Four Russian Verbs You Can’t Live Without (Seriously, You Can’t)

Listen, I’ve been teaching Russian for over a decade, and if there’s one thing that separates “tourist with a phrasebook” from “person who can actually survive a conversation,” it’s not the fancy cases or the terrifying cursive. It’s four little verbs that hold the entire language together like duct tape. Without them, you’re building a house with no nails. You need быть (to be), иметь (to have), делать (to do/make), and говорить (to speak). These aren’t just useful — they’re the load-bearing walls of every single dialogue you’ll ever have. Master these, and suddenly the grammar that seemed like alphabet soup starts making sense. Let’s get you out of the soup and into the conversation.

Быть — The Invisible Glue

Here’s the thing that trips up English speakers: Russian doesn’t actually use быть in the present tense. You don’t say “I am a teacher” as я есть учительница — that sounds robotic, like a bad sci-fi movie. You just say я учительница. The verb is implied, like a ghost that exists but never shows up. But the moment you step into the past or future, быть comes roaring back. Я был в Москве (I was in Moscow), я буду дома (I will be home). It’s the difference between “I was” and “I will be” — and without it, you’re stuck in a weird present-tense limbo.

Иметь — To Have, But Not Really

Now, иметь is a tricky one. It exists, it’s correct, but Russians rarely use it for “I have a car” or “I have a dog.” Instead, they use the construction у меня есть — literally “by me there is.” So you’ll hear у меня есть машина (I have a car), not я имею машину. Using иметь in everyday speech makes you sound like a 19th-century novel. But you DO need it for set phrases: иметь в виду (to have in mind) is something you’ll hear constantly. “What do you mean?” is что ты имеешь в виду? So don’t skip it — just know when to flex it.

Делать — The All-Purpose Workhorse

If you learn one verb for action, make it делать. It covers “do” and “make,” and Russians throw it into everything. Что ты делаешь? (What are you doing?) is your daily bread. But here’s the fun part: it also pops up in idioms that make zero sense in English. Делать вид means “to pretend” — literally “to make a view.” Делать уроки is “to do homework.” And if someone says мне нечего делать, they’re bored — “I have nothing to do.” It’s the verb that keeps on giving, and you’ll hear it in every single conversation about work, hobbies, or procrastination. Что ты делаешь? Я делаю уроки

Говорить — Your Mouth’s Best Friend