In February, Nikki was assigned a school project called family history. She had to interview her oldest relative, record the conversation, and then present it to the class. The oldest relative of Nikki is ninety-one years old; she lives in Rostov and doesn’t speak a word of English.
Nika, ten years old, Toronto, speaks Russian at home every day. She understands her grandmother’s stories, watches cartoons with her mother, and reads them out loud in syllables. In ten years of her life, she has heard tens of thousands of Russian questions. And it turns out that she can’t answer even one in Russian.
This situation is not uncommon and is not related to vocabulary. It is related to the fact that the Russian language is structured differently than the English language, and a child who is an immigrant simply has no way to notice this.
The first list, written on the kitchen table
Mom suggested that we prepare in advance and write the questions on paper. Nika wrote for about twenty minutes and brought back eight lines of text.
«You remember the war?»
«Who did you see when you were little?»
«What do you like to eat?»
«When were you born?»
Mom read and understood one thing. The daughter did not forget the words; she honestly translated her English questions word by word, and the result was what it was.
The first and third lines are broken the same way. There is an extra verb in them, «does», which is not needed in a Russian question at all. The English question is assembled. The do, does or did are added to the statement; the subject is rearranged and the meaning of the verb is adjusted. You remember is transformed into do you remember, and this task in the English-speaking school is mastered by the first grade.
No one collects Russian questions; they are spoken. The words remain in place and in the same forms, but the question makes the voice. «Do you remember the war?» and «Do you remember the war?» consist of identical words; the difference lies in the intonation and in the writing, which is reduced to a single character.
Nikin's brain honestly asked for the Russian equivalent of do, found the closest meaning of «to do» and inserted it. This error is so typical that teachers recognize it by the sound of it.
What happens to the word who
The second line is more cleverly broken, and Mom couldn't initially explain what was wrong.
«Who did you see?» sounds strange, and why exactly, you can’t tell at first glance. The clue lies in the fact that the English word “who” hardly changes. Formally, there is a form whom, and it is conventionally placed after a preposition and in the complement position; in practice, however, speakers use the same “who” everywhere and always.
Russian «who» and «what» are treated equally with nouns. Who, whom, whom, whom? The appropriate form is dictated by the verb that stands next to it, and «see» requires the accusative case. Correctly, «whom did you see?».
Anyone who types in question words in Russian in a search engine gets a short list with translations, where «who» is followed by "who," and that's where the explanation ends. The list is correct; in English-language reference works it is also called "Russian interrogatives." There is just as much benefit from it as from a list of details instead of a build instructions because the main difficulty begins where the word changes form.
The complete table with all the conjugations is presented separately. There’s no need to memorize it; it’s convenient to have it handy for the first time.
Forms of interrogative words
A table is needed for verification, not for memorization. The form is indicated by the verb or preposition that stands next to it.
Who and what is responsible for the crashes
| Case | About the animated | About the inanimate | How it sounds when spoken |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | who | that | Who called? What fell |
| Genitive | who | What | Who should I ask? What are you waiting for? |
| Dative | to whom | to what | To whom to call. What you were surprised by |
| Accusative | who | that | Who did you see? What did you buy |
| Instrumental | by whom | by what | With whom you went. What you are drawing |
| Prepositional | about whom | about what | About whom we are talking. About what the film is about |
Whose by birth and number
| Gender and number | Form | How it sounds when spoken |
|---|---|---|
| Men's | Whose | Whose backpack is this? |
| Female | Whose | Whose jacket is on the chair? |
| Intermediate | whose | Whose seat is by the window? |
| Multiple | whose | Whose keys are on the shelf |
Words that do not change
| Word | What is he asking about? | How it sounds when spoken |
|---|---|---|
| where | Place | Where do you live? |
| where | Direction | Where are you going? |
| from where | Starting point | Where did you come from? |
| when | Time | When the lesson will begin |
| as | Mode, condition, degree | How did you get here? |
| Why? | The reason | Why are you late? |
| Why? | Purpose | Why do you need a ladder? |
| How much | Quantity requires the possessive case | How many books did you take? |
The word «which» stands on its own; it changes as an adjective and in the question chooses from the already named list.
The line where everything was right
«When you were born, Mom first tried to fix things and then stopped.
