Russian Grammar

Russian Verbs

First and Second Conjugation

In Russian, verbs change their endings based on person (who is doing the action: I, you, he/she/it, we, you (pl./formal), they) and number (singular or plural). This process is called conjugation. There are two main conjugation patterns in Russian: the First Conjugation and the Second Conjugation.
Understanding which conjugation a verb belongs to is crucial for forming the present tense (for imperfective verbs) and the simple future tense (for perfective verbs) correctly.

Reflexive Verbs in Russian (-ся / -сь)

Reflexive verbs in Russian are formed by adding the postfix - ся (after consonants) or - сь (after vowels) to the infinitive. These verbs often indicate that the action is directed back at the subject (like English "-self") or has a passive/reciprocal meaning.

Verbal Aspect in Russian

Russian verbs come in aspectual pairs that express:

Perfective (Совершенный вид): Completed action with a result
Imperfective (Несовершенный вид): Ongoing, repeated, or general action

There are only three tenses in the Russian language, however, many nuances are conveyed by the use of one or another aspect

Imperative mood in Russian

In Russian, the imperative mood (повелительное наклонение) is used to give commands, requests, or advice. It is formed differently depending on the verb conjugation and the level of politeness.
There are two main forms: informal (singular) and formal/polite/plural.
For most verbs, remove the present/future tense ending and add:
* - и (if the stem ends in a consonant cluster or ж, ч, ш, щ)
* - ь (if the stem ends in a vowel or a single consonant)
* - те for formal and polite plural

Russian Nouns

Russian nouns are characterized by their gender (masculine, feminine, or neuter), their declension in six cases, and their number (singular/plural), which influences their endings and agreement in the sentence.

Gender of Russian nouns (Род)

While there are patterns (e.g., -а/-я usually feminine, consonant usually masculine, -о/-е usually neuter), there are many exceptions (e.g., nouns ending in -ь like дверь (fem) vs. словарь (masc), or exceptions like мужчина (man - masc. despite -а ending), кофе (traditionally masc.), время (neuter despite -я). Gender is crucial because it dictates adjective endings, past tense verb endings, and pronoun agreement. Mistakes in gender of Russian nouns cascade into other grammatical errors.

Grammatical Cases (Падежи)

In Russian, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and numerals change their endings depending on their grammatical function in a sentence (e.g., whether they are the subject, object, indicate possession, location, etc.). These different forms are called "cases."
English has a remnant of this system (e.g., I/me/my, he/him/his), but Russian uses it extensively for almost all nouns and related words. Cases allow for a more flexible word order than in English because the function of a word is clear from its ending, not just its position.
There are six cases in Russian:

Nominative (Имени́тельный паде́ж - И.п.)
Genitive (Роди́тельный паде́ж - Р.п.)
Dative (Да́тельный паде́ж - Д.п.)
Accusative (Вини́тельный паде́ж - В.п.)
Instrumental (Твори́тельный паде́ж - Т.п.)
Prepositional (Предло́жный паде́ж - П.п.)

Declension (Типы склонения)

Understanding Russian noun declension types is incredibly helpful for foreigners because it provides a framework for the seemingly chaotic system of case endings. Instead of memorizing endings for every single noun, you learn patterns.
Russian nouns are traditionally grouped into three main declension types, based primarily on their gender and nominative singular ending.

Number Russian nouns

Like English, Russian nouns can be singular or plural, but the formation and usage have some specific features that are important for foreigners to grasp.
Read more about number of Russian nouns

Russian Adjectives

Mastering Russian adjectives is challenging for foreigners because they must simultaneously agree with the noun they modify in gender, number, and case, while also navigating hard vs. soft stem endings, stress patterns, short forms, and comparative/superlative degrees.

Agreement of Russian adjectives (согласование)

Russian adjectives must agree with the nouns they describe in gender, number, and case
Read more about agreement of Russian adjectives

Declension of Russian adjectives (Склонение)

Declension is the process of changing the ending of an adjective to match the gender, number, and case of the noun it modifies. Russian adjectives have a rich set of endings for this purpose.
Read more about declension of Russian adjectives

Degrees of comparison (Степени сравнения)

Like English, Russian has three main degrees: positive degree, comparative degree, superlative degree.
Read more about degrees of comparison of Russian adjectives

Russian Word Stress (Ударение)

In Russian, stress (ударение) is unpredictable — it can fall on any syllable, and it often changes between different forms of the same word. This makes stress one of the trickiest parts of Russian pronunciation!
Read more about Russian word stress