Learn Russian

Over the past few days, I have several times come across a funny post on a social network about numbers in Russian. This gave me the idea to write today’s blog. 0-10 As Russian teachers say, there are exceptions to every rule. If you…
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A lot of фразеологизмы (idioms) about ‘death’ in Russian rely on verbs of motion that depict a person leaving this life and world. The 5 euphemisms below all mean ‘to die’ but I will write the literal translation in parenthesis to make them…
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Remember this blog where I mentioned the Russian tradition of bringing an even number of flowers to the funeral? We will talk about that and other traditions surrounding Russian funerals as well as vocabulary that relates to death in…
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June 12 is Russia Day. What exactly are we celebrating on that day? Not Independence Day Russia Day (День Росси́и) is one of the newest national public holidays in Russia. It has been celebrated since 1992. This day marks the formation of…
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It has been a little over a year since we’ve covered COVID news in Russia, and while today’s blog is about Russia’s vaccine Sputnik V, we focus on the country’s southern neighbor, Kazakhstan. *All photos taken and…
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We have already talked about Russian spring proverbs, winter expressions, and fall vocabulary. And, of course, today’s blog will be about summer sayings. Today, you can quickly check the weather forecast in seconds. To do this, you…
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In Russian, there are three verbs that have the same English translation – “to try.” Despite this, they have a slightly different meaning. These verbs are “про́бовать“, “пыта́ться,” and…
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Many Russians devoted May 11th this year to visiting the graves of their loved ones. Known as Роди́тельский день и́ли Радо́ница (Roditel’skiy Den’ or Radonista), this day is directly related to Orthodox Easter and you can read more about…
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Originally, I had a Радо́ница (Radonitsa) blog for today and if I had to write about visas, this is the type of embassy-themed blog I would rather be writing right now, but alas. Russia and US relations like to frequent major headlines and…
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Below I will share the most popular phrases that people say to each other exclusively right before going to bed. Of course, first of all, you should understand how close you are to the person to whom you are addressing. You probably…
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Правосла́вная Па́сха вы́пала на второе ма́я в э́том го́ду. (Orthodox Easter fell on May 2nd this year) and I wanted to share как мы с брати́шкой и сестрёнкой  первый раз кра́сили яйца (how I and my siblings dyed eggs for the first time)…
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On May 1st, Russia celebrates Spring and Labor Day (День Весны и Труда), which is a public holiday (праздник). The holiday may also be known as May Day (Первое мая) or International Worker’s Day (День международной солидарности…
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What better month than April to cover a few words that confuse even native Russian speakers? Ведь не даром говорят, «Непостоя́нен обма́нщик-апре́ль: на дню семь пого́д». (There is a good reason people say that “April-liar is fickle because…
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Thank you in Russian You probably already know how to thank others in Russian. We discussed this topic earlier in this blog. But it’s equally important to know what to answer when someone thanks you. Today we will learn how to respond to…
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Legion Media; Getty Images; Anton Romanov Want to count your money in Cyrillic style? Discover why the Slavs saw a flock of ravens in a million and darkness in 1,000 million. You’re…
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