English asks "where?" for almost everything: Where is he?, Where are you going?, and (with a little help) Where did you come from? Russian refuses to lump these together. It uses three separate question words — где? for static location, куда́? for direction toward, and отку́да? for source — and each one is answered by its own family of adverbs. The good news is that the system is beautifully regular: the place adverbs come in triples that share a root, so once you learn one row you can predict the other two. This page lays out the complete A2 set. (For the broader first survey of place, time, and manner adverbs, see types of adverbs.)
The three questions
| Question | Meaning | Used with verbs of… |
|---|---|---|
| где? | where? (location) | being, staying, living, lying (быть, жить, лежа́ть) |
| куда́? | where to? (direction) | going, putting, sending (идти́, е́хать, класть) |
| отку́да? | where from? (source) | coming, returning, arriving (приходи́ть, верну́ться) |
This is the same logic you meet with the prepositions в and на, where location takes the prepositional but motion-to takes the accusative (see prepositional for location). The adverbs simply build that same three-way split into single words.
The full set, organised by question
WHERE (location) — answers где?
| Adverb | Meaning |
|---|---|
| здесь / тут | here |
| там | there |
| везде́ | everywhere |
| нигде́ | nowhere |
| до́ма | at home |
| внутри́ / снару́жи | inside / outside |
| впереди́ / сза́ди | in front / behind |
| сле́ва / спра́ва | on the left / on the right |
| наверху́ / внизу́ | up above / down below |
WHERE TO (direction) — answers куда́?
| Adverb | Meaning |
|---|---|
| сюда́ | (to) here |
| туда́ | (to) there |
| никуда́ | (to) nowhere |
| домо́й | home(wards) |
| вперёд / наза́д | forward / back |
| нале́во / напра́во | to the left / to the right |
| наве́рх / вниз | upward / downward |
WHERE FROM (source) — answers отку́да?
| Adverb | Meaning |
|---|---|
| отсю́да | from here |
| отту́да | from there |
| ниотку́да | from nowhere |
| из до́ма / и́здали | from home / from afar |
The systematic triples
The deepest pattern here is that the demonstrative place adverbs line up in rows. Notice the morphology: the от- prefix marks "from," and the long form (often ending in -да́) marks direction. Learn one column and you get the row almost free:
| где? (location) | куда́? (direction) | отку́да? (source) |
|---|---|---|
| здесь / тут (here) | сюда́ (to here) | отсю́да (from here) |
| там (there) | туда́ (to there) | отту́да (from there) |
| нигде́ (nowhere) | никуда́ (nowhere) | ниотку́да (from nowhere) |
| до́ма (at home) | домо́й (homewards) | из до́ма (from home) |
Matching the adverb to the verb
The whole system runs on one rule: the adverb must agree with what the verb is doing. A verb of being (быть, жить, рабо́тать, лежа́ть, сиде́ть) takes a где-adverb; a verb of motion-to (идти́, е́хать, ле́теть, положи́ть) takes a куда-adverb; a verb of coming-from (приходи́ть, верну́ться, прие́хать) takes an отку́да-adverb.
— Где ты? — Я здесь, на ку́хне!
'Where are you?' 'I'm here, in the kitchen!' — где? + location verb → здесь.
Иди́ сюда́, я тебе́ кое-что́ покажу́.
Come here, I want to show you something. — verb of motion → сюда́, not здесь.
Он у́же ушёл домо́й — позвони́ ему́ за́втра.
He's already gone home — call him tomorrow. — motion → домо́й.
Мы вчера́ весь день сиде́ли до́ма из-за дождя́.
We sat at home all day yesterday because of the rain. — location → до́ма.
Поста́вь чемода́н туда́, в у́гол.
Put the suitcase over there, in the corner. — putting = direction → туда́.
Я э́тих люде́й нигде́ не ви́дел.
I haven't seen these people anywhere. — location, negative → нигде́ (with the obligatory не).
Отку́да ты зна́ешь мой а́дрес?
How (lit. from where) do you know my address? — отку́да also extends figuratively to 'how come you know'.
The distinguishing insight: Russian encodes the path, not just the place
English overloads a handful of words — here, there, home, up, down, left, right — and lets the verb (and sometimes a preposition like to or from) carry the direction. Russian does the opposite: it bakes the path directly into the adverb, so the word itself already tells you whether motion is involved and which way it points. сюда́ is not "here plus a hidden to"; it is a self-contained word meaning "toward this spot." This is why a single English there corresponds to three Russian words (там / туда́ / отту́да) and why choosing the wrong one is not a small slip — it produces a sentence that contradicts itself, like saying "I'm going at-home." Once you internalise the three-question grid, you stop translating word-by-word and instead ask: is this verb staying, going, or coming? — and the adverb falls out automatically.
