Annotated Public Signs and Instructions

The first "real" Russian most travellers have to read isn't a textbook — it's the signs: on doors, in the metro, on shop windows, in stairwells. This register is tiny, repetitive, and everywhere, and it's grammatically special: public prohibitions use the bare infinitive (Не входи́ть, Не кури́ть — an impersonal standing rule, "no entering / no smoking"), states are short passive participles (Закры́то "closed", Откры́то "open"), and conditions use при + prepositional (При пожа́ре "in case of fire"). Learn to decode these and you can navigate any Russian building. Here are the most common signs, each with its grammar.

The signs

Sign by sign

Не входи́ть! — the infinitive as a rule

This is the key insight of the whole register. Не входи́ть! = "No entry!" — but grammatically it's just не + the infinitive (входи́ть = "to enter"). Russian uses the bare infinitive as an impersonal command on signs: it states a standing rule that applies to everyone, with no specific addressee, no "you". Where English says "Do not enter", Russian says, in effect, "(There is to be) no entering."

Two finer points:

• The infinitive is imperfective (входи́ть, not the perfective войти́). A general, permanent prohibition uses the imperfective — it bans the activity as such, for all time, for everyone. (A perfective negative infinitive would mean "you mustn't manage to do it once", a different, rarer sense.)
• This is more impersonal and more official than the imperative Не входи́те! ("don't go in", addressed to specific people you can see). The sign-infinitive is a rule on a wall; the imperative is something you say to a person. See the infinitive.

Вход воспрещён. — the short passive participle

Вход воспрещён = "Entry (is) forbidden" — a more official, bureaucratic equivalent of Не входи́ть. Вход ("entry, entrance") is the noun subject; воспрещён is a short-form passive participle ("(is) forbidden", from воспрети́ть), with the usual zero copula — no word for "is". The short participle agrees in gender with its subject: вход is masculine → воспрещён (a feminine subject would take воспрещена́, neuter воспрещено́). You'll also see the synonym Вход запрещён with the same structure. The register is stiff and formal — exactly the tone of an official prohibition. See short passive participles.

От себя́ / На себя́ — push and pull

These two appear on every glass door, and they're a lovely use of the reflexive pronoun себя́ ("oneself"):

• От себя́ = "push", literally "away from oneself": от + genitive (себя́ is the genitive of the reflexive), so "from oneself" → push the door away.
• На себя́ = "pull", literally "towards oneself": на + accusative (себя́ is also the accusative form), so "onto/towards oneself" → pull the door toward you.

The reflexive себя́ works because the instruction is relative to whoever is reading the sign — you push away from your own self, pull toward your own self, whoever you are. That's exactly what the reflexive does: it points back to the (here unstated, universal) doer. See the reflexive pronoun себя́.

Вы́ход / Запасно́й вы́ход — exit signs

Вы́ход = "exit / way out" — a plain noun (from вы́- "out" + ход "movement"), no grammar trap beyond the stress on the first syllable (ВЫ́ход; вы́- prefixes are always stressed). Its opposite is вход ("entrance"). Запасно́й вы́ход = "emergency / spare exit": запасно́й ("spare, reserve, backup") is an adjective agreeing with вы́ход (masculine) → запасно́й. You'll see it lit up green in cinemas, trains, and public buildings — the Russian equivalent of "Emergency Exit".

Закры́то / Откры́то — the state of a place

On a shop window, Закры́то = "Closed" and Откры́то = "Open". These are short-form (neuter) participles/predicatives used impersonally — there's no stated subject (the shop, the place), so the neuter -о form does the work, exactly like the impersonal хо́лодно "it's cold". They describe a state (the result of being closed/opened), again with zero copula. You'll also meet the full adjectival forms agreeing with a noun: магази́н закры́т ("the shop is closed", masc. short form), дверь откры́та ("the door is open", fem.), окно́ закры́то (neuter). The bare sign uses the neuter Закры́то / Откры́то as a general "(it's) closed / open".

Осторо́жно! — caution

Осторо́жно! = "Caution! / Careful! / Watch out!" — an adverb (the -о form of осторо́жный "careful") used as a one-word warning. It's the standard alert before a hazard, and it's often followed by what to watch for in a fixed frame: Осторо́жно, две́ри закрыва́ются! ("Caution, the doors are closing!" — the famous metro announcement), Осторо́жно, окра́шено! ("Caution, wet paint!" — окра́шено being another neuter short participle, "(it's) painted"). The adverb form is impersonal and universal: a warning to anyone in earshot or eyeshot.

Не кури́ть! — no smoking

A second, very common sign-infinitive, identical in structure to Не входи́ть. Не кури́ть = "No smoking", literally "not to smoke (here)" — не + imperfective infinitive кури́ть ("to smoke"). Again it's a standing, universal prohibition with no addressee. The imperfective is obligatory: it bans the activity of smoking entirely. Compare the spoken imperative to a specific person: Не кури́ здесь ("don't smoke here", ты-imperative) — that's said to someone; Не кури́ть is written on the wall.

При пожа́ре звони́ть 101. — conditions with при

The emergency notice combines two register features. При пожа́ре = "in case of fire / in the event of a fire": при + prepositional (пожа́р → пожа́ре). The preposition при here means "in the event/circumstance of", marking a condition — exactly the right tool for safety notices: При ава́рии… ("in case of an accident…"), При землетрясе́нии… ("in case of an earthquake…"). Then comes the positive sign-infinitive звони́ть ("call", imperfective infinitive) — the impersonal-instruction use again, this time telling everyone what to do. 101 is Russia's fire/emergency number. See the preposition при.

The sign register

What ties these together is economy and impersonality. Signs address no one and everyone. So they reach for the most impersonal grammar Russian has: the bare infinitive for commands and prohibitions (Не входи́ть, Не кури́ть, звони́ть — no "you", no person), short participles with zero copula for states (Закры́то, Вход воспрещён — no "is"), adverbs for warnings (Осторо́жно), and при + prepositional for conditions. Nothing is conjugated for a specific person, because the message applies universally. This is also why the infinitive feels strange to English speakers at first: English signs say "No Entry" (a noun) or "Do Not Enter" (a command with implied "you"), while Russian says, literally, "Not to-enter" — a pure, person-free instruction. Once you see the pattern, the whole built environment becomes readable.

Vocabulary gloss

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• Prohibitions/instructions on signs = the bare infinitive: Не входи́ть, Не кури́ть (negative), звони́ть (positive). Impersonal, universal, no "you" — and the negative ones are imperfective.
• States = short participles with zero copula: Закры́то / Откры́то (impersonal neuter on signs), Вход воспрещён (agreeing with its subject); attached to a noun they agree in gender (магази́н закры́т, дверь откры́та).
• От себя́ (push) / На себя́ (pull) use the reflexive себя́ — note от + genitive vs на + accusative.
• При + prepositional states a condition: При пожа́ре, При ава́рии, При необходи́мости.
• The sign register prizes impersonality and economy — it's the cleanest demonstration of the infinitive-as-command and the zero copula in the language.