Learn Russian 🚀

Привет, как дела? 👋 ! Here’s our curated content for training your passive understanding of the language.

Instructions (tap to open)

Explore everything from phrases, grammar, to listening training. It’s useful for beginners to advanced speakers.

⏰ Time spent here also counts towards your streak.

Tip: put a link to this page in a phone note so you can access it quickly. Add links to videos you want to re-watch in that same note, and your listening practice is just one click away.

Language competency consists of active vocabulary, but also passive vocabulary and natural pattern recognition. Train essential listening skills, understand grammar and morphing patterns.

The Basic Phrases help you start and stay in the language. The Listening-Reading videos introduce you to highly intensive training of your listening skills.

What makes Lingophant unique is that you can create your 100% personalised vocabulary from conversations. 45 minutes per week with a friend or a teacher is already enough input for a constant stream of engaging sentences to practice between lessons.

📔 Basic Phrases

These phrases are the perfect point of departure for serious learners. They help you stay in the language, without needing to switch to English. And you internalize patterns.

Unlock them one-by-one in the app, and memorize them from the “Practice” tab.

01 – Basic Phrases
02 – Introductions
03 – Useful Reactions
04 – Clarifications
05 – Learning Languages
06 – Interests, Opinions, Preferences
07 – Travel Phrases
08 – Politeness

This is just to get you started. For personalized phrases, we recommend sessions of 45 minutes with a native speaker.

  • Know 300 phrases and you can make jokes and impress people
  • Know 600 phrases and you can hold basic conversations
  • Know 1000 phrases and you start communicating effortlessly

And because of working with audio, you’ll get compliments on your pronunciation a lot. We promise!

🔤 Language Intro, Alphabet and Pronunciation

Regarding the script, it is possible to learn it in 15 minutes (I’ve done it). Read this comic to understand the mnemonics (memorable connections between shape and sound), and then review phrases in the Cyrillic script with Lingophant. You can switch in the app between Cyrillic and romanized script, and you’ll hear the sounds being pronounced anyways.

Learn to Read Russian in 15 Minutes

Only learn how to write by hand if you’re generally interested in it, or if you want to pass exams. You can always learn it later.

The basics of the grammar:

If you want a deep dive, you can watch this nerdy video by LangFocus:

Our main takeaways:

(1) Every Russian word has one specific syllable that has an accent on it. Like priviét instead of príviet. You must know this.

(2) The letters O and A both sound like A. Only one O per word can sound like an O. Like Сегодня я хочу поговорить. Cevodnja. it’s an O. But pagavarit’ has three A sounds for each O. (translation: “Today I want to talk”)

(3) Russian words have case endings, based on gender (one of three genders and like 6 cases)

(4) Russian verbs have a completed version and an incomplete version in some of the tenses.

Most of this will come naturally to you when you practice through phrase memorization and listening. The above rules you will likely notice sooner than later.

Pronunciation

Check these pronunciation guides by Fluent Forever as well. If you want perfect pronunciation, these give you an awareness for it. And it doesn’t take more than an hour. We can recommend to watch some now and come back later in your journey.

🎧 Train your listening skills with proper documentaries

We have selected enjoyable documentaries and reportage channels. Watch them, listen to the language, and build a natural intuition. Some polyglots swear by this method — 30 minutes a day builds working proficiency.

вДудь (10.20m subs)

вДудь (view channel) – Здесь задают вопросы

Редакция (4.41m subs)

Редакция (view channel) – YouTube-канал Алексея Пивоварова

Телеканал Культура (2.08m subs)

Телеканал Культура (view channel) – «Россия-Культура» (Культура или Россия К) — российский государственный телеканал, входящий в состав ВГТРК.

TRT на русском (1.99m subs)

TRT на русском (view channel) – TRT на русском — официальный международный турецкий телеканал и только проверенная информация из достоверных источников!

SciOne (1.36m subs)

SciOne (view channel) – Передний край науки и технологий. Нерешенные загадки и важнейшие вопросы жизни, Вселенной и всего такого.

Parfenon (1.28m subs)

Parfenon (view channel) – Привет, я — Леонид Парфёнов, это мой YouTube-канал. Здесь выходят серии по годам #НМДНИ, документальные фильмы студии «Намедни» и другие авторские видео. Связаться со мной или предложить сотрудничество: parfenon2018@gmail.com

Живая Планета (399k subs)

Живая Планета (view channel) – Официальный YouTube канал телеканала “Живая Планета”. Это главный национальный канал о природе.

