Phonetic Spelling
Russian is mostly pronounced as written once you learn the Cyrillic alphabet and stress rules. Unstressed vowels can “reduce,” but the mapping from letters to sounds is much tighter than in English.
- Stress matters: it changes vowel quality (e.g., о → “a” when unstressed).
- Softness: consonants can be “soft” (palatalized) before soft vowels or ь.
Three Genders
Every noun is masculine, feminine, or neuter. This affects adjective endings, past-tense verb forms, and pronouns. You’ll spot gender quickly by common endings.
- Feminine: often -а/-я; Neuter: -о/-е; Masculine: consonant or -й.
- Agreement makes your speech clear and natural.
Flexible Word Order
Russian’s case endings let you reorder words for emphasis or style. A neutral Subject-Verb-Object order exists, but speakers move parts to highlight what’s important.
- Focus trick: front or end position often carries emphasis.
- Beginners can stick to SVO while learning; flexibility comes with practice.
No Articles (a/an/the)
Russian doesn’t use articles. Specific vs. general meaning is shown with context, word order, cases, and demonstratives like этот / эта / это / эти.
- Translate ideas, not articles—often you simply omit them.
- Use один (“one, a certain”) or demonstratives when you need to be explicit.
Case System (6 Cases)
Nouns, pronouns, and adjectives change their endings to mark function—subject, object, motion toward, location, possession, means, and more. This is a key structural difference from English.
- Why it helps: precise meanings and flexible word order.
- Good news: endings follow patterns you’ll reuse across words.