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### Asking "What?"

To ask about inanimate objects—like things or concepts—use the question word **что** (what).

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### Asking "Who?"

To ask about living beings, use **кто** (who). In Russian, this applies not just to people, but also to animals!

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You can also use **кто** to ask about someone's identity or profession.

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### Putting It Together

You can combine **кто** and **что** with words like **это** (this), **здесь** (here), and **там** (there) to ask about your surroundings. Notice how the same question word applies even if the answer includes multiple people or objects.

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Basic interrogatives (кто / что)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

predicative

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Presentative (это)

Noun gender

Soft-sign nouns (-ь)

Subject pronouns (я, ты, он...)

Yes/no questions (да / нет)

Basic negation (не)

Coordinating conjunctions (и / а)

Possessive pronouns (мой, твой, наш, ваш)

Demonstrative pronouns (этот, эта, это)

Adjective agreement

Which and whose (какой, чей)

First conjugation verbs, singular (-ать)

First conjugation verbs, plural (-ать)

Second conjugation verbs (-ить)

Irregular present tense verbs

Adverbs of manner (как, очень)

Locations in prepositional case (в / на)

Prepositional case modifiers (-ом, -ой)

Topics of speech (о, об)

Direct objects (-у, -ю)

Direct object pronouns (меня, тебя)

Verbs of motion (идти, ехать)

Destination (куда, в, на)

Plural nouns (-ы, -и, -а, -я)

Irregular plural nouns (друзья, дети)

Plural adjectives and pronouns (-ые, -ие)

Numbers 1 to 10 (один, два, три)

Possession with pronouns (у меня есть)

Possession with nouns (-а, -я, -ы, -и)

Genitive of negation (нет)

Numbers 2, 3, and 4

Quantities with mass nouns (сколько, много, мало)

Animate direct objects

The past tense of to be (был, была, было, были)

Regular past tense verbs

Time sequence expressions (вчера, завтра, раньше, потом)

Verb aspect in the past tense

Dative personal pronouns (мне, тебе, ему)

Expressing likes (нравится, нравятся)

Absence (нет)

Expressing age (год, года, лет)

Indirect objects (-у, -ю, -е)

Modal verbs (хотеть, мочь)

Reason and contrast (поэтому, но)

Double negation (ничего, никогда)

Reflexive verbs (-ся, -сь)

Polite requests and instructions (-ите, -йте)

Days of the week (в + Accusative)

Compound future tense (буду...)

Simple future tense

Accompaniment (с)

Multidirectional verbs of motion (ходить, ездить)

Greetings and goodbyes (здравствуйте, привет)

Thank you and sorry (спасибо, извините)

Countries and languages (русский, английский)

Meeting people (меня зовут, как дела)

Public transport (трамвай, остановка)

Left, right and the compass (слева, справа)

Places in the city (цирк, зоопарк)

Fruit and vegetables (помидор, огурец)

Post and travel (открытка, чемодан)

Family and relatives (внук, родственник)

Jobs and professions (инженер, продавец)

Sport and games (футбол, теннис)

Describing people (умный, сильный)

Health and the body (болен, здоровье)

The months of the year (январь, февраль)

Accusative feminine and inanimate adjectives (-ую, -юю)

Accusative animate masculine adjectives (-ого, -его)

Short-form adjectives (готов, занят)

Personal obligation (должен, должна)

Professions in the instrumental case

Genitive singular adjectives and possessives

Prepositions of absence and purpose (без, для)

Dative singular adjectives and possessives

Impersonal states (мне холодно)

Impersonal obligation (надо, нужно)

Impersonal permission (можно / нельзя)

Instrumental adjectives and pronouns

Reciprocal verbs (с + Instrumental)

Reflexive possessive pronouns (свой)

Reflexive pronouns (себя)

Specific indefinite pronouns (-то)

Non-specific indefinite pronouns (-нибудь)

Negative pronouns (никто / ничто)

Numbers 11 to 20

Tens to 100

Question	Answer
what	что
car	машина
What is this? This is a car.	Что это? Это машина.
tree	дерево
And what is there? There is a tree and a car.	А что там? Там дерево и машина.
What is this? This is a book.	Что это? Это книга.
person	человек
Who is this? This is a person.	Кто это? Это человек.
And where is the person? He is here.	А где человек? Он здесь.
bird	птица
Who is there? Is it a bird?	Кто там? Это птица?
Is the bird there? No, it is here.	Птица там? Нет, она здесь.
Who is he? Is he a student?	Кто он? Он студент?
Yes, he is a student.	Да, он студент.
Who is she? She is a doctor.	Кто она? Она врач.
man	мужчина
Who is there? A man is there.	Кто там? Там мужчина.
The teacher and the student are at home.	Учитель и студент дома.
phone	телефон
bag	сумка
What is here? A phone and a bag.	Что здесь? Телефон и сумка.
Is the phone there? No, the bag is there.	Телефон там? Нет, там сумка.
woman	женщина
Who is this? This is a man and a woman.	Кто это? Это мужчина и женщина.
What is this? This is a tree.	Что это? Это дерево.
friend	друг
Who is a doctor? The woman is a doctor, and the friend is a student.	Кто врач? Женщина — врач, а друг — студент.
Who is there? A friend is there.	Кто там? Там друг.