Talking about Russian geography is a B1-level skill because three things pile up at once: the place name declines (в Москве́, из Петербу́рга, под Москво́й), the в-or-на choice for regions is partly lexical and cultural rather than rule-driven (в Сиби́ри but на Кавка́зе), and a few names carry special forms or fixed meanings (the locative в Крыму́, the landmark Кра́сная пло́щадь where кра́сная once meant "beautiful"). This page gives you the cities, the regions, the famous landmarks, and the conversational frames to ask and answer about them.
Russian cities and their declension
City names are nouns and they decline like ordinary nouns of their gender. The most important are masculine or feminine:
| City | в (in) | из (from) | под / за (near / beyond) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Москва́ | в Москве́ | из Москвы́ | под Москво́й |
| Санкт-Петербу́рг | в Петербу́рге | из Петербу́рга | под Петербу́ргом |
| Новосиби́рск | в Новосиби́рске | из Новосиби́рска | под Новосиби́рском |
| Каза́нь | в Каза́ни | из Каза́ни | под Каза́нью |
Москва́ is feminine -а: its prepositional is Москве́, its genitive Москвы́, and after the preposition под ("near, just outside") it takes the instrumental Москво́й — под Москво́й means "in the Moscow area / just outside Moscow", a phrase you hear constantly about dachas and suburbs. The instrumental of place after под/за/над/перед is covered on instrumental spatial prepositions.
Я роди́лся в Москве́, но да́ча у нас под Москво́й.
I was born in Moscow, but our dacha is just outside Moscow.
По́езд из Петербу́рга в Москву́ идёт четы́ре часа́.
The train from St Petersburg to Moscow takes four hours.
В Новосиби́рске зимо́й быва́ет −30.
In Novosibirsk it can hit −30 in winter.
Petersburg has three names
St Petersburg is unusual for having several everyday names. The full official form is Санкт-Петербу́рг; in speech and writing people very often shorten it to Петербу́рг; and the affectionate colloquial nickname is Пи́тер (informal). All three decline.
| Name | Register | в (in) |
|---|---|---|
| Санкт-Петербу́рг | (formal / official) | в Санкт-Петербу́рге |
| Петербу́рг | neutral, everyday | в Петербу́рге |
| Пи́тер | (informal) | в Пи́тере |
Ты ча́сто е́здишь в Пи́тер?
Do you go to Petersburg often? (informal Пи́тер)
Конфере́нция пройдёт в Санкт-Петербу́рге в ма́рте.
The conference will take place in St Petersburg in March. (formal)
Regions: the в/на choice is partly lexical
For regions the в/на split stops being fully rule-governed and becomes partly a matter of fixed usage you simply have to learn. The broad tendency: large bounded territories take в, but open expanses, mountain systems, and certain historically "frontier" regions take на.
| Region | English | в / на (in) | from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Сиби́рь | Siberia | в Сиби́ри | из Сиби́ри |
| Кавка́з | the Caucasus | на Кавка́зе | с Кавка́за |
| Ура́л | the Urals | на Ура́ле | с Ура́ла |
| Да́льний Восто́к | the Far East | на Да́льнем Восто́ке | с Да́льнего Восто́ка |
| Крым | Crimea | в Крыму́ | из Кры́ма |
Notice the pattern lines up with the origin-and-destination pairing: в-regions take из for "from" (в Сиби́ри → из Сиби́ри), while на-regions take с (на Кавка́зе → с Кавка́за). There is no deep logic predicting which region is which — на Кавка́зе, на Ура́ле, на Да́льнем Восто́ке but в Сиби́ри — so these must be memorised as set phrases.
Он три го́да рабо́тал на Да́льнем Восто́ке, а пото́м верну́лся с Да́льнего Восто́ка в Москву́.
He worked in the Far East for three years, then came back from the Far East to Moscow.
В Сиби́ри огро́мные леса́ и о́чень холо́дные зи́мы.
Siberia has vast forests and very cold winters.
Мы е́здили на Ура́л к ба́бушке ка́ждое ле́то.