Also note: the negative triple (нигде́ / никуда́ / ниотку́да) always demands the negative particle не on the verb — Russian uses double negation as a rule, not an error (see никто́ and ничто́).
Common Mistakes
❌ Я иду́ до́ма.
Incorrect — 'going home' is motion, so the direction form домо́й is needed; до́ма means 'at home' (location).
✅ Я иду́ домо́й.
I'm going home.
❌ Иди́ здесь!
Incorrect — a command to move toward the speaker needs the direction adverb сюда́; здесь is for location only.
✅ Иди́ сюда́!
Come here!
❌ Мы е́дем там за́втра.
Incorrect — 'going there' is direction, so туда́; там means 'over there' (location).
✅ Мы е́дем туда́ за́втра.
We're going there tomorrow.
❌ Я нигде́ ви́дел его́.
Incorrect — a negative place adverb requires the particle не on the verb (Russian double negation).
✅ Я нигде́ не ви́дел его́.
I haven't seen him anywhere.
❌ Отку́да ты идёшь? — Я иду́ туда́.
Mismatched — туда́ answers куда́ (to where), not отку́да (from where); a source answer needs отту́да.
✅ Отку́да ты идёшь? — Я иду́ отту́да.
'Where are you coming from?' 'I'm coming from over there.'
Key Takeaways
- Russian splits English "where" into three questions: где? (location), куда́? (direction), отку́да? (source).
- The demonstrative adverbs form regular triples: здесь / сюда́ / отсю́да, там / туда́ / отту́да, нигде́ / никуда́ / ниотку́да.
- The most useful triple is до́ма (at home) / домо́й (homewards) / из до́ма (from home) — keep до́ма and домо́й strictly apart.
- Choose the adverb by what the verb does: being → где-form, going → куда-form, coming → отку́да-form.
- Negative place adverbs (нигде́, никуда́, ниотку́да) always pair with не on the verb.
- This mirrors the в/на location-vs-motion split in prepositional for location.
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Start learning Russian→Related Topics
- Adverbs of Place, Time, and MannerA1 — A first survey of the three workhorse adverb classes you need from day one. PLACE: где, здесь/тут, там, and the where-to set сюда́/туда́/домо́й (Russian splits 'here/there' by whether you're located there or moving there). TIME: когда́, сейча́с, пото́м, вчера́/сего́дня/за́втра, всегда́/никогда́, уже́/ещё. MANNER: как, хорошо́/пло́хо, бы́стро/ме́дленно, вме́сте. The big beginner trap is mixing up location (здесь) with direction (сюда́).
- Here, There, Now, Today: Essential AdverbsA1 — The fifteen-or-so adverbs you need from day one: здесь/тут (here), там (there), до́ма (at home); сейча́с (now), сего́дня (today), за́втра (tomorrow), вчера́ (yesterday), пото́м (then/later); всегда́, ча́сто, иногда́ (always, often, sometimes); хорошо́/пло́хо, бы́стро/ме́дленно (well/badly, fast/slowly); о́чень, мно́го/ма́ло (very, a lot/little). Russian adverbs never change form. One early caveat: здесь means 'here' (location), but going 'to here' is сюда́.
- Prepositional for Location (в and на)A1 — The prepositional's main job: saying WHERE something is, after в (in/at, enclosed) and на (on/at a surface or event). В Москве́, в шко́ле, на столе́, на рабо́те. The big contrast: location takes the prepositional (Я в шко́ле) but motion-to takes the accusative (Я иду́ в шко́лу) — same prepositions, different case. Plus the lexical на-list you must memorize.
- Negative Pronouns: никто́, ничто́, никако́йA2 — Negative pronouns built with the prefix ни-: никто́ (nobody), ничто́/ничего́ (nothing), никако́й (no kind of), ниче́й (nobody's). Russian REQUIRES the double (in fact multiple) negative — the verb must also carry не: Никто́ не зна́ет; Я ничего́ не ви́жу; Я никогда́ никому́ ничего́ не говорю́. The pronouns decline (никого́, никому́, ниче́м), and with a preposition they SPLIT — the preposition goes inside, between ни and the pronoun: ни у кого́, ни с кем, ни о чём. Distinct from не́кого / не́чего ('there is no one/nothing to').
- Forming Adverbs from AdjectivesA2 — Most Russian adverbs of manner are made from adjectives by one tiny change: swap the ending for -о (хоро́ший → хорошо́, бы́стрый → бы́стро, ме́дленный → ме́дленно). This -о form is identical to the neuter short adjective and is told apart only by function. A second pattern, по- + -и, gives the 'in X manner / in X language' adverbs (по-ру́сски, по-дру́жески, по-мо́ему), and по- + -ому gives по-но́вому, по-друго́му. All adverbs are invariable — they never agree with anything.