Learn Russian

In my blog about idioms with the word ‘white’ (белый), I got a great comment about two Russian words чернила и белила (black ink and white paint). (Thank you @samonen! Have I mentioned we love to read your comments?) Белила reminded me of…
Read More...

Чего́ вы бои́тесь? (What are you afraid of?) And I don’t necessarily mean the grown up kind of fears like not getting along with your in-laws, identity theft or small talk. I mean the deep childhood fears of the mysterious, unknown, and…
Read More...

Kira Lisitskaya (Photo: eduard_martirosyan; garazlubov_ege; yanggemadeinchina/tiktok.com) A Chinese-born actress, a fortune-telling teacher and a gopnik (lowlife) are just some of the TikTokers who unravel the complexities…
Read More...

When you think of Russian winters, you imagine early mornings with untouched сугро́бы (snowdrifts), краси́вые узо́ры на стёклах авто́бусов (pretty frost patters on the windows of buses), and serene forests of snow-covered pines and birch…
Read More...

Whether you are doing some holiday shopping or would like to avoid saying, “you know that thing that does this to your eyelashes”, these make-up related Russian vocabulary and phrases are here to help. Basics Unlike in Soviet Union times,…
Read More...

Не зна́ю, как вы, но в декабре́ мне о́чень хо́чется спать!1 I don’t know about you, but I really want to sleep in December Whether it’s the end-of-the-year blues or the fact that we only get about 8 hours of daylight – either way, I envy…
Read More...

Understanding humor in another language is a whole new level of engaging with it. Those learning Russian know that Вели́кий и Могу́чий Ру́сский Язы́к 1The Great and Mighty Russian language, being the rich language that it is, loves to…
Read More...

All images are by author (Akbota Yergaliyeva) Yes, you read the title right. This blog is only partially about Russia’s favorite grain гречка (buckwheat). We are going to talk about a wonderful Russian music artist on the rise that…
Read More...

Have you ever heard of топлёное молоко́? Baked milk is not a dairy product that frequents markets outside of post-Soviet countries but в России топлёное молоко́ лю́бят все, от ма́ла до велика. And as you will see today, it’s a nutritious…
Read More...

Before you continue reading, I highly insist that you catch up on what we covered about Koschei in Part I. Otherwise, you might be a bit lost. We left off discussing Koschei and his appearance in the American TV series Grimm, episode 9 of…
Read More...

In honor of Halloween approaching, I was rewatching the Grimm TV series. It’s spooky, imaginative, and nostalgic for me, since it was one of the first shows I watched in English. Grimm is a police detective story that weaves in a whole…
Read More...

Would you like to correctly answer that question in Russian? Вы на ве́рном ме́сте.1You are at the right place If you need a quick refresher on поря́дковые числи́тельные2ordinal numbers see my blog here. Вы гото́вы? Пое́хали!3Are you ready?…
Read More...

Смо́тришь в кни́гу ви́дишь фи́гу? (Looking into a book but seeing nothing – see note below) That certainly won’t be the case with Transparent’s Library Sign-up month. See here if your local library offers Transparent Language Online…
Read More...

Mistakes are inevitable, but a sincere apology can help fix the situation. Let’s see how to apologize in Russian. The Most Common Ways The most popular ways to apologize are using the noun “извини(те) ” and…
Read More...

Should I write пре or при? Whether you are a beginner Russian learner or a native speaker, dealing with these two prefixes is a handful. Actually, dealing with all the prefixes in Russian can be overwhelming without some of them sounding…
Read More...