Nina Wieda

How do you ask basic questions in Russian? Well, Russian interrogative words mean the same as they do for English: who, what, when, where, why, and how. By knowing basic Russian interrogatives, you'll be able to express your questions, even without an extensive vocabulary. Kogo? (kah-VOH) (Whom?) chto (shtoh) (What?

Exploring Russian-speaking countries can be quite an adventure, but if you want to be sure to see everything on your list, you need to know how to ask for directions and how to understand the directions you are given. After all, if you don't understand what you're told, you might miss the very things you hoped to see.

Properly greeting people and making introductions in Russian can help you get off to the right start. After all, first impressions are important — they can start a friendship or set the tone for your interaction with someone. The Russian language is more formal than American English. Likewise, introductions in Russian follow more of a pattern than they sometimes do in the United States.

When making plans, appointments, and travel arrangements in Russian-speaking countries, you need to be able to state dates and other calendar terms in Russian. Understanding the days of the week and the months of the year in Russian can help you to avoid confusion. Days of the week To ask what day of the week it is, says Kakoj syegodnya dyen'?

By mastering the basics of polite conversation in Russian, you put yourself and the person you're talking to at ease. Everyone should learn essential Russian conversational words and phrases before traveling to a Russian -speaking country. These words and expressions are sure to come up in most everyday conversations.

Every culture has a way of taking familiar words and turning them into something else. Russia is no exception. These uniquely Russian expressions don't translate literally to English and aren't essential to everyday conversation, but recognizing these expressions in speech and using them with ease can make you sound like a real Russian!

When traveling, most emergencies are medical — whether you're in a Russian-speaking country or not. Know how to ask for medical help in Russian before you have an actual emergency. The simplest way to ask for assistance is to say Pomogitye! (puh-mah-GEE-tee), which means Help! You can also use the phrases: Izvinitye, mnye nuzhna pomosh'!

To get the most out of your vryemya (VR'EH-m'uh) (time) in a Russian-speaking country, know how to state and ask for time and specify times of the day. In Russian, there are many different ways to talk about time depending on how it is used. The time of day can be described in general terms or specific times. You can use the following words to describe the general time of day.

Using Russian for numbers and counting can be tricky if you need to work extensively with numbers, such as in mathematics and accounting. Each Russian number has six forms depending on how it's used! The good news is that most of the time, you'll only need to use the nominative case. Cases are sets of endings that words take to indicate their function and relationship to other words in the sentence.