Introduction

According to the data of European Commission Russian language is spoken by 6% of the EU population (~ 30 million people). It is the seventh most widely used language in the EU and the eighth in the world.

Grammar

Verbs in Russian are divided into two categories called aspects depending on whether they refer to an ongoing process (imperfective verbs) or a finished action (perfective verbs). Imperfective verbs have three tenses (past, present and future) while perfective verbs have only past and future tenses but no present tense.

There are 6 cases in Russian. They are shown by endings and indicate the role the noun plays in a sentence and have corresponding question forms of the type 'who' 'whom'. Nouns and noun-like words are grouped into declinations according to the particular forms of endings used.

The Russian language is very rich. When speaking Russian, different variants (or registers) of language are used. For example, in a business letter or official document, words and constructions are used, which would likely not be used in everyday life (even in a very serious conversation). It is necessary to cultivate a high level of language awareness in order to not make wrong choices and to be able to choose the appropriate words. A person’s literacy, way of life and often the way they want to be seen and accepted by others is reflected in their language choices.

Russians have three names: a personal name, a patronym and a family name.

Patronyms are formed from the personal name of the father:

The personal name and patronym (Иван Владимирович, Анна Ильиничена) are used while greeting superiors, older people and in formal situations.

Addressing people by their family name is not very common and generally used in very formal situations. Teachers in schools often address pupils by family name: «Сидоров, иди к доске!» (Sidorov, idi k doske! - "Sidorov, come up to the front of the classroom"). Especially the most naughty ones: Сергеев, опять ты не сделал домашнее задание! (Sergeev, opjat' ty ne sdelal domašnee zadanie! - "Sergeev, again you haven’t done your homework!).

Almost all personal names in Russian have diminutive forms:

Generally children are called by their diminutive form: Сереженька [Serezhen'ka] (diminutive form of Сергей, [Sergej]), Ирочка [Irochka] (diminutive of Ирина, [Irina]). Сhildren are usually called by their full name when they have done something bad.

Patronyms are not popular outside of Russia. Russians living abroad often prefer to be called by a diminutive form of their names, e.g. Дима [Dima] instead of Дмитрий [Dmitrij], Надя [Nadya] instead of Надежда [Nadezhda].