How to Start Learning Russian in 8 Easy Steps

Did you know that Russian is the 5th most commonly spoken language in the world? More interestingly, only half of the people who live in Russia speak Russian while the other half live in other Post-Soviet countries like Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan. Whether you plan to travel to these countries or communicate with their speakers because of your work, speaking Russian is considered a huge benefit.

Oh, but you still haven’t learned Russian? Well, nothing to worry about! If you have at least 30 minutes to spare per day, you can start today with Russian tutors.

But you don’t know where to start, do you? We’ll take care of that too.

In this post, we’ll show you the 8 easy steps on how to start learning Russian.  These eight steps won’t make you fluent in Russian overnight. They will help you with the basics and prepare you for further learning. So, if you don’t know how to start learning Russian, just continue reading.

#1 Start By Learning Russian Alphabet

The Russian language uses the Cyrillic alphabet. At first sight, it seems like you’ll never learn to read and write it, but on the contrary, it is relatively easy.

The Cyrillic and Latin alphabet have several letters in common. Therefore, you’ll save your time in learning letters such as A, E, J, K, M, O, and T. And that’s not a small number of letters you already know. Although other letters aren’t the same, you’ll notice that they are similar.

• How to read the Russian alphabet?

Learning to read is very easy. Every letter is pronounced in one specific way. When you learn to pronounce letters, you simply pronounce words and sentences the phonetical way. 

Once you learn the Russian alphabet, you won’t have any difficulties reading. For a start, you can practice pronunciation by writing English words in Cyrillic. Besides having fun, you’ll also find out that English and Russian share many words and phrases.

#2 Learn Nouns and Adjectives for Every Occasion

After you’ve completed the first step, you should learn some common nouns and adjectives.

We recommend learning nouns that are used every day.

By learning these words, you’ll be able to name, identify, and describe objects and things (which is quite good for a beginner).

Learning the Cyrillic alphabet is one thing, but putting letters in a word is something different.

By learning nouns and adjectives, you will also practice your reading and writing skills. 

You can see some of the common nouns and adjectives we recommend for learning in the following lines. 

Our full list of the 100 most common Russian words you may find below to download for free.

• Commonly Used Nouns

• Commonly Used Adjectives

#3 Learn Verbs and Verb Conjugations

Russian has only one present tense when it comes to tenses, so using verbs in the present tense is quite simple.

The present tense is challenging, but it is also the most commonly used, so you’ll use it in almost every sentence.

How to learn Russian verbs?

You can start with some of the commonly used verbs below. 

Even though it can be dull a bit, learning verbs is essential to put together the whole sentence.

Pay attention to the Russian verbs of motions. In English, there is only one verb, ‘to go,’ but in Russian, it depends on whether you go by foot, air, or some other way. We suggest you learn them at the beginning and get that over with.

• Commonly Used Verbs

Please note that the verbs in the following lines are in the infinitive form.

#4 Learn To Build Sentences

Building and using simple sentences is something every beginner is looking forward to.

It is proof that learners are making progress and, of course, the excitement that they can talk to Russian speakers.

This step is actually a combination of all the previous actions. 

Using the nouns, adjectives, and verbs, you’ve learned so far is like the end of one phase.

When practicing to make sentences, focus on being grammatically correct.

Write down the sentences in English and slowly make the Russian equivalent.

#5 Boost Your Vocabulary

By this step, you’ve learned how to build some common sentences and read and write in Russian.

To improve your Russian means that you have to build your vocabulary to talk about different things, not only the basis. 

The best way to learn Russian words is to organize your learning day to learn at least 10 new ones. You can do that by watching YouTube channels, for example, or listening to the radio. You don’t need to understand every word people are saying, which, after all, is impossible for beginners. 

Besides learning nouns and adjectives, don’t forget to improve verbs vocabulary. Some of the most common Russian verbs you can find on Master Russian.

#6 Dive In the Case System

If you still haven’t gotten familiar with the cases in Russian, now is the time.

So, if you don’t know, cases refer to nouns, pronouns, adjectives, participles, and numerals according to their grammatical function in the sentence.

Cases are one of the main characteristics of Slavic languages. As for Russian, there are six cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, and prepositional.

Even though it seems pretty challenging to understand, cases are vital in Russian, and thanks to them, the flexibility of word order in the sentence is possible.

Cases also give meaning and enable clear communication.

#7 Don’t Forget About the Past and Future Tenses

Although the present tense is the number one priority in everyday life, learning past and future tenses in Russian will help you expand the communication and express your thoughts even better.

We have good news about these tenses. They are relatively easy to learn, much more straightforward than the present tense.

How can you learn tenses in Russian?

Choose a verb. Start conjugating it in the present tense at first, and then in the past and future tenses. Check if you’ve done it right. You’ll become an expert in no time.

#8 Practice Russian with Native Speakers

It’s not easy to find someone to talk to in Russian. 

Luckily, online discussion boards and forums are available 24/7 to find a partner for communication.

Or even better, you can contact one of the Russian tutors on Justlearn. They are native speakers and teachers, too, so not only will they teach you many useful things in Russian, but they’ll also understand your struggle with, e.g., case systems.

Moreover, their friendly attitude will make you think you went out for a coffee with a new friend.

So there you have it! These eight steps are here to help you learn the basics.  

Remember that it takes time to learn Russian. Also, you’ll need to find out more ways to reach fluency. As you make progress, you’ll need more resources and vocabulary. You can start on your own, or you can ask for help.

Learning Russian will help you get to know yourself and your capabilities.

Good luck with learning!