Russian Words You Need to Know in Dubai!

The Russian community in Dubai has grown exponentially since the conflict started in early 2023. Russian businessmen and women, couples, and families have made Dubai their new home.

Russian is one of the 6 official languages of the United Nations and the 6th of June is celebrated annually as Russian Language Day. Below we have put together 10 facts about the Russian language and culture…

Facts About the Russian Language:

Russian Language Day is observed by UNESCO on June 6th of every year.

Russian is written using the Cyrillic alphabet

• The Cyrillic alphabet is closely based on the Greek alphabet, with about a dozen additional letters invented to represent Slavic sounds that were not found in Greek. In Russia, Cyrillic was first written in the early Middle Ages.

Russian nouns have genders

• In English nouns are gender-neutral, except for nouns that refer specifically to a living creature that has a gender, such as “doe” and “buck”. In Russian, nouns are one of three genders: masculine, feminine, or neuter. Sometimes, the gender of a noun is directly related to the gender of the thing it’s referring to. More often, gender is completely arbitrary, and memorising the words and their genders will often be required. For English-speakers, gender is one of the most complicated language rules to get the hang of, but once you’ve got the gist of it you’re well on your way to mastering Russian grammar!

Russian surnames vary by gender

• Russian names consist of a first name, a family name, and a patronymic name, which is the father’s name plus the ending -ovich for a son and -ovna for a daughter. So if a father named Ivan has a son and a daughter, his son’s patronymic name will be Ivanovich and his daughter’s will be Ivanovna.

Some English words are of Russian origin

• Interesting examples include bolshevik, cosmonaut, mammoth, pogrom, samovar, sputnik, taiga, tsar, ushanka, and vodka.

Russian is the official language in 4 countries

• Russian is the official language of Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. It is also considered to be the unofficial lingua franca in Ukraine and many former Soviet countries. These include Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Common Russian Words You Should Know

Here is a super minimalist Russian vocabulary list for you starting with “da” (yes) and “nyet” (no).

1. Privet (hi)

Privet is an informal greeting. You can say “privet” to an acquaintance, a friend or anyone who is around the same age as you or younger.

2. Spasibo (thank you)

Literally and originally this meant “god save,” although almost nobody remembers this nowadays. In Russian, this is the simplest and most traditional way of expressing gratitude. 

3. Bystreye (faster/hurry up)

This can be a very useful word if, for example, you are running late in a taxi on your way to the airport. 

4. Tak (so/ like/that etc.)

This universal word can be used in dozens of situations. Tak can be used to say "yes" when somebody asks you a question and is waiting for an affirmative answer. Or it can be an option for saying “ok” or “good.”

5. Skolko (how much/how many)

You will need this word to ask how much you need to pay (or how much is to be paid to you), how many times something needs to be done or how long you need to wait, etc. T

6. Izvinite/prostite (sorry/excuse me)

Both these words express regret for something that happened and imply that you are asking for forgiveness. But don’t expect an actual response since saying it is usually just a polite formality.

7. Do svidaniya (goodbye)

There are about a dozen words in Russian to say goodbye. Which one you should use depends on whom you are saying goodbye to, for how long, and when. However, do svidaniya is the most universal phrase.