27 Russian Conjunctions And Connecting Words To Make Your Russian Flow

When it comes to learning Russian, especially the grammar, the list of different kinds of words is long. There are nouns and adjectives which have declensions and verbs with their complicated conjugations.

But not all Russian words are quite so complicated. Take a look at the sentence below and pay attention to words like “and”, “or”, “but” and “if”.

If the weather is good, I’ll sing and dance outside but I can’t if it’s raining or snowing

These words act like the glue of the sentence and provide the connecting thread between the different actions that are happening.

These are all conjunctions and connecting words and knowing Russian conjunctions will help you master the language, speak with ease, and sound more natural.

So in this article you'll learn:

• What conjunctions in Russian are
• The different kinds of conjunctions
• How conjunctions work
• The most important Russian connecting words

Ready to make your Russian flow thanks to linking words? Let's go!

You can use the table below to jump straight to the section of this article that interests you the most. Otherwise, keep scrolling to discover these 27 Russian conjunctions and how to use them.

What Is A Conjunction Anyway?

A conjunction is a word that connects two different ideas together. This function is made more clear in Russian, where the word for conjunction is союз which means “union” or “thing that joins.”

Russian conjunctions and connecting words work much like they do in English. So if you have a list of words, you would use or conjunction to connect them. 

• I saw a lizard and a snake and an iguana

Conjunctions, of course, can connect lots of other kinds of words and phrases together. For example the “that” in the example below connects the clause “I know” with the clause “you saw a lizard.”

• I know that you saw a lizard

It’s worth noting that there are a few Russian conjunctions that don’t really have an English equivalent or can be used in different ways. Don’t worry, we’ll cover these as we go.

The Different Kinds Of Russian Conjunctions

Coordinating conjunctions connect ideas that aren’t dependent on either other. The easiest example in English would be the words “and” and “or.”

I’ll sing and dance tomorrow

I’ll sing or dance tomorrow

In Russian, coordinating conjunctions include и, или and а.

1. И (And)

The first conjunction you’ll learn in Russian is the simple word и. The word is usually translated to “and” and just as you can in English, you can use и to connect verbs, nouns, adverbs, and anything else you can think of.

• Он говорит громко и смешно (He speaks loudly and comically.)
• Лук и помидор имеют хороший вкус (Onions and tomatoes have a good taste.)

You can also use и to connect different phrases that are compatible but not dependent on each other.

• Он говорит громко и она поет быстро (He speaks loudly and she sings quickly.)

2. Или (Or)

The use of и (and) is mirrored almost exactly with the conjunction или (or). Just like the English word “or” this sets up different alternatives.

• хочешь суп или салат (Do you want soup or salad?)
• он поет или играет на флейте? (Is he singing or playing the flute?) 
• они рослые или толстые? (Are they tall or wide?)

3. И…и… (Both….And….)

The conjunction и can also be used twice to give the idea of “both…and…”

• они и рослые и толстые (They are both tall and wide.)
• хочу и суп и салат (I want both soup and salad.)

4. Ни…ни… (Neither…Nor)

And just as the English conjunctions “both…and” can be negated with the phrase “neither…nor” the same thing can happen with Russian. This uses the negative connecting words ни…ни…

• они ни взрослые ни толстые (They are neither tall nor wide.)
• ни он, ни она не говорит тихо (Neither he nor she speaks quietly.)

You’ll also see this used a lot in different Russian idioms and expressions.

• Ни пуха ни пера (Good luck lit. neither down nor feathers.)
• Ни рыба ни мясо (Hard to label lit. neither fish nor meat.)

5. Или…или…(Either…Or)

You can double и and ни to form the conjunctions и…и… (both…and) as well as ни…ни… (neither…nor…). And the same rule can be applied to the conjunction ли…ли… to express the idea of “either…or.”

• Или он, или я (Either him or me.)
• Или тот, или другой (Either this or the other.)

6. Но (But, However)

Sometimes conjunctions can put two ideas into opposition with one another. You can see this with the English word “but”.

