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In Russian the laws of syntax are loose so that word order sentences is very flexible. Since all the nouns, adjective, and verbs have inflections marking their function in a sentence, word order is less important than it is in English. However, Russians use this flexibility to indicate emphasis and even one grammatical category.
| Adjectives and Nouns |
Adjectives and participles normally go before nouns, though it is not crucial as in English since Russian agreement makes clear which adjectives goes with which noun.
- красный дом "the red house"
- высокое здание "the tall building"
- умная девушка "a smart girl"
When the adjective follows the noun, it usually implies the adjective is in predicate position.
- Дом красный. "The house is red."
- Здание высокое. "The building is tall."
- Девушка умная. "The girl is smart."
However, an adjective may follow a noun if it is emphasized, e.g.
- Дом красный "The house, the red one,"
- Здание высокое "The building, the tall one,"
- Девушка умная "The girl, the smart one,"
Since adjectives are marked with case endings that match them to the noun they modify, even adjective and participial phrases may occur before nouns:
- Он читал полную чепухи газету несколько раз.
"He read the full-of-nonsense book several times. - Удовлетворяющий с собой человек вышел на двор.
"The satisfied-with-himself man came out into the yard." - Все читали лежащую на веранде газету.
"Everyone had already read the lying-on-the-porch newspaper."
| Adverb Positions |
The default position for most adverbs is before the verb or adjective they modify, especially if they are short, single adverbs.
- Мальчик часто ходит в библиотеку пешком.
"The boy frequently goes to the library on foot." - Маша очень красивая девушка.
"Masha is a very pretty girl."
- Часто мальчик ходит в библиотеку пешком.
"Often, the boy goes to the library on foot." - Мальчик часто ходит в библиотеку пешком.
"The boy often goes to the library on foot." - Мальчик ходит часто в библиотеку пешком.
"The boy goes often to the library on foot." - Мальчик ходит в библиотеку часто пешком.
"The boy often goes to the library often on foot." - Мальчик ходит в библиотеку пешком часто.
"The boy often goes to the library on foot often."
| (Pro)Nouns and Verbs |
Nouns and verbs they modify are free to be placed almost anywhere in the sentence, though not without semantic effect. While Russian doesn't have definite and indefinite artiles ("the" and "a" in English"), it does achieve sort of an equivalent with nouns in the subject position. The (rough) equivalent of the indefinite article is achirved by placing the subject noun after the verb, and the (rough) equivalent of the definite article (the) is achieved by placing the subject noun before the verb.
пришёл человек means "a man arrived"
человек пришёл means "the man arrived"
говорила девушка "a girl spoke"
девушка говорила "the girl spoke"
Verbs must appear in initial position in questions.
- Любит Маша Ивана? "Does Masha love Ivan?"
- Читает он газеты? "Does he read newspapers?"
- Придет ли он? "Will he come?"
Notice the use of ли in the last question. This is an optional question particle which you may use or not. It is used especially when you want to emphasize your doubt about a positive reaponse.
Otherwise, nouns and verbs can appear pretty much wherever in a sentence, depending on which word the speaker wishes to emphasize. Remember, to emphasize a word, Russians pull it out to the front of the sentence.
- Маша любит Ивана. "Masha loves Ivan."
- Любит Маша Ивана. "Masha does love Ivan."
- Ивана Маша любит. "It's Ivan that Masha loves.
| Nouns and Nouns |
In English nouns may modify other nouns; English allows 'attributive' nouns. In English we may say things like
- motor oil
- work visa
- Bermuda triangle
In Russian, however, the first noun must be converted to an adjective if possible:
- моторное масло "motor oil"
- рабочая виза "work visa"
- бермудский треугольник "Bermuda triangle"
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