Russian for English speakers House · Lesson 1

Languages and nationalities

Russian languages and nationalities — Русский (Russian), английский (English) — with adjective forms.

Conversation

  1. Lindo Lindo

    Твои родители русские?

    Tvoi roditeli russkie?

    Are your parents Russian?

  2. Rose Rose

    Моя мама ру́сская, а мой папа америка́нец. Моя мама говорит по-ру́сски и по-англи́йски, а папа говорит то́лько по-английски

    Moja mama rússkaja, a moj papa amerikánec. Moja mama govorit po-rússki i po-anglíjski, a papa govorit tólʹko po-anglijski

    My mom is Russian and my dad is American. My mom speaks Russian and English and my dad speaks only English.

  3. Lindo Lindo

    А ты говоришь по-русски?

    A ty govorišʹ po-russki?

    And do you speak Russian?

  4. Rose Rose

    Конечно, я говорю по-русски.

    Konečno, ja govorju po-russki.

    Of course, I speak Russian.

    Tip: Russian has its own form for saying country, nationality and language. For example, the verbs “говорить”, “понимать”, “читать”, “писать” are used with prefix “по-”, don’t forget this

Common questions

Quick answers about this lesson's grammar and vocabulary.

Russian for nationalities?

Россиянин/россиянка (Russian person), русский/русская (Russian, ethnically). Note: язык adjective form. Я русский = 'I am (ethnic) Russian'.

Common Russian languages?

Английский (English), русский (Russian), немецкий (German), французский (French), испанский (Spanish), китайский (Chinese).

How do you say 'I speak ...' in Russian?

Я говорю по-английски / по-русски (using по- + language adverb form). Common in casual speech.

Test yourself

Pick the English translation for each line from this lesson. Wrong answers are pulled from other Russian lessons.

4 quick questions on what you just heard.

Next lesson in House What's his profession? →