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### Thanking

**Спасибо** is thank you, and it is invariable — no endings, no agreement, nothing to learn beyond the word itself. It comes from the old phrase *спаси Бог*, "God save you", but nobody hears that any more.

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### Two Words for Sorry

**Извините** and **простите** are both polite apologies and both are the **вы** form, which is what you want with a stranger.

| word | strength | typical use |
|---|---|---|
| **извините** | lighter | excuse me, getting attention, small slips |
| **простите** | heavier | genuine apology, asking forgiveness |

In practice they overlap heavily, and either will serve. **Извините** is the one to reach for when stopping someone in the street.

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### Agreeing

**Конечно** means *of course* — the plain, warm agreement. Note the spelling trap: **чн** here is pronounced *shn*, so it sounds like "ka-NYESH-na". Russian does this in only a handful of words, and this is the commonest of them.

### Being Glad

**Рад** is a SHORT adjective — a small closed group in Russian that works only as a predicate, never in front of a noun. It still agrees: **рад** (m), **рада** (f), **рады** (pl).

> *Я рад.* — said by a man. *Я рада.* — said by a woman.

**Приятно** means *pleasant*, and **очень приятно** is the fixed phrase you say when meeting someone — "nice to meet you".

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Thank you and sorry (спасибо, извините)

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 interrogatives (кто / что)

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)

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
thank you	спасибо
Thank you, I understand.	Спасибо, я понимаю.
Thank you! The magazine is very interesting.	Спасибо! Журнал очень интересный.
excuse me, sorry (polite)	извините
Excuse me, I do not understand.	Извините, я не понимаю.
Excuse me, where is the museum here?	Извините, где здесь музей?
sorry, forgive me (polite)	простите
Sorry, I do not know.	Простите, я не знаю.
Sorry, I am working right now.	Простите, я сейчас работаю.
of course	конечно
Of course, I know.	Конечно, я знаю.
Do you read? Of course!	Вы читаете? Конечно!
glad (рад, рада, рады)	рад
I am very glad.	Я очень рад.
Mum is glad: dad is at home.	Мама рада: папа дома.
pleasant, nice	приятно
It is pleasant here, and I am resting.	Здесь приятно, и я отдыхаю.
It is nice to rest at home.	Приятно отдыхать дома.
nice to meet you	очень приятно
Nice to meet you! I am a student.	Очень приятно! Я студент.
Nice to meet you! This is my friend.	Очень приятно! Это мой друг.

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