English leans on a tiny set of words — like, as, than, as if — to handle every comparison, and lets context sort out which is meant. Russian divides the same territory among three distinct tools, and choosing the wrong one is not a stylistic slip but a meaning error. как asserts a real likeness ("white as snow" — and snow really is white). чем means "than" and appears only after a comparative ("older than me"). And сло́вно / бу́дто / как бу́дто / то́чно assert a hypothetical, as-if likeness — a comparison to something imagined or false ("she looked as if she'd seen a ghost"). This page draws the three lines and lays out the comma rules, which are stricter than English speakers expect.
как — real comparison ("as, like")
как compares one thing to another that genuinely has the quality named. бе́лый как снег ("white as snow") works because snow is in fact white — the comparison points at a real, shared property. This is the everyday "as/like" of similes, idioms, and plain description.
По́сле боле́зни он стал бе́лый как снег.
After his illness he turned white as snow. — как in a fixed simile; the comparison is to a real property of snow.
Наш ста́рый моби́льник рабо́тает как часы́.
Our old phone runs like clockwork. — как часы́, an idiom built on a real, reliable mechanism.
как also introduces a comparison built around a whole clause ("just as X, so Y"), and it is the как of "to act as / in the capacity of":
Он говори́т по-ру́сски так же свобо́дно, как говори́т по-англи́йски.
He speaks Russian as fluently as he speaks English. — как links two real, parallel facts.
Я говорю́ э́то как твой друг, а не как нача́льник.
I'm saying this as your friend, not as your boss. — как 'in the capacity of', a real role.
The comma rule for как
This is where English speakers, and many learners, go wrong. The default is that как introducing a clause takes a comma, but a set of fixed similes does not:
- Comma before как when it heads a comparative clause with its own (implied or explicit) verb: Он смо́трит на меня́, как на врага́ ("He looks at me as if at an enemy").
- No comma in frozen, idiomatic similes — many of which are so fixed they appear in dictionaries: бе́лый как снег, голо́дный как волк ("hungry as a wolf"), как две ка́пли воды́ ("as alike as two drops of water").
In short, frozen idioms run on without a comma; a live, productive comparison gets one. The very common short-adjective simile бел как снег (with the short form бел) is one of these comma-less idioms.
чем — "than" after a comparative
чем means "than" and exists for one purpose: to introduce the second element of a comparison after a comparative form (бо́льше, ста́рше, лу́чше…). It is never "as" and never "like."
Моя́ сестра́ ста́рше, чем я, на три го́да.
My sister is three years older than me. — чем after the comparative ста́рше.
Сего́дня хо́лодно, как вчера́. Нет — сего́дня холодне́е, чем вчера́.
Today it's cold, like yesterday. No — today it's colder than yesterday. — note the contrast: как for the (false) equal comparison, чем for the comparative.
Russian offers a second way to say "than" — the genitive of comparison — which drops чем entirely and puts the second element in the genitive case: ста́рше меня́ ("older than me"), холодне́е вчера́шнего ("colder than yesterday's"). The чем-construction and the genitive are usually interchangeable; чем is obligatory when the comparison is to a clause or a phrase that cannot take a clean genitive.
Он зна́ет об э́том бо́льше, чем говори́т.
He knows more about this than he lets on. — чем is required here because the comparison is to a clause (than he says).
словно / будто / как будто / точно — hypothetical "as if"
This group makes an unreal comparison — to something that is not the case but that the situation resembles. English "as if / as though" covers all of them. The core members are сло́вно and бу́дто (literary-leaning, near-synonyms), their everyday compound как бу́дто, and the slightly old-fashioned, intense то́чно ("just as if").
Она́ молча́ла, сло́вно во сне.
She was silent, as if in a dream. — (literary) сло́вно: she is not really dreaming; it merely resembles it.
Он смотре́л на меня́, бу́дто ви́дел впервы́е.
He looked at me as though he were seeing me for the first time. — (literary) бу́дто: an unreal comparison; he wasn't really seeing me for the first time.
Ты вы́глядишь так, как бу́дто не спал всю ночь.
You look as if you didn't sleep all night. — как бу́дто, the everyday neutral choice.
Because the comparison is hypothetical, these conjunctions very often attract the particle бы, which reinforces the unreality and pairs the verb with a past-tense form: как бу́дто бы он не знал ("as if he didn't know"). The бы is optional but adds a clear "but of course that's not really so" flavour.
Он говори́т об э́том так споко́йно, как бу́дто бы ничего́ не случи́лось.
He talks about it so calmly, as if nothing had happened. — как бу́дто бы + past, foregrounding the unreality.
подобно — the formal "like, in the manner of"
For elevated, written comparison there is подо́бно + the dative case ("like, in the manner of"). It is markedly formal and literary; in speech you would use как.
Слова́ его́ ра́зом, подо́бно вспы́шке, освети́ли всё про́шлое.
His words all at once, like a flash, lit up the whole past. — (literary) подо́бно + dative (вспы́шке).
The distinguishing insight: real, comparative, or unreal?
The whole system reduces to one question asked before you pick the word: is the thing I'm comparing to actually true?
