Showing someone a family photo is one of the first things you'll do in a new language, and in Russian it puts three A1 building blocks on display at once — all of which trip up English speakers in different ways. There's a word for "this is" that never changes no matter what follows it; "my family" and "my brother" use different forms of "my"; and "his name is Ivan" comes out as a backwards-looking "they call him Ivan". Rather than meet these as three isolated rules, read them at work in a single natural exchange first, then take the line-by-line commentary.
The dialogue
— Смотри́, э́то моя́ семья́.
— Look, this is my family.
— Э́то ма́ма, э́то па́па, а э́то мой брат.
— This is Mum, this is Dad, and this is my brother.
— Како́й симпати́чный! Как его́ зову́т?
— How cute! What's his name?
— Его́ зову́т Ива́н. Ему́ де́сять лет.
— His name is Ivan. He's ten years old.
— А э́то кто? Твоя́ сестра́?
— And who's this? Your sister?
— Да, э́то моя́ ста́ршая сестра́ Ка́тя.
— Yes, that's my older sister Katya.
Line by line
— Смотри́, э́то моя́ семья́.
Смотри́ is the informal imperative "look" (the ты-form of смотре́ть); the вы-form would be смотри́те. Choosing the bare смотри́ immediately sets the register: this is a friend, not a stranger.
э́то моя́ семья́ is the heart of the line. Two things to notice. First, there is no verb — no "is". Russian drops the present tense of "to be", so "this is my family" is literally just "this my family". Second, семья́ is a classic false friend: it means family, not "surname". The word for "surname / last name" is фами́лия — which looks far more like English family but means something else entirely. Keep them apart from day one.
— Э́то ма́ма, э́то па́па, а э́то мой брат.
The same frozen э́то introduces three people in a row — note how it just repeats, unchanged, before a feminine noun (ма́ма), a masculine noun (па́па), and another masculine noun (брат). Russian routinely uses the bare nouns ма́ма and па́па (Mum, Dad) where English might add "my"; with your own close family, the possessive is often left out as understood.
The little word а before э́это мой брат is the contrastive "and" — it nudges the list along with a faint "and now, by contrast…". It is not the neutral "and" (which is и); а sets one item gently against the others.
мой брат shows the first agreement choice. Брат ("brother") is masculine, so "my" is the masculine мой.
— Како́й симпати́чный! Как его́ зову́т?
Како́й симпати́чный! is an exclamation — "How cute / what a sweetheart!" Како́й ("what a / how") agrees with an understood masculine noun (the boy in the photo), hence the masculine -о́й; about a girl you'd say Кака́я симпати́чная! The word симпати́чный is itself a false friend worth flagging: it means nice-looking / cute / likeable, not "sympathetic" (which is сочу́вствующий).
Как его́ зову́т? is the fixed way to ask a third person's name, and it is built exactly like Как вас зову́т? ("what's your name?") from the meeting-someone dialogue — only with его́ ("him") instead of вас. Word for word it is "How him (do they) call?" The verb зову́т is the 3rd-person plural of звать ("to call") with no stated subject — an impersonal "they call / one calls".
— Его́ зову́т Ива́н. Ему́ де́сять лет.
The answer mirrors the question: Его́ зову́т Ива́н = "(They) call him Ivan", i.e. "His name is Ivan". The name Ива́н tags along in the nominative — it's what they call him.
Ему́ де́сять лет means "He is ten years old", and it's a sneak preview of a B-level pattern: age is expressed with the dative of the person (ему́ = "to him") plus the number — literally "to-him ten years". There's no "is" and no "has"; the person is in the dative, as if the years belong to them. You can use Ему́ де́сять лет as a set phrase now and unpack it later.
— А э́это кто? Твоя́ сестра́?
А э́то кто? = "And who's this?" — again the contrastive а, the frozen э́то, and кто ("who"). Note the word order: Russian is happy with Э́то кто? ("this — who?") as well as Кто э́то?; in casual speech the Э́то кто? order, with кто stressed at the end, is very common.
Твоя́ сестра́? ("Your sister?") is a complete question on its own — no verb, just rising intonation. Сестра́ is feminine, so "your" is the feminine твоя́ (informal, matching the friendly register).
— Да, э́это моя́ ста́ршая сестра́ Ка́тя.
моя́ ста́ршая сестра́ stacks two feminine agreements: the possessive моя́ and the adjective ста́ршая ("older / elder") both take feminine endings to match сестра́. This is the adjective agreement that runs in parallel to the possessive agreement — same logic, applied to a descriptive word. Ка́тя is the affectionate short form of Екатери́на (Catherine); Russians overwhelmingly use such short forms (Ка́тя, Ва́ня, Ма́ша, Са́ша) with family and friends.
Why ты all the way through
The dialogue stays informal throughout — смотри́ (not смотри́те), твоя́ сестра́ (not ва́ша сестра́). Sharing family photos is an intimate, friendly act; you'd be doing it with someone you're already on ты terms with. If you were showing photos to a new colleague you'd address them with вы — Смотри́те, э́то моя́ семья́… а э́то ва́ша семья́? — but the naming and possessive grammar would be identical; only the imperative ending and the "your" pronoun would shift up a register. See the introducing-yourself page for the formal framing.
