Meals of the day
The main meal in Russia is traditionally обе́д, eaten in the early afternoon, often with soup as a first course. So обе́д is closer to “lunch” in time but to “dinner” in size.
The verbs come from the same roots: за́втракать (to have breakfast), обе́дать (to have lunch), у́жинать (to have supper). Я обе́даю в час (ya a-BYE-da-yu f chas; Я = I, обе́даю = have lunch, в = at, час = one o’clock): I have lunch at one.
Everyday food, by shelf
The words a Russian shopping list is made of. Each noun has a gender, shown as m (masculine), f (feminine) or n (neuter); it decides the ending of words like “fresh” or “my” beside it. Tap a word to hear it.
Russian dairy goes beyond milk and cheese: кефи́р, творо́г and смета́на are in every fridge.
Dishes you will meet on a Russian table
Many of these words have no English translation, because the dish has none. Learn them as names.
“A glass of water”, “some bread”: the genitive at the table
Russian has no word for “of” in “a glass of water”. Instead, the food word changes its ending to the genitive case, the form that means “of”: вода́ (water) becomes воды́. The same form, after a verb, can mean “some”.
| “The” / “it” (accusative) | “Some” (genitive) | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| The whole loaf on the table vs a part of it. | ||
| чай has a special “some” form, ча́ю, still common in offers. | ||
| Liking cheese in general vs a portion of it. |
есть and пить: to eat, to drink
Both are irregular, and both are among the first verbs you’ll need. To conjugate a verb is to change its ending for who does it (I eat, you eat). Note that есть (to eat) is spelt the same as есть (there is), but the two are unrelated.
At the table and in a restaurant
From the first bite to the bill. Tap a line to hear it.