- If it is genuinely true ("snow really is white," "I really am speaking as your friend"), you want как — a real comparison.
- If you are saying one thing exceeds or falls short of another, you want чем (or the genitive) — a comparative.
- If the thing you compare to is not the case — imagined, hypothetical, contrary to fact — you want сло́вно / бу́дто / как бу́дто / то́чно — an as-if comparison.
English does not force this sorting because "like" and "as" stretch across the first and third categories: she ran like the wind (real-ish) and she looked like she'd seen a ghost (unreal) use the same like. Russian refuses to merge them. The tell is reality: the moment your comparison is to something untrue or merely apparent, как is wrong and you need the бу́дто family. Keep чем quarantined to its single job — "than" after a comparative — and you will never reach for it to mean "as," which is the other classic English-speaker slip.
Common Mistakes
❌ Она́ вы́глядела, как уви́дела при́зрака.
Wrong — she didn't really see a ghost; an unreal, as-if comparison needs бу́дто / как бу́дто, not the real-comparison как.
✅ Она́ вы́глядела так, бу́дто уви́дела при́зрака.
She looked as if she'd seen a ghost.
❌ Моя́ сестра́ ста́рше как я.
Wrong — 'than' after a comparative is чем (or the genitive), never как: ста́рше, чем я / ста́рше меня́.
✅ Моя́ сестра́ ста́рше, чем я.
My sister is older than me.
❌ Он бе́лый, как снег.
Over-punctuated — бе́лый как снег is a frozen idiomatic simile and takes no comma.
✅ По́сле боле́зни он бе́лый как снег.
After his illness he's white as snow.
❌ Он смо́трит на меня́ как на врага́.
Under-punctuated — this is a live, productive comparison (look at me as at an enemy), so it needs a comma before как.
✅ Он смо́трит на меня́, как на врага́.
He looks at me as if at an enemy.
❌ Сего́дня холодне́е как вчера́.
Double error — a comparative needs чем (not как), and the as-if family would change the meaning entirely. Use холодне́е, чем вчера́.
✅ Сего́дня холодне́е, чем вчера́.
Today it's colder than yesterday.
Key Takeaways
- как = a real comparison ("as, like"): бе́лый как снег, рабо́тает как часы́. Frozen idioms take no comma; a fresh, clause-bearing comparison takes one.
- чем = "than" and only after a comparative: ста́рше, чем я. The genitive of comparison (ста́рше меня́) is the comma-free alternative.
- сло́вно / бу́дто / как бу́дто / то́чно = hypothetical, as-if comparison to something untrue: сло́вно во сне. как бу́дто is the neutral everyday member; сло́вно and бу́дто lean literary.
- The as-if family often takes бы
- past tense to underline the unreality: как бу́дто бы он не знал.
- подо́бно
- dative is the formal, literary "in the manner of."
- Decision rule: ask "is the comparison true?" True → как; "more/less than" → чем; untrue/imagined → бу́дто family.
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- The ComparativeA2 — Russian has two ways to say 'more X'. The simple (synthetic) comparative is a single INDECLINABLE word in -ее/-ей (краси́вее, быстре́е, тепле́е) plus a closed set of irregulars (лу́чше, ху́же, бо́льше, ме́ньше, ста́рше, моло́же, доро́же, деше́вле, вы́ше, ни́же, да́льше, ча́ще, ра́ньше, по́зже); it works as a predicate or adverb. The compound comparative is бо́лее + a normal long adjective (бо́лее интере́сный), used attributively. 'Than' comes two ways: comparative + genitive (Он ста́рше меня́) or comparative + чем + nominative (Он ста́рше, чем я). 'Much more' is намно́го/гора́здо + comparative, and 'the more… the more' is чем… тем.
- Correlative and Compound ConjunctionsB1 — Paired conjunctions come in two halves that work together: и…и (both…and), ни…ни (neither…nor — which forces не on the verb), и́ли…и́ли / либо…либо (either…or), не то́лько…но и (not only…but also), то…то (now…now), как…так и (both…as well as) and чем…тем (the more…the more). This page shows each pair in action and flags the one rule English speakers always miss.
- Irregular Comparatives and SuperlativesB1 — A reference list of the high-frequency Russian comparatives that don't follow the regular -ее pattern. Some are suppletive (хоро́ший → лу́чше 'better', плохо́й → ху́же 'worse'), many show a consonant mutation before -е (до́рого → доро́же, лёгкий → ле́гче, ти́хий → ти́ше), and a few split by meaning (ста́рше for people vs старе́е for things). It also covers the suppletive 'superlative' adjectives лу́чший, ху́дший, ста́рший, мла́дший. These are simple comparatives (one indeclinable word) — for how to build comparatives and superlatives generally, see the dedicated pages.
- Coordinating: И, А, НоA1 — Russian has three everyday coordinating conjunctions where English has only two. И joins (and), но contradicts (but), and а — the one with no clean English equivalent — links two things by contrast without contradiction (whereas / while / and-by-contrast), and builds the corrective 'not A but B'. This page draws the three-way line and shows the comma rules.