Russian: A Self-Teaching Guide Vocabulary and Concepts

Comprehensive vocabulary and core grammatical concepts extracted from the 17 chapters of the Russian Self-Teaching Guide, covering alphabets, cases, aspects, and situational terminology.

Cyrillic

The Russian alphabet, consisting of thirty-three letters representing thirty-one sounds and two signs.

Cyrill and Methodius

Greek monks attributed with the creation of the Cyrillic alphabet.

Iotated Vowels

Vowels that begin with the sound [y], such as я, е, ё, and ю.

Transliteration

The process of rendering letters from one alphabet into another, such as writing Russian words in the Roman alphabet.

Animate Nouns

Nouns referring to living human beings and animals.

Inanimate Nouns

Nouns referring to objects or things rather than living beings.

Declension

The process by which nouns, pronouns, and adjectives change their forms to alter their syntactical meaning.

Nominative Case

The first case and basic form of words as they appear in a dictionary.

Accusative Case

Used to indicate the direct object of a sentence or the destination of verbs of motion.

Genitive Case

Used to express possession, absence, quantity, negation, or nonexistence.

Prepositional Case

Also called the locative; used exclusively to indicate location and never occurs without a preposition.

Dative Case

Used for the indirect object, expressing age, or showing subjective states of being.

Instrumental Case

Used to express the instrument or means by which an action is performed.

Imperfective Aspect

The verb form focusing on the process of an action, its habitual nature, or frequency.

Perfective Aspect

The verb form focusing on the completion, result, or the successful product of an action.

Indeterminate Verbs of Motion

Verbs describing multidirectional, habitual, or general motion without a specific destination.

Determinate Verbs of Motion

Verbs describing a one-time, one-direction action currently taking place toward a specific destination.

Participle

A verbal adjective derived from a verb but behaving like an adjective to modify an antecedent.

врач

Doctor or physician.

аптека

Drugstore or pharmacy.

продукты

Groceries or food products.

паспорт

Passport.

семья

Family.

библиотека

Library.

голосовать

To vote.

голова

Head.

сердце

Heart.

копéйка

Kopek (a unit of Russian currency).

рубль

Ruble (the basic unit of Russian currency).

хлеб

Bread.