The sentence was correct. The Russian question word prefers the beginning of a sentence, but does not require it. «When you were born» sounds neutral, «When you were born» sounds more insistent, as if the conversation is already underway and the speaker returns to the topic. Both versions are grammatically correct, and choosing one changes only the nuance.
English doesn't really allow for that kind of freedom; the question mark comes first there and you can't move it. Nika got her correct line by accident, copying the Russian colloquial order she heard at home.
It was more difficult with intonation. Mom asked me to read the questions out loud, and it turned out that my daughter raised her voice towards the end of the sentence, like in English. In Russian, the voice behaves differently. It makes a sharp jump to highlight one word in the sentence, and it depends on which one exactly: what the sentence is actually about. This is easiest to see in the question about the dress from the old photo.
«Did you sew this dress yourself?»
The jump to the word «herself» turns the question into surprise: isn't it without someone else's help? The jump to «sewn» leads to the method: sewn or bought anyway. The jump to «dress» separates one thing from the rest; a dress or a coat as well. The words are the same everywhere; the order is the same; only the ear can pick up the difference.
This part of the language is hardly described in textbooks, and the last ones are the ones who learn it.
Why I left and why I left
Two days before the call, Nika showed her mom the revised list and one new question.
«Why did you leave the village?»
Mom thought for a moment and suggested replacing it with «why.» The daughter didn't understand the difference, because in English both questions look the same and start with "why.".
The difference between them is where the questioner looks. «Why?» asks the questioner to be explained backwards, and the answer begins with «because». «Why?» asks the questioner to be named the goal, and the answer begins with «so that». The great-grandmother would tell about hunger and the closed school on the «why» question, and about the education in the city that she aspired to on the «why» question.
Both questions were good, and in the end, Nika asked them in succession, resulting in two completely different stories.
There are several variants of this type of exercise in Russian, and they all seem to be similar. There is one English word, two or three Russian ones, and the choice changes the meaning. They are presented separately, along with the exercises.
Branches where the English word is one, but the Russian one is several
The most common places where a direct translation from English gives an incorrect question.
The English "why" covers both roles.
Why asks to be explained what happened; the answer begins with «because». Why asks to be told the purpose; the answer begins with «in order to».
Why did you take an umbrella? It’s dry outside. Why did you take an umbrella when it was promised that it would rain?.
The English words which and what divide the roles differently.
What kind They go where a name is not given and ask about a characteristic. Which It is taking place within the already outlined set.
What the weather will be tomorrow. Which one of these two is yours.
The English word where occurs in three cases.
Where about the place, where about the direction, from where about the point of departure. Behind every point there is a corresponding ending.
Where you were. Where you are going. Where you came from.
The English how many and how much are not used in the sentence without the preposition.
Russian How much requires the possessive case after itself, most often in the plural.
How many books, how many days, how much money. Both forms of work with people are based on meaning. In a precise calculation, the number of «people» is taken into account, while «how many people» remains where the discussion concerns an indefinite plural, such as «how many people were injured».
The word "modest" is both loaded and very loaded.
He asks about the method, the situation, and the degree of it all at once. The children master it first and then place it where the adult would choose it more precisely.
How did you get there? How are you doing? How far is it to the train station?.
The English word who hardly changes; whom endures its entire life.
The Russian form depends on the verb next to it. The subject requires «who», and the complement in a transitive verb requires «whom».
Who saw you. Who you saw.
Four exercises for every day
Switch roles
Once a day, ask the child to ask you about work, about his school years, about how you chose his name. Five consecutive questions asked by him himself weigh more than an hour of explanations about the order of words.
A question to every word
Take one sentence, say «Grandpa brought honey from the village yesterday,» and build all the possible questions around it. Who brought it, what was brought, when, from where. The exercise forces you to choose the correct verb tense at every step.
The real interview
Arrange a conversation with a relative who doesn’t understand English and give the child a task to ask him about their childhood. Asking questions in a genuine way works better than any exercise.
One phrase, three meanings
Say the question «Did you make this dress yourself?» three times, emphasizing different words with your voice, and ask the child to explain what the questions differ in. This trains the very same intonation that is almost never described in textbooks.
A similar story with the word «whose,» which changes not only in cases but also in gender and numbers. Whose scarf, whose shed, whose field, whose photos. The English whose stands still in all four cases, and bilinguals usually use one form for everything.