We used to go to the Urals to visit grandma every summer.
The special locative: в Крыму́
Крым ("Crimea") is one of the small set of masculine nouns that form a second locative — a stressed -у́ ending after в/на instead of the regular -е. So "in Crimea" is в Крыму́ (not в Кры́ме), though "from Crimea" reverts to the ordinary genitive из Кры́ма. This is the same locative-2 pattern as в лесу́ ("in the forest"), на берегу́ ("on the shore"), в саду́ ("in the garden") — a closed list covered fully on the second locative.
Ле́том они́ отдыха́ли в Крыму́, у мо́ря.
In the summer they holidayed in Crimea, by the sea. (locative-2 в Крыму́)
Э́то вино́ из Кры́ма.
This wine is from Crimea. (ordinary genitive Кры́ма)
Landmarks: fixed names
Famous places have fixed names, several of them with a story. Learn them as units, with their built-in prepositions.
| Landmark | English | on / in / at |
|---|---|---|
| Кра́сная пло́щадь | Red Square | на Кра́сной пло́щади |
| Кремль | the Kremlin | в Кремле́ |
| Эрмита́ж | the Hermitage | в Эрмита́же |
| Не́вский проспе́кт | Nevsky Prospekt | на Не́вском проспе́кте |
Кра́сная пло́щадь is the famous one to know about: in older Russian кра́сный meant "beautiful" (the modern word for "red" took over that root later), so the square was originally "Beautiful Square", not "Red Square" — the colour reading is a later coincidence. The adjective agrees and declines with пло́щадь (feminine -ь): на Кра́сной пло́щади. Кремль is masculine -ь with a stress shift in the prepositional: в Кремле́.
На Кра́сной пло́щади всегда́ мно́го тури́стов.
There are always lots of tourists on Red Square.
В Эрмита́же мо́жно провести́ це́лый день.
You could spend a whole day in the Hermitage.
Мы гуля́ли по Не́вскому проспе́кту до ве́чера.
We strolled along Nevsky Prospekt until evening.
Asking and recommending
Two conversational frames do most of the work when you discuss places. To ask whether someone has been somewhere, use Ты был / была́ в…? (был for a man, была́ for a woman). To ask what is worth seeing, use Что посмотре́ть в…? — an infinitive used impersonally for "what should one see".
Ты был в Петербу́рге? — Да, два ра́за.
Have you been to Petersburg? — Yes, twice. (to a man)
Ты была́ на Кавка́зе? — Нет, ещё ни ра́зу.
Have you been to the Caucasus? — No, not once yet. (to a woman)
Что посмотре́ть в Москве́ за оди́н день?
What's worth seeing in Moscow in one day?
Куда́ сходи́ть в Каза́ни ве́чером?
Where should one go in Kazan in the evening?
How this differs from English
English place names are inert: Moscow is Moscow whether you are in it, from it, or near it, and the relation is carried entirely by the preposition (in / from / near Moscow). Russian instead declines the place name — в Москве́, из Москвы́, под Москво́й — so the same city wears three (or more) different endings, and the preposition you reach for (под, за, над) can pull a fourth case (the instrumental под Москво́й). On top of that, English has no equivalent of the в/на lexical split for regions: an English speaker has no way to predict that it is на Кавка́зе but в Сиби́ри, because English uses in for both. And nothing in English warns you that "Red Square" was once "Beautiful Square". These are exactly the cultural-literacy details that separate a textbook learner from someone who sounds at home in the language.
Common Mistakes
❌ Я живу́ в Москва́.
Declension error — the city name must inflect: в Москве́ (prepositional).
✅ Я живу́ в Москве́.
I live in Moscow.
❌ Они́ отдыха́ли в Крыме.
Wrong locative — Крым takes the stressed second locative after в: в Крыму́.
✅ Они́ отдыха́ли в Крыму́.
They holidayed in Crimea.
❌ Он рабо́тает в Кавка́зе.
Wrong preposition — Кавка́з takes на: на Кавка́зе (and 'from' is с Кавка́за).
✅ Он рабо́тает на Кавка́зе.
