5 Russian words that will make you sound like a native
It’s the little things: the interjections and reactions, the wows and damns, the I know rights and holy molies that boost your authenticity in a target language. Sprinkling them in a conversation will bring your street cred up for sure. Here are five native-grade Russian words for you to add to your arsenal and drop in your convos.
Прикинь
Прики́нь (prikin) means ‘can you imagine?’ Let’s look at examples.
Прикинь, оставил машину во дворе на час, а её так замело, что пришлось расчищать минут 15.
Can you imagine, I left the car in the courtyard for an hour and it got snowed so bad it took 15 minutes to clean it.
Just like in English, the phrase can also be used as an affirmation.
— Ого, уже пол восьмого! Мы что, уже четыре часа подряд играем в нарды?
— Прикинь!
— Whoah, it’s half past seven! Have we been playing backgammon for four hours straight?
— Can you imagine?
Grammatically, прикинь is an imperative form of прикинуть (‘to imagine’). To address multiple people, add ‘те’ at the end: прикиньте.
Жесть
Жесть (zhest) refers to something intense and is usually a reaction. It can be translated as ‘that’s crazy/hardcore/rough/etc’.
— Что-то я перезанимался на днях в спортзале, уже неделю не могу нормально подниматься по лестнице.
— Жесть!
— I think I went too far in the gym the other day, climbing stairs has not been easy for a week now.
— That’s rough!
You can intensify the word by going all out on ‘е’, i.e. жееееесть. E.g.
— Петя вчера победил в чемпионате по поеданию пиццы. Он съел 45 кусков меньше чем за 6 минут!
— Жееееесть!
— Petya won the pizza eating competition yesterday. He ate 45 slices in less than 6 minutes.
— Shiiiiit!
Жесть derives from жёстко (hard, tough, harsh).
Огонь
Ого́нь (ogon) has an exact equivalent in English with the same meaning, fire.
— Твои фотки в инсте просто огонь!
— Спасибо!
— Your photos on Insta are fire!
— Thank you!
You can boost the word by using the “ище” suffix to make it even more fire: огнище.
Я поюзал последнюю модель ноутбука — это огнище!
I tried the latest model of the laptop, it’s absolute fire!
Ну так
Literally ‘well so’, ну та́к (nu tak) means ‘meh’.
— Как тебе новый фильм? О нем сейчас все говорят.
— Ну так. Мне кажется он раздут.
— How did you like the new film? Everyone’s talking about it.
— Meh. I think it’s overblown.
An edgier version of ну так is ну такое, which has the neutral ‘ое’ ending regardless of the word it refers to.
Да ладно
One of the meanings of да ла́дно (da ladno) is ‘no way’.
— Я видел вчера Женю и Сашу в парке, они держались за руки.
— Да ладно? Они же расстались месяц назад.
— I saw Zhenya and Sasha in the park yesterday, they were holding hands.
— No way! They broke up a month ago.
So there you have it, five words and phrases to pop in your speech and sound like a native. Note that all of them are informal. Why not have a go at them straight away.