The face: лицо́
Tap a word in the list to hear it. Note во́лосы (hair): like English “hair” on your head, it is a collective word, but in Russian it is grammatically plural, so it takes plural verbs and adjectives: дли́нные во́лосы (long hair).
The body: те́ло
Grouped from top to bottom. The gender of each word (m masculine, f feminine, n neuter) decides the form of adjectives and past-tense verbs used with it.
Plurals that break the rules
Body parts that come in pairs are some of the oldest words in the language, and several keep unusual plurals. Most move the stress, too. Hear each pair.
| One | Two or more | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| глазglas · eye | глаза́ ▸gla-ZA | Ending -а́ instead of -ы, and the stress moves to it. |
| у́хоU-kha · ear | у́ши ▸U-shi | х becomes ш: a trace of very old Russian. |
| плечо́pli-CHO · shoulder | пле́чи ▸PLYE-chi | Ending -и, stress jumps to the start. |
| коле́ноka-LYE-na · knee | коле́ни ▸ka-LYE-ni | Ending -и instead of the usual neuter -а. |
| рука́ru-KA · arm, hand | ру́ки ▸RU-ki | Regular ending, but the stress moves forward. |
| нога́na-GA · leg, foot | но́ги ▸NO-gi | Same pattern as рука́. |
| па́лецPA-lits · finger | па́льцы ▸PAL’-tsy | The е disappears (a fleeting vowel). |
“My head hurts”: У меня́ боли́т голова́
Russian builds this sentence the other way round: “at me hurts the head”. The body part is the subject (the thing doing the verb), so the verb agrees with it: боли́т for one thing, боля́т for several.
Russian leaves out “my”
English says “I washed my hands”. Russian assumes your hands are yours and drops the possessive. Adding мой here sounds as odd as “I nodded my own head” does in English.
Each card shows the English pattern copied word for word, struck through, then the natural Russian below it.
Body idioms you’ll hear
Each one, word for word, then what it really means.