Learn Russian
Russian through real conversations
Russian has six cases, three grammatical genders, and aspect pairs for almost every verb. It also has one of the most consistent alphabets going. Once you know Cyrillic, you can read any Russian word phonetically. These free lessons take you through real Russian with native voices: hotel bookings, family introductions, doctor visits. You'll meet the ты/вы formality split, the nominative-accusative-genitive-dative cycle, and useful set phrases like 'Как дела?' and 'Здравствуйте'.
All Russian lessons 84 lessons across 14 scenes
Bakery
6 lessons
Beach
6 lessons
Cafe
6 lessonsClothes
6 lessonsFarm
6 lessons
Hospital
6 lessons
House
6 lessons
Office
6 lessons
School
6 lessons
Sports
6 lessons
Street
6 lessons
Supermarket
6 lessons
Townhall
6 lessons
Zoo
6 lessons
Common questions about learning Russian
Quick answers for new Russian learners.
How long does it take to learn Cyrillic?
Less than a weekend for the basics. Many letters look like Latin (А, К, М, О, Т) — some look familiar but sound different (В = V, Н = N, Р = R, Х = KH). After two days of practice you can read street signs.
What are Russian cases?
Russian uses six grammatical cases — nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, instrumental, prepositional. Each changes a noun's ending to show its role in the sentence. The hardest part is memorising endings; the easiest is that word order is then almost free.
Why do Russian verbs come in pairs?
Aspect: imperfective (ongoing/repeated action) vs perfective (completed action). Писать = 'to be writing'; написать = 'to write (and finish)'. Almost every verb has a pair. Learning them together is the simplest approach.
Is Russian grammar really that hard?
The cases and aspect pairs are the main hurdle, but the good news is that Russian word order is flexible once you know them. Native sentences give you natural exposure to the patterns so they sink in faster than rote memorisation.