• I like onions but I don’t like potatoes.
• We have pasta but no rice.

The Russian equivalent of “but” is the conjunction но and it functions in nearly the exact same way.

• он говорит громко но она говорит громче (He speaks loudly but she speaks louder.)
• мы сделали работу но еще есть проблема (We completed the work but there’s still a problem.)

7. A – The Tricky Conjunction Between и And но

While the conjunctions “and” and “but” can be translated into Russian as и and но quite smoothly, there’s a third conjunction in the set that often gives Russian-learners some difficulty. The connecting word а sits somewhere between the ideas of “and” and “but.” 

• Виктор сидит, а Виктория стоит
  • (Victor is sitting but Victoria is standing)
  • (Victor is sitting and Victoria is standing)

That may sound strange at first but let me explain.

The Russian conjunction a links together two ideas that contrast each other but don’t conflict. So in the above example, the action of Victor sitting contrasts with Victoria standing but there’s no conflict in the logic and one doesn’t cancel the other, so the ideas are not opposed.

• Он любит играть а она любит петь
  • (He likes to play and she likes to sing)
  • (He likes to play but she likes to sing)

Sometimes you can also think of the conjunction а as the English word “whereas”.

• Он любит играть а она любит петь (He likes to play whereas she likes to sing)

Subordinate Russian Conjunctions

This next group of Russian connecting words are a bit more abstract and refer to subordinate clauses. These are parts of a phrase that can't stand on their own as a full sentence.

For example the conjunction “that” regularly introduces subordinate clauses. Consider a sentence like “I know that you’re tired.”

• I know = complete sentence

• that you’re tired* = incomplete sentence

It’s worth noting that these kinds of connecting words are very often preceded by a comma in Russian writing.

• я знаю, что ты устал (I know that you’re tired.)
• Я видел его, потому что был там (I saw him because I was there.)

8. Что (That)  

The main Russian conjunction used in subordinate clauses is the word что. This can be a bit confusing at first since the word что can also be the question-word “what”.

As a conjunction, however, the word что functions almost exactly like the word “that” does in English. 

• я знаю, что ты устал (I know that you’re tired.)
• я думаю, что будет дождь (I think that it will rain.)

9. чтобы (That, So That)

I've talked about the conjunction чтобы before in my article about the Russian conditional. To give a brief overview, чтобы (also sometimes чтоб) is used to express a want or command for someone else to do an action.

• Я хочу, чтобы она позвонила тебе
  • (I want her to call you.)
  • (I want that she calls you.)

• Она просила, чтобы все пели
  • (She asked everyone to sing.)
  • (She asked that everyone sing.)

The conjunction чтобы is also used to express the idea of doing something “in order to” do something else.

• Я взял карандаш, чтобы рисовать что-то (I took the pencil (in order) to draw something.)
• Я дал ему карандаш, чтобы он мог рисовать что-то (I gave him the pencil so that he could draw something.)

10. Потому что (Because)

• Я устал, потому что много бегал (I’m tired because I ran a lot.)

11. Так как (Because, Since)

• Я не иду, так как идет доджь (I’m not walking since it’s raining)

While так как has a very similar meaning to потому что, they can be used slightly differently. While потому что can't come at the beginning of a sentence, the conjunction так как can start any clause.

• Я устал, так как много бегал (I’m tired since/because I ran a lot.)
• Так как много бегал, я устал (Since I ran a lot, I’m tired.)

12. Ли (Whether, If)

• Я не знаю, он ли дома
  • (I don’t know whether he’s home.)
  • (I don’t know if he’s home.)

• Анна не сказал, она ли там (Anna didn’t say whether (or not) she’s there.)

You should make sure to only use the conjunction ли in these kinds of phrases. While English can use both “if” and “whether” you can't use the word если (if) in this context. Speaking of which…

13. Если (If)

• Если увидите, передайте (If you see it, let me know.)
• Если что-то найду, позвоню (If I see anything, I’ll call.)

Often you can see the clause following the conjunction если being introduced with connecting word то.

• Если что-то найду, то позвоню (If I see anything, (then) I’ll call.)