He works in the Caucasus.
❌ Да́ча у нас под Москва́.
Case error — под takes the instrumental for location: под Москво́й.
✅ Да́ча у нас под Москво́й.
Our dacha is just outside Moscow.
❌ Ты была́ в Питере? (to a man)
Agreement error — for a man use был: Ты был в Пи́тере? (была́ is feminine).
✅ Ты был в Пи́тере?
Have you been to Petersburg? (to a man)
Key Takeaways
- City names decline: в Москве́, из Москвы́, под Москво́й (instrumental after под). St Petersburg has three names — Санкт-Петербу́рг (formal), Петербу́рг (neutral), Пи́тер (informal).
- Regions split в/на lexically: в Сиби́ри, в Крыму́ but на Кавка́зе, на Ура́ле, на Да́льнем Восто́ке — memorise as set phrases; в-regions take из, на-regions take с.
- в Крыму́ is a special second locative (stressed -у́), like в лесу́, на берегу́; but "from Crimea" is the ordinary из Кры́ма.
- Landmark names are fixed: на Кра́сной пло́щади (кра́сная once meant "beautiful"), в Кремле́, в Эрмита́же.
- Ask with Ты был/была́ в…? (gender-marked) and Что посмотре́ть в…? for recommendations.
Now practice Russian
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- From, To and At: Origin and DestinationA2 — The three location relations — FROM (из + genitive: Я из Росси́и, из Москвы́), TO/motion (в + accusative: Я е́ду в Росси́ю, в Москву́), and AT/IN (в + prepositional: Я живу́ в Москве́, в Росси́и) — and how the same noun takes three different forms across them, so Москва́ appears as из Москвы́, в Москву́, в Москве́. Includes the на-places pairing (на Кавка́з → с Кавка́за), the question words Отку́да?, Куда́?, Где?, and the born-in construction (Я роди́лся/родила́сь в…).
- Talking About Countries, Nationalities and LanguagesA2 — How to name countries (Росси́я, Аме́рика/США, А́нглия, Герма́ния, Кита́й, Фра́нция), choose в or на with them (в Росси́и, в Кита́е, but на Кубе́), form nationality nouns in masculine/feminine pairs (ру́сский/ру́сская, америка́нец/америка́нка, англича́нин/англича́нка, не́мец/не́мка, кита́ец/китая́нка) with their irregular plurals (англича́не, не́мцы), and say which language someone speaks two ways — the adjective + язы́к (ру́сский язы́к) and the по-…-ски adverb (говори́ть по-ру́сски) — with the all-important rule that nationalities and languages are written LOWERCASE.
- The Second Locative (в лесу, на берегу)B1 — A closed set of roughly a hundred masculine nouns hides a special STRESSED ending -у́/-ю́ that surfaces only after в/на meaning 'in/on' a place: в лесу́ (in the forest), на берегу́ (on the bank), в саду́ (in the garden), на полу́ (on the floor), and the everyday в э́том году́ (this year). The same noun reverts to the regular -е everywhere else — о ле́се ('about the forest'), о го́де — so the locative-2 is a tiny but high-frequency subset of the prepositional, not a new case. This is the rule most courses skip, which is exactly why learners keep saying *в лесе, *на бе́реге.
- 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.
- Genitive Prepositions of Place and Direction (from/at/near)A2 — A whole family of place prepositions takes the genitive: у (right by / at someone's), о́коло and во́зле (near), напро́тив (opposite), вокру́г (around), посреди́ (in the middle of), plus the 'source' prepositions из, с, от (from). Learn them together and you can describe a whole scene — у окна́, о́коло шко́лы, напро́тив ба́нка, недалеко́ от метро́ — all in one case.
- Instrumental After Spatial PrepositionsB1 — The instrumental after location prepositions: над (above), под (under), пе́ред (in front of), за (behind), ме́жду (between), ря́дом с (next to) — над столо́м, под крова́тью, за угло́м. Crucially, за and под switch to the accusative for motion-to: стои́т под столо́м (instr, location) vs поста́вить под стол (acc, destination).