and plural]
вы (vy)
3rd person plural
they
они (oni)
Demonstrative Pronouns
These change their form depending on the number, case, and gender.
Russian nouns change their form depending on the gender, case, and number. Pay attention to the gender when looking a word up in a dictionary.
➤ We’ve done extensive research on noun behavior and summarized it in our Russian declension guide!
People
person
человек (chelovek)
people
люди (lyudi)
man
мужчина (muzhchina)
woman
женщина (zhenshchina)
kid
ребёнок (rebyonok)
children
дети (deti)
mother
мама (mama)
father
папа (papa)
sister
сестра (sestra)
brother
брат (brat)
daughter
дочь (doch’)
son
сын (syn)
husband
муж (muzh)
wife
жена (zhena)
family
семья (sem’ya)
boyfriend
парень (paren’)
girlfriend
девушка (devushka)
friend [m]
друг (drug)
friend [f]
подруга (podruga)
➤ If you’d like to start talking about occupations as well, check out our list of the most common jobs.
Time
You’ll notice that, unlike in English, we don’t capitalize the days of the week or—a spoiler for the future—the names of months. Also, the week in Russia starts on Monday.
minute
минута (minuta)
hour
час (chas)
day
день (den’)
week
неделя (nedelya)
month
месяц (mesyats)
year
год / лет (god / let)
один год (odin god) – “one year”
два года (dva goda) – “two years”
двадцать пять лет (dvadtsat’ pyat’ let) – “twenty-five years”
Год(а) is used with numbers ending in 1, 2, 3, 4 Лет is used with numbers ending in 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0
У меня вопрос! (U menya vopros!)– “I have a question!”
4. Verbs
There are two types of regular verbs in Russian, plus the irregular ones. They change their form depending on the tense, mood, and aspect; sometimes, they can conjugate for number and gender as well.
➤ If all these linguistic terms sound too confusing, we’ve broken down Russian verb conjugation into digestible pieces in one of our articles.
When looking up a verb in a dictionary, pay attention to whether there’s any preposition that comes with the verb as well as how the noun changes next to it. Knowing the aspect—perfective or imperfective—can also be useful at times, but let’s save that for later.
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