14. То…то (Now…Then, First…Then)

Aside from combining with если the conjunction то can also come up twice to connect two actions happening one after the other.

• То жарко, то зима (It’s hot one minute, and then it’s winter the next.)
• Он то поёт, то танцует (First he’s singing, then he’s dancing.)

15. Хотя (Although)

• Хотя книга скучная, нравится Дмитрию (Although the book is boring, Dmitri likes it.)
• Состояние стабилно, хотя условия неизвестны (The situation is stable although the conditions are unknown.)

16. Пока (While)

• Пока идет дождь, я занимаюсь (While it’s raining, I’m studying.)

Other Conjunctions And Connecting Words In Russian

This last section is for Russian conjunctions that don’t fit neatly into one idea.

17. Чем (Than, Comparison)

The connecting word чем regularly comes up when making comparisons.

• Виктор выше, чем Виктория (Victor is taller than Victoria.)
• лучше поздно, чем никогда (better late than never.)

18. Как (How, Like, That)

• Будьте как дома (lit. be how/like you are at home.)

i.e. make yourself at home

• Я уведел как человек собирает подписы (I saw how/that someone is collecting signatures.)

19. Как будто (As If, Like, As Though)

• Он говорит, как будто никто не слушал за ним (He’s talking as if no one was listening to him.)
• Что-то во мне как будто проснулось (It was like/as though something in me woke up.)

20. Что касается… (As For…)

This is used to bring up a new topic and is followed by the genitive case.

• Все там хорошо, а что касается тебя… (Everything there is fine, but as for you…)

Literary And Colloquial Synonyms

Aside from the main conjunctions I’ve gone over, there are quite a few other forms that you might run into that have a colloquial or literary feel to them.

You don’t really need to learn to use these, but being able to recognise them is helpful since they are sometimes used in fixed expressions.

21. Либо…либо… (Either…Or…)

• либо он, либо я (Either him or me.)
• либо тот, либо другой (Either this or the other.)

22. Коли, ежели (If)

• Ежели бы я был… (If I were…)
• Коли ты едешь, то пойду пешком (If you drive, then I’ll go on foot.)

Combining Russian Conjunctions

You've just learned some of the most common connecting words in Russian.

However, there are plenty of Russian conjunctions and connecting words that can combine with others to have a slightly added nuance. These don’t have meanings that are too different or hard to understand.

23. То ли…то ло… (Maybe…Maybe)

• То ли доджь, то снег (Maybe it’ll rain, maybe it’ll snow.)

24. Если не (Unless)

• Я ходу в магазин, если не пойдет дождя (I’ll go to the store, unless it rains/ if it doesn’t rain.)

Other “stacked” conjunctions include :

25. если (If Ever)

26. если и (Even If)

and

27. пока не (Until)

Connecting Ideas In Russian

This is by no means an exhaustive list of all the Russian conjunctions out there. That being said, it’s a great starting point for connecting more of your ideas together in Russian.

On top of that, you can start using these Russian conjunctions as soon as you want. Just remember that familiarity is key, so if you want to start tossing out all the Russian connecting words как будто you were a native speaker, you need to practise.

And of the best ways to practise is to follow the rules of StoryLearning and read books in Russian. As you read, you'll come across Russian linking words over and over. And they'll soon become second nature.

And if you need a little more support to learn Russian by reading stories, Russian Uncovered can help you too.

So go forth and start connecting and contrasting your ideas in Russian and you’ll be talking with ease in no time. As always удача из удач (best of luck)!

Olly Richards

Creator of the StoryLearning® Method

Olly Richards is a renowned polyglot and language learning expert with over 15 years of experience teaching millions through his innovative StoryLearning® method. He is the creator of StoryLearning, one of the world's largest language learning blogs with 500,000+ monthly readers.

Olly has authored 30+ language learning books and courses, including the bestselling "Short Stories" series published by Teach Yourself.

When not developing new teaching methods, Richards practices what he preaches—he speaks 8 languages fluently and continues learning new ones through his own methodology.