What School Is Like

School in Russian

This topic is about school. Every word comes with its Russian script, a transliteration in brackets to help you say it, and the English meaning. Russian is written left to right in the Cyrillic alphabet.

Classroom words in Russian

Learn these school words:

Match each Russian word to its English meaning

The Russian word for a teacher

Which Russian word means 'a teacher'?

• учитель (uchitel)
• ученик (uchenik)
• книга (kniga)
• класс (klass)

How the script works

Two things about Russian script. First, Russian uses the Cyrillic alphabet, written left to right. Like Greek and English, it is an alphabet with vowels and consonants. Second, a few letters look like Latin ones but sound different: В is "v", Н is "n" and Р is "r". Learn each word with its transliteration to say it.

School words

Select the TWO words connected with school.

• урок (urok)
• экзамен (ekzamen)
• море (more)
• мать (mat)

Match each Russian word to how it is said

How do you say it?

The school школа is said _____. The teacher учитель is said _____. A book книга is said _____. A lesson урок is said _____.

Order the school day

Put a school day in a sensible order.

• Go to school (школа, shkola)
• Sit in the class (класс, klass)
• Study a lesson (урок, urok)
• Do your homework (задание, zadanie)

The Russian word for an exam

Which Russian word means 'an exam'?

• экзамен (ekzamen)
• ручка (ruchka)
• класс (klass)
• ученик (uchenik)

Saying the school words in Russian

At school школа (said _____), a student ученик (said _____) studies a lesson урок (said _____) with a teacher учитель (said _____).

Russian needs no word for is

The school words become sentences without any word for "is" or "am". Russian simply leaves it out in the present: - Я ученик в школе = "I am a pupil at school". Я (ya - I), then what you are, then where. Nothing stands for "am". Note школа becomes школе after в, because в changes the ending of the word that follows it. - У меня есть книга = "I have a book". Russian has no verb "to have". It says "at me there is a book": У меня (u menya) is "at me", and есть (yest) is "there is".

Russian has no word for "am", and в changes the ending after it

Russian has no word for "am", and в changes the ending after it. Which says "I am a pupil at school"?

• Я ученик в школе (ya uchenik v shkole)
• Я есть ученик в школе (ya yest uchenik v shkole)
• Я ученик в школа (ya uchenik v shkola)
• У меня есть книга (u menya yest kniga)

A school day

Choose the right Russian word for each school situation.

• You want to say 'a book'. You choose:
• You need the word for 'a teacher'. You choose:
• To say 'homework', you choose:

Use what you know

Use what you know about Russian to make each choice.

• Russian is written in which direction?
• The Russian writing system is...
• 'A school' in Russian is:

Well done

You have met the key Russian school words: школа (shkola, school), учитель (uchitel, teacher), ученик (uchenik, student), урок (urok, lesson), книга (kniga, book) and экзамен (ekzamen, exam). Keep practising the alphabet and the transliteration together.