Vocabulary gloss
| Word / phrase | Meaning | Note |
|---|---|---|
| смотри́ | look (informal) | ты-imperative of смотре́ть; вы-form смотри́те |
| э́то | this is / these are | frozen presentational; never agrees |
| семья́ | family | NOT "surname"; surname = фами́лия |
| ма́ма / па́па | Mum / Dad | often used bare, without "my" |
| брат / сестра́ | brother / sister | masc. / fem. |
| мой / моя́ | my (masc. / fem.) | agrees with the noun's gender |
| твоя́ | your (fem., informal) | masc. твой, neut. твоё, pl. твои́ |
| зову́т | (they) call | 3rd-pl. of звать; impersonal "one calls" |
| его́ / её | him / her (accusative) | object of "they call" |
| симпати́чный | cute, nice-looking | false friend — not "sympathetic" |
| ста́рший / ста́ршая | older, elder | adjective; agrees with the noun |
| а | and / but (contrast) | nudges a list along; ≠ neutral и |
Common Mistakes
❌ Э́то есть моя́ семья́.
Incorrect — Russian has no present-tense 'to be'; drop есть. Just Э́то моя́ семья́.
✅ Э́то моя́ семья́.
This is my family.
❌ Э́то мой семья́.
Incorrect — семья́ is feminine, so 'my' must be the feminine моя́, not мой.
✅ Э́то моя́ семья́.
This is my family.
❌ Э́та моя́ семья́. (meaning 'this is my family')
Wrong word — presentational 'this is' is the frozen э́то, not the agreeing demonstrative э́та.
✅ Э́то моя́ семья́.
This is my family.
❌ Его́ и́мя есть Ива́н.
Calque of English — Russians say Его́ зову́т Ива́н, not a literal 'his name is'.
✅ Его́ зову́т Ива́н.
His name is Ivan.
❌ Как он зову́т?
Incorrect — the person named is the OBJECT, so use accusative его́, not nominative он.
✅ Как его́ зову́т?
What's his name?
Key Takeaways
- Frozen э́то: the presentational "this is / these are" never changes — э́то ма́ма, э́то мой брат, э́то мои́ роди́тели. Don't confuse it with the agreeing demonstrative э́тот / э́та / э́то, and never add "is".
- Possessive agreement: "my" tracks the noun's gender — мой брат (m.), моя́ семья́ / сестра́ (f.), моё и́мя (n.), мои́ роди́тели (pl.). Same for твой / твоя́…
- семья́ = family, фами́лия = surname. A false friend worth nailing early.
- Naming: его́ зову́т X / её зову́т X = "his/her name is X", literally "they call him/her X" — accusative pronoun + subjectless зову́т.
- Sharing family photos is a ты-register act; the grammar is the same on вы, only the imperative ending (смотри́те) and "your" (ва́ша) shift up.
Related Topics
- Nominal Sentences and the DashA2 — Russian says 'X is Y' with no verb in the present tense — the copula is simply absent (Я студе́нт). When both halves are nouns, a dash stands in for the missing verb (Москва́ — столи́ца Росси́и). In the past and future the verb reappears as был/бу́дет, and — the feature that catches every English speaker — the predicate noun then goes into the INSTRUMENTAL case (Он был врачо́м), not the nominative.
- My and Your: First PossessivesA1 — The first possessive pronouns a beginner needs — мой 'my' (мой, моя́, моё, мои́) and твой 'your' (твой, твоя́, твоё, твои́) for one familiar person, plus ваш 'your' (ваш, ва́ша, ва́ше, ва́ши) for formal/plural. The one rule that drives all four shapes: a Russian possessive agrees in gender and number with the THING owned, not with the owner — so 'my book' is моя́ кни́га (feminine) but 'my brother' is мой брат (masculine), even though 'my' is the same word in English.
- His, Her, Their: его́, её, ихA1 — его́ (his/its), её (her) and их (their) are frozen genitive forms of он, она́, они́ — they never decline and never agree (его́ брат, его́ сестра́, его́ кни́ги, о его́ кни́ге). This page contrasts them with the agreeing мой/наш, warns about the его́ vs. него́ split, flags substandard *ихний, and shows how свой changes the meaning.
- Introducing YourselfA1 — The self-introduction routine — and why it secretly drills four A1 cornerstones at once: Меня́ зову́т + name (accusative меня́ 'me' + the name in the NOMINATIVE), Я из + GENITIVE for origin (Я из Аме́рики), the zero copula for profession (Я студе́нт, no 'am'), and Мне + number + лет for age (DATIVE), closed off with the fixed О́чень прия́тно.
- Dialogue: Meeting SomeoneA1 — A short first-meeting dialogue — greeting, exchanging names, saying where you're from — annotated line by line to show three A1 cornerstones working together in real speech: the zero present copula (Я из Москвы́, no 'am'), the Меня́ зову́т construction (accusative 'me' + 3pl 'they call'), and из + genitive for origin, all in the formal вы register a stranger meeting calls for.
- Geographical Names and Their DeclensionB2 — Most foreign place names ending in a consonant decline like Russian masculine nouns (в Ло́ндоне, из Берли́на, под Москво́й), while those ending in a vowel stay frozen (в Чика́го, в То́кио, в Перу́) — and native -ово/-ино names traditionally declined (в Бородине́) are now often left undeclined colloquially, a live usage split that affects every 'in/to/from [city]' sentence.