Алексей Навальный (6.15m subs)

Алексей Навальный (view channel) –

The Люди (5.38m subs)

The Люди (view channel) – Люди, которых не встретишь на улице. The Люди

МИР НАИЗНАНКУ (4.26m subs)

МИР НАИЗНАНКУ (view channel) – Автор “Мира наизнанку” путешествует по странам, в которые не принято ездить с туристическими турами.

МИНАЕВ LIVE (4.12m subs)

МИНАЕВ LIVE (view channel) – Регистрация в перечне РКН: https://knd.gov.ru/license?id=67361a757de0911509ede9b2&registryType=bloggersPermission

Настоящее Время (3.92m subs)

Настоящее Время (view channel) – По-честному обо всем, что происходит на постсоветском пространстве.

Discovery Channel Россия (3.24m subs)

Discovery Channel Россия (view channel) – Наполни свою жизнь смыслом!

GEO (2.59m subs)

GEO (view channel) – Здесь я рассказываю истории о том, на что способен человек.

Максим Кац (2.46m subs)

Максим Кац (view channel) – На этом канале видео про политику, урбанистику, государственное управление. Стараюсь их делать спокойными и обоснованными научными данными.

Настоящее Время. Док (1.93m subs)

Настоящее Время. Док (view channel) – Документальные фильмы о актуальных проблемах и необычных местах России, Украины, Беларуси, стран Центральной Азии и других регионах постсоветского пространства.

Onliner (1.87m subs)

Onliner (view channel) –

СПЕКТР (1.67m subs)

СПЕКТР (view channel) – СПЕКТР — фильмы о людях, местах и явлениях, которые проходят ниже радаров. Необычные персонажи, захватывающие истории и закрытые сообщества — мы поможем оказаться там, куда сложно попасть, и покажем то, что сложно заметить

Проект (1.08m subs)

Проект (view channel) – То, о чем не расскажут в России

🎧 Train listening with weird popular YouTube videos

It’s like zapping TV through another linguistic and cultural universe. Watch what native speakers watch. We hope you find something interesting.

🧑‍🏫 Grammar overview in 9 chapters

Below is an overview of the most important grammar topics. Each chapter has a short explanation and recommended videos.

While memorizing phrases, you’ll likely recognize patterns from grammar. You can add a note or question to a card and get it answered next time you’re with a teacher.

Noun Gender & Basic Agreement A1

Every Russian noun belongs to one of three genders — masculine, feminine, or neuter — and this gender ripples out to affect adjectives, pronouns, and past-tense verbs that go with it. Masculine nouns typically end in a consonant (стол, ‘table’), feminine nouns usually end in -а or -я (книга, ‘book’), and neuter nouns end in -о or -е (окно, ‘window’). There are exceptions, but these endings cover the vast majority of nouns you will meet in everyday speech. When you learn a new noun, always note its gender at the same time — treat the gender as part of the word itself.

A practical trick is to memorise a short ‘anchor phrase’ for each new noun: pair it immediately with an adjective like новый/новая/новое (‘new’) so the agreement clicks into muscle memory from day one. Once you internalise gender, you will be able to correctly say things like ‘my new friend’ (мой новый друг vs. моя новая подруга) without stopping to think, and adjective endings throughout the app’s phrases will start to feel predictable rather than random.

The Six Cases: What They Do & When to Use Them A1

Russian nouns, pronouns, and adjectives change their endings depending on their grammatical role in the sentence — this system is called cases. There are six: Nominative (the subject doing the action), Accusative (the direct object receiving the action), Genitive (possession, absence, or quantity), Dative (the indirect object — ‘to’ or ‘for’ someone), Instrumental (using something, or ‘with’ someone), and Prepositional (location or topic, always used with a preposition). For example, ‘I see the woman’ puts ‘woman’ in the Accusative (женщину), but ‘I talk about the woman’ puts it in the Prepositional (о женщине). Rather than memorising all endings at once, focus on recognising what role a word plays in the sentence first.