A conversation that lasted an hour and ten minutes
The call took place on Sunday morning, at about evening time in Rostov time.
The first few minutes were difficult. Nika read the questions off the page, her great-grandmother answered them in detail, and half of the answer the girl couldn’t even process because she was already looking for the next line with her eyes. Mom sat next to her and kept silent.
The break came on the fourth question. Grandma mentioned some Vityu, and Nika, forgetting the paper, interrupted her. «Who is Vityu?» The question was flawless, concise, and correct in every respect, because he was born out of pure curiosity and there was no way to translate it.
For the next hour or ten, we went without a single sheet of paper. There were many mistakes, and no one corrected them. Grandma understood everything.
Later, the mother admitted that she struggled with the urge to intervene and try to help for the entire hour. She didn’t intervene and turned out to be right. The mistake, spoken out loud and understood by the interlocutor, is worth more than the correct phrase that the child was embarrassed to say.
What does this mean for parents?
Niki's story describes the bias that almost every child growing up outside the Russian environment faces.
Questions are constantly asked to such a child. How is it at school, what they asked, where did you put the shoes, why they weren’t put away again. The child answers fluently and willingly in Russian. And he hardly has to ask in Russian; everything he needs to know he learns at school, from friends, and on the Internet, that is, in English.
The understanding of the issues is excellent; the production is flawless. That is why Nikiny composed the eight lines and ended up with such results, even though there were not a single unfamiliar word in them.
The method is simple and hardly takes up any time. Once a day, change roles and ask the child to ask you questions. Five consecutive questions asked by the child himself give more than an hour of explanations about the order of words. A real situation like Nikanin’s interview works well; you need to ask questions in a genuine way and the interviewee doesn’t understand in English.
Where do they train the skill of asking for help?
The gap between «I understand» and «I can ask» is only closed by live practice, and in a bilateral way, where the interlocutor answers and asks questions in return.
At Palme School, classes are held online in small groups, with children aged four to seventeen, and the questions are asked by the students themselves, to each other and to the teacher. You can check if this format is suitable by taking the following quiz: two free lessons. In the first method, the mentor determines the level and selects the group. The second method takes place within the group, together with the teacher.
Those who have already taken up Russian at an adult level have their own areas of study in school., Russian for adults and conversation school, And the oral part takes up most of the time there.
Home
The Russian question is not constructed from parts; it is spoken as a whole. There is no auxiliary verb; the order of the words is free; the work is divided between the intonation and the case of the interrogative word.
You can learn the list of question words in one evening. You can only start asking in Russian when someone appears who has something to ask and who cannot understand the question in another language.
Nikinino's recording of the interview is on her mother's phone. She submitted the project, got the highest score, and asked to call her great-grandmother again, this time without any instructions.
Frequently asked questions about interrogative words in the Russian language
How many question words are there in the Russian language?
There are about ten main elements; among them are who, what, where, where from, when, why, how, which, whose, and how many. Some of them are declined according to cases, and «which» and «whose» change in gender and number as well, so there are significantly more real forms than the lines in any list.
Why isn’t an auxiliary verb needed in the Russian case?
The question in Russian is spoken, and there is no need to rearrange the sentence to do so. The statement and the question can consist of the same words in the same order and only differ in intonation, with the question mark in the English version. The English words do, does and did do not translate into Russian in this role.
What is the difference between «why» and «why not»?
It’s easiest to test yourself by answering the question that comes naturally. The answer to the «why» is «because,» the answer to the «why» is «in order to.» The first question asks you to explain what happened, the second asks you to name the goal. The English “why” serves both roles at once, and that’s exactly what confuses Russian learners.
Which is correct, «who did you see» or «whom did you see»?
It is correct to say «whom you saw», the verb «see» takes the accusative case. The form «who» is only suitable for the subject, as in the question «who saw you». This mistake is typical for those who translate into Russian as "who did you see", where there is no need to choose the form.
How is «which» different from «what»?
The presence of the named set matters. If the options have already been listed out loud, the «which» works, as in the question about choosing between the two. If there is no set and we are talking about a characteristic, the «which» works, as in the question about tomorrow’s weather. The turn of «which hour» stands out; it has stuck in the language entirely and does not obey the general rule; breaking it down into parts is useless.
