Russian is spoken by approximately 255 million people and is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. The FSI classifies Russian as Category III, estimating approximately 1,100 hours to professional proficiency.
The Cyrillic Alphabet
Russian uses 33 letters. Many look familiar but some make different sounds.
Letters that look and sound like English
А (a), К (k), М (m), О (o), Т (t)
False friends
| Letter | Looks like | Actually sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| В | "B" | "v" in "very" |
| Н | "H" | "n" in "no" |
| Р | "P" | Rolled "r" |
| С | "C" | "s" in "sun" |
| У | "Y" | "oo" in "moon" |
Most learners memorize all 33 letters in one week.
Pronunciation
Vowel reduction: Unstressed vowels change sound. О when stressed sounds like "o", when unstressed becomes "a".
Palatalization: Consonants can be "hard" or "soft". The soft sign (Ь) indicates softness.
The Case System
Russian has six grammatical cases:
| Case | Function |
|---|---|
| Nominative | Subject |
| Genitive | Possession, absence |
| Dative | Indirect object |
| Accusative | Direct object |
| Instrumental | "By means of" |
| Prepositional | Location, about |
Learning strategy: Learn one case at a time. Start with Nominative, then Accusative, then Prepositional.
Essential Phrases
| Russian | Romanization | English |
|---|---|---|
| Здравствуйте | Zdravstvuyte | Hello (formal) |
| Привет | Privet | Hi (informal) |
| Спасибо | Spasibo | Thank you |
| Да / Нет | Da / Nyet | Yes / No |
| Как вас зовут? | Kak vas zovut? | What is your name? |
| Я не понимаю | Ya ne ponimayu | I don't understand |
At Targumi, our native Russian tutors will help you through the Cyrillic alphabet, cases, and pronunciation with real conversation practice.
Sources and References
- Russian — Ethnologue: Russian is spoken by about 150 million native speakers. Language family: Indo-European, Slavic branch.
- Wikipedia — Russian: encyclopedic information on the language, its geographic area and official status.
- Targumi — Learn Russian: courses with certified native teachers.
Further Reading
- Learn Russian on Targumi — courses with native teachers
- All languages on Targumi — 106 languages taught