The most effective approach for app learners is to study cases one at a time starting with Nominative and Accusative, noticing how real phrases in the app change form. Attach each case to a trigger word or preposition: Genitive often follows нет (‘there is no’), Dative follows дать (‘to give’) and к (‘towards’), Instrumental follows с (‘with’). Once you have a feel for all six, you will be able to decode the meaning of any Russian sentence even when you encounter unfamiliar words, and you will produce natural word endings that make your speech immediately comprehensible to native speakers.

Present-Tense Verb Conjugation (1st & 2nd Conjugation) A1

Russian verbs in the present tense change their endings for each person and number: я (I), ты (you-informal), он/она (he/she), мы (we), вы (you-formal/plural), они (they). Verbs fall into two main patterns called First Conjugation (most verbs with infinitives ending in -ать, -ять, -еть, -уть) and Second Conjugation (most verbs ending in -ить and a group of irregular -еть verbs). First conjugation uses the vowel -е- in most forms (читаю, читаешь, читает…), while second conjugation uses -и- (говорю, говоришь, говорит…). The я (I) form and они (they) form are the most irregular spots, so pay special attention to them.

A powerful chunking strategy is to learn verb conjugations in trio chunks — я/ты/он — and then мы/вы/они — rather than all six at once. In the app, each time you see a verb, mentally strip it back to the infinitive and identify which conjugation class it belongs to. Mastering this unlocks the ability to talk about your daily habits, ask what others are doing right now, and understand almost any present-tense statement a native speaker makes to you in conversation.

Verbal Aspect: Perfective vs. Imperfective A2

Almost every Russian verb comes in a pair: an imperfective form that describes ongoing, repeated, or incomplete actions, and a perfective form that describes a single completed action with a definite result. For example, писать (imperfective) means ‘to write / to be writing / to write regularly’, while написать (perfective) means ‘to write and finish it’. The difference is not about past vs. present vs. future — it is about how the speaker frames the action. In the past tense, ‘I was reading’ uses the imperfective (я читал), but ‘I read the whole book’ uses the perfective (я прочитал книгу). Only imperfective verbs have a true present tense; perfective verbs in the present-tense form actually express the future.

The best way to get a feel for aspect is to learn verb pairs together from the start — treat читать/прочитать as one unit, not two separate entries. When reading phrases in the app, ask yourself: is this a finished, one-time event or an ongoing/habitual process? That question will guide you to the right aspect instinctively over time. Once aspect clicks, you will be able to express nuanced ideas like ‘I was cooking when he called’ (imperfective) vs. ‘I cooked dinner’ (perfective), giving your Russian a natural, native-like quality that sets fluent speakers apart.

Personal Pronouns & Their Case Forms A2

Russian personal pronouns — я, ты, он/она/оно, мы, вы, они — change form just like nouns do across the six cases. Some changes are dramatic: ‘I’ (я) becomes меня in Genitive/Accusative, мне in Dative, мной in Instrumental, and обо мне in Prepositional. The third-person pronouns (он, она, они) add an н- at the beginning when they follow a preposition: without a preposition you say ‘её вижу’ (I see her), but with a preposition you say ‘говорю о ней’ (I talk about her). This н- rule trips up many learners who try to apply noun logic directly to pronouns.

Since pronoun forms are extremely high-frequency, it pays to memorise the full declension table for я and ты in your first week and then add the others progressively. A handy tip: whenever you see a preposition followed by a pronoun in an app phrase, check whether the н- appears — this will reinforce the pattern fast. Knowing all pronoun case forms lets you handle the core of almost any conversation: saying ‘give it to me’, ‘this is for you’, ‘I’m talking about him’, and ‘come with us’ all correctly and confidently.

Past Tense: Gender-Based Verb Agreement A2

The Russian past tense is formed from the infinitive stem plus the suffix -л, and then it agrees not with the person (I, you, he) but with the grammatical gender and number of the subject. Он читал (he read), она читала (she read), оно читало (it read), они читали (they read). This means that in the past tense you drop the conjugation endings you learnt for present tense and instead think about whether the subject is masculine, feminine, or plural. There are some common irregular stems — идти becomes шёл/шла, мочь becomes мог/могла — but the gender-agreement rule stays constant even for irregulars.

A quick memory anchor: past tense is the ‘lazy’ tense because you only need four endings (-л, -ла, -ло, -ли) instead of six conjugation forms. When using the app, practise swapping the subject of a past-tense sentence from masculine to feminine and notice the ending change — this active substitution drill ingrains the rule quickly. Mastering the past tense means you can tell stories, describe what happened yesterday, recount experiences, and ask others about their past — opening up a huge range of natural conversational topics.

