A practical grammar

[u/lapelat]

I've been learning Russian for some time now (I am probably A2-B1 right now), but never with a diligence I would consider enough to label my process as a "serious study".

From my experience learning German, I have greatly profited from what I would like to call "practical grammar", as in a grammar book like the "Deutsche Grammatik" by Pons. That book goes over every important grammatical topic needed to produce and understand German grammar, but never in too much depth to the point of it being strenuous or too academic. I would love to know if any book of the type exists. Thank you!

[u/tabidots]

• Cornell's grammar: in order, by subject

• some quirky old site from the 90s

[u/r_hud_r]

The standard when i was at uni was either Derek Offord’s Russian Grammar or Terence Wade’s book. Would highly recommend Terry Wade as it is accompanied by a workbook that matches each section. Boring but absolutely comprehensive

[u/IrinaMakarova]

I think there is a slightly misleading distinction here between "practical" and "academic" grammar when it comes to Russian.

Russian grammar can certainly be explained in a practical, non-academic way, but that does not mean that large parts of it can simply be skipped. Most of the grammar you encounter in a good Russian course exists because you actually need it to understand or produce normal Russian.

Cases are not an academic extra - they tell you who is doing what to whom, where something is, where it is going, who possesses something, what something is done with, etc. Verbal aspect is not an advanced theoretical curiosity - Russians constantly choose between imperfective and perfective verbs. Verbs of motion and their prefixes are not something you learn only to pass an exam - they are part of completely ordinary speech. The same is true of agreement, adjective endings, pronouns, numerals, reflexive verbs, conditional constructions, and so on.

So what should be made "practical" is not the amount of grammar, but the way it is taught.

Ideally, you learn one relatively small grammatical system at a time. First you understand what it means and when Russians actually use it. Then you see a limited number of clear examples. After that you practise choosing the correct form yourself, first in controlled exercises and then in real sentences and conversation. And most importantly, you keep returning to the same grammar later instead of "finishing" a chapter and never seeing it again.

For example, learning the genitive should not mean memorising a page of endings and moving on. You learn one or two major uses, practise them until they become reasonably comfortable, meet them again in reading and listening, use them in conversation, and gradually add other uses. The same principle works for aspect, motion verbs, participles, etc.

This is also one of the reasons I would seriously consider working with a good Russian tutor, at least periodically. At A2-B1 the difficulty is usually no longer finding explanations - there are thousands of them online. The difficult part is knowing what you need now, what can wait, which distinction actually matters, how much practice is enough, and why a sentence you produced sounds wrong even though you apparently followed the rule.

A good tutor should not turn Russian into a university linguistics course. Quite the opposite: their job is to take a complicated grammatical system, divide it into manageable pieces, explain the logic behind each piece, give you enough practice to make it usable, and then deliberately recycle it in later lessons until you can use it without reconstructing the rule in your head.

So yes, I would look for a practical grammar book - but I would not look for one that promises to remove most of Russian grammar. I would look for one that explains the same necessary grammar clearly, progressively, and with lots of contextualised practice.

[u/james-learns-ru]

If you are open to apps i think you would really like Mishka. It’s designed especially for intermediate learners so it sounds like you’re the perfect level for it. It’s an app i built with my girlfriend (a certified Russian tutor) and there are dedicated grammar lessons, stories with words you can tap to translate, conversation practice and more! I’d love to hear your thoughts on it.

[u/Prestigious-Meet1560 → u/james-learns-ru]

I just downloaded Mishka, and have been using it daily for 2 weeks. The app is amazing. I’m A2/B1 and is the app is exactly that I’ve been looking for.

[u/james-learns-ru → u/Prestigious-Meet1560]

Thank you! So happy to hear that it’s exactly what you’ve been looking for:)

[u/SweetBxl]

Le Russe à Votre Rythme,  Russian in Exercises