I don’t speak Russian in Russian: How to say?

Jun 23, 2020 | How to say it in Russian?

Today, let’s learn how to say I don’t speak Russian in Russian:

– Я не говорю́ по-ру́сски.
[ya ne ga-va-ryú pa-rús-kee]
I don’t speak Russian.

Говорю́ comes from the verb говори́ть. You can learn the conjugation of this verb and practice it with examples and audio here: говорить – conjugation.

If you speak a little Russian, you can say:

– Я пло́хо говорю́ по-ру́сски.
[ya pló-ha ga-va-ryú pa-rús-kee]
I don’t speak Russian well. / My Russian is not so good. (Lit. – I speak Russian badly.)

– Я немно́го говорю́ по-ру́сски.
[ya nee-mnó-ga ga-va-ryú pa-rús-kee]
I speak a little Russian.

When you want to know if the person in front of you speaks Russian, you can ask:

– Вы говори́те по-ру́сски?
[vy ga-va-rée-tye pa-rús-kee]
Do you speak Russian?

Listen to "I don’t speak Russian" in Russian

The audio recording includes all the examples (in bold and blue) listed above.

Related Russian words

по-ру́сски

[parúskee] Phrase

in Russian

говори́ть

[gavaréet'] Verb , imperfective

to talk, to speak

Related examples

Вы говори́те по-ру́сски?

vy gavaréetye parúskee

Do you speak Russian?
Он отли́чно говори́т по-ру́сски.

on atléechna gavaréet parúskee

He speaks excellent Russian.
Я могу́ чита́ть по-ру́сски, но говори́ть мне сло́жно.

ya magú cheetát' parúskee, no gavaréet' mnye slózhna

I can read in Russian, but it's difficult for me to talk.