Verbs of Motion: Going, Walking & Travelling B1

Russian has separate verb pairs for motion depending on whether the movement is one-directional (a single trip in progress or a specific journey) or multidirectional (going back and forth, habitual travel, or motion in general). The most essential pair is идти (walking right now, one way) vs. ходить (walking generally, regularly, or in multiple directions). A similar pair exists for vehicle travel: ехать vs. ездить. Using идти when you should use ходить — or vice versa — is one of the most common errors among intermediate learners and sounds distinctly non-native. Adding prefixes to these verbs (при-, у-, вы-, за-, etc.) creates a whole family of new verbs meaning ‘arrive’, ‘leave’, ‘exit’, ‘drop by’, and so on.

Start by mastering just идти and ходить before moving on to vehicle pairs and prefixed forms. A useful mental image: идти is a straight arrow pointing one way, ходить is a looping arrow going back and forth. When you see or hear a motion verb in the app, always ask: is this person heading somewhere specific right now, or is this a general/repeated pattern? Cracking motion verbs unlocks natural descriptions of your commute, travel plans, visiting friends, and understanding directions — all of which come up constantly in real-life Russian.

Short-Form Adjectives & Predicate Constructions B1

Most Russian adjectives have both a ‘long’ attributive form (новый, красивая) used before a noun, and a ‘short’ predicative form (нов, красива) used after a verb like быть (‘to be’) or when standing alone as the predicate of a sentence. For example, ‘a beautiful city’ uses the long form (красивый город), but ‘the city is beautiful’ uses the short form (город красив). Short forms agree with the subject in gender and number but do not decline for case, which actually makes them simpler to use in predicates. Some adjectives are almost exclusively used in short form in modern speech — рад (glad), должен (must/supposed to), готов (ready), болен (sick) — and these are extremely high-frequency in conversation.

The most practical approach is to memorise the handful of common short-form-only adjectives (рад, должен, готов, нужен, болен, согласен) as fixed chunks — ‘я рад’ (I’m glad), ‘ты должен’ (you must) — before worrying about the full short-form system. Pay attention to these forms in app phrases and note that должен/должна/должны functions as the everyday way to express obligation (‘I have to’). Once you command these forms, you will be able to express readiness, obligation, agreement, illness, and emotional reactions quickly and naturally, all of which are indispensable in daily conversation.

  • Short Adjectives in Russian – Fluent in Russian: Directly covers short-form adjectives in Russian with structured explanation and accompanying written notes, making it the most on-topic resource for this B1 grammar topic.

The Conditional & Subjunctive with бы B2

Russian expresses hypothetical, wishful, and conditional meaning using the particle бы combined with the past-tense verb form — there is no separate conditional tense to learn. Бы can sit in various positions in the sentence but most naturally follows the verb or subject. ‘I would go’ is я бы пошёл; ‘if I had time, I would help’ is если бы у меня было время, я бы помог. The same construction is used for polite requests (я бы хотел — ‘I would like’) and wishes (хотелось бы — ‘it would be nice’). Because бы is one short particle attached to past-tense forms you already know, the conditional is mechanically simpler than in many European languages.

Learners often already know the past tense forms before they tackle бы, so the key step is simply recognising the particle and the softening effect it creates. In the app, notice how phrases shift from direct to polite when бы appears — я хочу (‘I want’) becomes я бы хотел (‘I would like’). Internalising бы allows you to make polite, tentative requests, discuss hypothetical situations (‘what would you do if…’), express wishes, and navigate formal interactions with the kind of softened tone native speakers use constantly in everyday courtesy.

🧑‍🏫 Book Lessons with Recommended Teachers

Zhazira — Zhazira has worked with our app a lot already and has a great track record. She has experience teaching with our app, so you’re ready to start.

1000+ lessons given.

Zhazira
Book lessons on iTalki

In general, recommend a trial lesson and then booking 5 lessons at once, so the teacher has an incentive to try out a new app. In the first lesson you find common interests and try to record a few phrases and share them.

You can also find your own teacher. Or ask a friend for 45 minutes each week. On our for teachers page we explain everything — share the link, and the teacher can just follow through the steps.

And if you found a good teacher or are teaching yourself, we’re happy to add you to this page.