English and Russian both belong to the Indo-European family of languages, so they share more than it first seems — and they differ in ways that explain most of the mistakes learners make. Here is a clear side-by-side comparison for students of Russian, English speakers and bilingual families.
What English and Russian have in common
- The same parts of speech: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, prepositions and conjunctions.
- Singular and plural, and past, present and future time.
- Subject – verb – object is the neutral word order in both: Мама читает книгу — Mom reads a book.
- Complex sentences with “who”, “which”, “because”, “when” (который, потому что, когда).
- Related words from a common ancestor: брат — brother, мать — mother, нос — nose, три — three, новый — new.
The main differences
| English | Russian | |
|---|---|---|
| Alphabet | Latin, 26 letters | Cyrillic, 33 letters |
| Articles | a / an / the | none — context and word order show what is meant |
| Cases | only in pronouns (I – me – my) and the possessive ’s | six cases for nouns, adjectives, pronouns and numerals |
| Grammatical gender | none (he/she/it follows natural sex) | masculine, feminine or neuter for every noun |
| Adjectives | never change | agree with the noun in gender, number and case |
| Word order | fixed: the position shows who does what | flexible: endings show the roles, order shows emphasis |
| “To be” in the present | required: I am a student | usually omitted: Я студент |
| Tense and aspect | many tense forms: simple, continuous, perfect, perfect continuous | three tenses and two aspects (imperfective / perfective) |
| Verb endings | little change: I read, he reads | a different ending for each person: я читаю, ты читаешь, он читает… |
| Negation | one negative per clause: I never saw anything | double negation is normal: Я никогда ничего не видел |
| Yes/no questions | auxiliary verb and inversion: Do you…? Are you…? | intonation only: Ты идёшь домой? |
| Possession | I have a sister | У меня есть сестра (literally “by me there is a sister”) |
| Stress | fairly predictable, usually not marked | free and mobile, not marked in writing |
Why these differences matter
For English speakers learning Russian
- Endings, not word order, carry the meaning — learn each new noun with its gender and practice the cases in short phrases.
- The English tenses do not map onto Russian ones; think instead “process or result?” to choose between читать and прочитать.
- Do not add a word for “is”: Я студент, not Я есть студент.
For bilingual children who speak Russian at home
Children who grow up in America often understand Russian well but borrow English structures when they speak. Typical examples are word-for-word translations such as взять автобус (“take the bus”) instead of поехать на автобусе, брать класс (“take a class”) instead of ходить на занятия, and dropping case endings after numbers and prepositions. These are natural signs of a bilingual mind, and they fade quickly with regular reading, conversation and gentle correction.
Similar, but not the same
English and Russian describe the world with the same basic building blocks, but Russian puts much more information into the form of each word. That is what makes it rich, expressive and precise — and why learning it well, including reading and writing, is worth the effort.
Learn Russian grammar with us
At the Russian Orthodox Parochial School at Holy Transfiguration Church children from kindergarten through 10th grade learn Russian grammar step by step — through reading, dictations, poems and songs — every Saturday from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm in Los Angeles. See our programs or enroll your child.