Russian Word of the Day: до

до - until, till, up to, before

до + genitive case

Russian Word of the Day: -нибудь

-нибудь is a particle that shows uncertainty. It can be added to some words. Let’s look at the examples:

Russian Word of the Day: верить

верить - to believe, to trust

Russian Word of the Day: ли

ли — whether, if

It's one of those tricky-to-translate words, so let's look at the sentences with ли.

Не пойти ли нам погулять? - Won't we go for a walk?

Не знаю, могу ли я это сделать. - I don't know whether I can do it.

Купить ли мне новый телефон? - Should I buy a new phone?

Мне ли не знать. - I should know.

Russian Word of the Day: один

один - one, alone, some

Возьми одно яблоко. - Take one apple.

Я расскажу тебе одну историю. - I'll tell one story.

У циклопа есть только один глаз. - A cyclops has just one eye.

Принимай по одной таблетке три раза в день. - Take one pill three times a day.

Russian Word of the Day: чтобы

чтобы, чтоб — to, so that

Чтобы стать образованным человеком, надо много читать. - You should read a lot to become educated.

Чтобы волосы были красивыми, надо пользоваться натуральным шампунем. - You should use natural shampoo, if you want to have beautiful hair.

Russian Word of the Day: стать

One of the meanings of стать is to become.

Russian Word of the Day: если

если - if

Russian Word of the Day: аллергия

аллергия - allergy

Russian Word of the Day: много

много – a lot of, much, many

Russian Word of the Day: пляж

пляж - beach

Russian Word of the Day: водка

водка - vodka

Russian Word of the Day: почему

Today's word is почему (why). It's very easy to use.

почему

Почему кровь красная? - Why is blood red?

Почему у тебя зелёные волосы? - Why is your hair green?

Russian Word of the Day: первый

Hello there. Today we are starting a series of short posts that will show you how to use various Russian words. And we'll start with the word первый, which means... first!

первый - first

первый раз - first time

первый класс - first class, first grade

первая любовь - first love

Russian word of the day: соль

  Some salty Russian vocabulary for you today. ;) This post also shows you how Russian words can be made by using prefixes and suffixes. So many words are made from one simple соль!

соль - salt

солонка - salt shaker

солёный - salty

несолёный - unsalted

солить - to salt

пересолить - to oversalt

пересоленный - oversalted, too salty

недосолить - to salt not enough

недосоленный - not salty enough

засолить - to marinade, to pickle

солёные огурцы (маринованные огурцы) - pickled cucumbers

рассол - brine, pickle-water (a popular post-hangover «medicine» in Russia ^^ )

рассольник - a traditional Russian soup made from pickled cucumbers and sometimes with brine too (I don't like it at all, even though I love pickles.)

Word of the day – мыло

What do soap and email have in common? In English language probably nothing, but in Russian language they share a word. They both are called мыло.

Мыло originally meant only soap, but then the era on internet came, and with it, a need for a short, colloquial word for email. Of course you could use электронная почта (but it's so long!) or имейл (too foreign perhaps?), but apparently that wasn't enough. So someone started using similarly sounding мыло instead of имейл. Both мыло and имейл are very informal and colloquial and are often used in everyday speech.

I'll give you some examples of how this word мыло is used. Let's start from soapy stuff:

мыть мылом — to wash something with soap

мыться мылом — to wash oneself with soap

мыльная вода — soapy water

весь в мыле — (literally «all in lather»), lathery, in a lather

натуральное мыло — natural soap

мыльница — a soapbox, a soap dish

Word of the Day + Russian song

How to say that you like something in Russian? One of ways is to use нравится. Here is how you do it:

Мне нравится... - I like...

Мне не нравится... - I don't like...

You can use verbs after this word:

Кате нравится слушать музыку. - Kate likes listening to music.

Мише не нравится пить молоко. - Misha doesn't like to drink milk.