Learn About Russian
Русский • 260 million speakers worldwide
"Привет, как дела?"
Pronunciation: Privyet, kak dyela?
Translation: Hi, how are you?
Speakers
260 million
Language Family
Indo-European (Slavic)
Writing System
Cyrillic script
Official Status
Official language of Russia and co-official in several former Soviet states
Regions (10 countries)
Russian developed from Old East Slavic. It became standardized in the 18th century under the reforms of Peter the Great. The language spread widely during the Soviet Union era, becoming a lingua franca across Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Rich system of noun cases (6 cases)
Free word order due to case system
Aspect in verbs (perfective vs imperfective)
No articles (a, the)
Hard and soft consonant pairs
Northern Russian
Southern Russian
Central Russian (basis of Standard Russian)
Master the Cyrillic alphabet first
Pay attention to stress in words, as it changes meaning
Practice verb aspect early
Learn the six noun cases systematically
Immerse yourself with Russian media
Russian literature is world-renowned: Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Pushkin
Politeness often expressed through formal vs informal 'you' (вы vs ты)
Russian culture places emphasis on family and hospitality
Many Russian idioms are tied to history and folklore
Russian is the most widely spoken Slavic language
It is one of the six official languages of the United Nations
Russian uses the Cyrillic alphabet
It is the second most used language on the internet by content volume