Joining Sentences in Russian: что, который, чтобы

The short answer

Russian joins clauses with short words: и (and), а (and, whereas), но (but), что (that), кото́рый (who, which), что́бы (so that, in order to), потому́ что (because) and когда́ (when). Put a comma before every one of them. кото́рый changes its ending like an adjective; что́бы and когда́ change the form of the verb after them.

1 · Punctuation

The comma rule: always before the joining word

English often leaves out both the comma and the word “that”. Russian never does. Wherever one clause ends and another begins, write a comma; and if English has an invisible “that”, Russian writes что.

Read a Russian sentence aloud with a tiny pause at each comma: that pause marks where the next clause and its verb begin.

2 · Equal clauses

и, а, но: three words where English has two

English “and” covers two different jobs. Russian splits them: и adds a fact, а sets two different things side by side. но is “but”.

3 · Reported speech and thought

что and question words: “that”, “where”, “whether”

After verbs of saying, thinking and knowing, the second clause starts with что or a question word. Two things stay exactly as they were in the original words: the word order and the tense.

English can drop “that”; Russian always keeps что. It is spelled with ч but said “shto”.

Her words were “I will come”, so the verb stays future: придёт. English shifts “will” to “would”; Russian keeps the original tense.

Any question word can join two clauses: где (where), когда́ (when), почему́ (why), кто (who), что (what).

For “whether”, put the word in question first and ли straight after it. е́сли is kept for conditions: “if it rains”.

4 · Describing with a clause

кото́рый: one word for “who”, “which” and “that”

кото́рый (ka-TO-ry) starts a clause that describes a noun: “the book that I’m reading”. It changes its ending like an adjective, and the ending answers two separate questions. Its gender (masculine, feminine or neuter, the grammatical class every noun belongs to) and number come from the noun it describes. Its case (the ending that shows a word’s job in the sentence, see cases) comes from its job inside its own clause. Pick an example.

How the ending is chosen

1 Gender and number: from the nounдруг is masculine singular.

2 Case: from its job in its own clauseHe lives in Moscow: кото́рый is the subject of живёт, so it takes the nominative, the dictionary form: кото́рый.

Result кото́рый

All the forms are below. They are the same endings as any adjective like но́вый (new). The accusative (the case for a direct object) looks like the nominative for things and like the genitive for people and animals.

Case · its job	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
Nominative · subject	кото́рый	кото́рая	кото́рое	кото́рые
Accusative · direct object	кото́рый / кото́рого	кото́рую	кото́рое	кото́рые / кото́рых
Genitive · of, after numbers	кото́рого	кото́рой	кото́рого	кото́рых
Dative · to, for	кото́рому	кото́рой	кото́рому	кото́рым
Instrumental · with, by	кото́рым	кото́рой	кото́рым	кото́рыми
Prepositional · in, about	кото́ром	кото́рой	кото́ром	кото́рых

5 · Purpose and wishes

что́бы: “in order to” and “so that”

что́бы (SHTO-by) introduces a purpose or a wish. The verb after it takes one of two forms, and one question decides which: is it the same person doing both actions?

что́бы is что + бы, the particle of the conditional. бы always takes the past form, so the verb looks past even when the meaning is future.

6 · Cause and effect

Because and so: потому́ что, поэ́тому, так как

These words point in opposite directions. потому́ что (because) introduces the cause; поэ́тому (so, therefore) introduces the result.

Same two facts, same meaning. The joining word tells you which side is the cause.

Word	Example	Why
потому́ чтоpa-ta-MU shtabecause · gives the cause		Two words, one meaning. It normally comes in the middle of the sentence, and it is also the one-word answer to почему́? (why?).
поэ́томуpa-E-ta-muso, therefore · gives the result		Literally “for this”. The cause comes first, then поэ́тому and the result.
так какtak kaksince, as · cause first		так как can open the sentence with the cause. It sounds slightly more formal, as “since” does in English.

7 · Time and condition

когда́, е́сли, пока́: when, if, while

These work much as in English, with one difference worth learning early: when the event is in the future, Russian uses a future verb after когда́ (when) and е́сли (if). English switches to the present.

придёшь is the future of прийти́ (to arrive). See the future tense guide for how it is formed.

8 · Contrast and comparison

хотя́, как бу́дто, чем … тем

Four more joining words complete the everyday set: “although”, “in spite of the fact that”, “as if”, and the paired “the more … the more”.

хотя́ can open the sentence or the second clause. Unlike English, you may add но (but) in the other half: Хотя́ бы́ло хо́лодно, но мы гуля́ли.

Literally “not looking at the fact that”. A stronger, more formal хотя́; common in writing.

The verb after как бу́дто stays in its normal tense; no special form is needed. сло́вно means the same and sounds more literary.

чем opens the first half, тем the second, each followed by a comparative (“more”, “better”, see adjectives). The “you” form here means people in general.

9 · Written Russian

Participles and gerunds: one word instead of a clause

Books, news and formal writing often replace a whole кото́рый or когда́ clause with one verb-based word. A participle is a verb used as an adjective (“the reading man”); it changes its ending like an adjective. A gerund (Russian: дееприча́стие) is a verb used as an adverb (“having read the letter, …”); it never changes. Learn to recognise them first; you will meet them in every newspaper.

Form	How it’s made	Replaces
Active participle, present	present “they” stem + -щий	кото́рый чита́ет
Active participle, past	past stem + -вший	кото́рый прочита́л
Passive participle, past	perfective stem + -нный	кото́рый прочита́ли
Gerund, imperfective	present stem + -я / -а	когда́ (он) чита́ет
Gerund, perfective	past stem + -в	когда́ (он) прочита́л

Same as Челове́к, кото́рый чита́ет газе́ту… The participle agrees with челове́к like an adjective (masculine, nominative). The dash stands for the missing “is”.

напи́санная is feminine to match кни́га. The short form is the everyday passive: Кни́га напи́сана, “the book is written”.

Both actions happen together, and both are done by the subject of the sentence (он). The gerund never changes its ending.

First she read, then she smiled. The perfective gerund marks the earlier, completed action.

10 · Check yourself

Choose the joining word

Read the English, then fill the gap. After you answer, the full sentence appears with its word-by-word gloss.

Я ду́маю, … он прав.I think (that) he’s right.

Э́то де́вушка, … живёт ря́дом.This is the girl who lives next door.

Я учу́сь, … говори́ть по-ру́сски.I’m studying in order to speak Russian.

Я до́ма, … я бо́лен.I’m at home because I’m ill.

Я люблю́ чай, … он лю́бит ко́фе.I love tea, and he loves coffee.

Э́то дом, в … я живу́.This is the house I live in.

Joining sentences in Russian: что, кото́рый, что́бы and more