мочь
“мочь” (moch) — to be able in Russian. Verb, level A1, topic — shopping and money. The verb of ability with its own odd shapes: mogu, mozhesh, mozhut. Malo khotet, nado moch — "wanting little, you must be able". In a live sentence: “Мало хотеть, надо мочь” — It takes more than wanting; you must be able. Written with the characters м, о, ч, ь. One of 87 words in the set “shopping and money” in the Russian course.
In short
| Written in Russian | мочь |
| Read in Latin letters | moch |
| Translation | to be able |
| Part of speech | verb |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
The verb of ability with its own odd shapes: mogu, mozhesh, mozhut. Malo khotet, nado moch — "wanting little, you must be able".
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- Мало хотеть, надо мочьMalo khotet, nado mochIt takes more than wanting; you must be able
Nearby words: shopping and money
How much it costs, whether there is a smaller one, whether cards are accepted. A shop forgives mistakes: miss a word and they will show you the thing with their hands anyway.
- рубльrublrubleFrom rubit, "to chop": the first coin was a chopped-off piece. After five it takes the of-many form: desyat rubley.
- сколько стоит?skolko stoit?how much is it?Stoit here means "to carry a price", not "to stand" — a pair to watch. The answer starts straight with the number.
- магазинmagazinshopThe false friend of the first order: English "magazine" is zhurnal, and magazin is a shop. The word rode in from Arabic for "warehouse".
- прилавокprilavokcounter (shop)The seller's table, the border between the two sides of a market. Prilavok — eto stol prodavtsa.
- продавецprodavetsseller, shop assistantThe one who sells; the one who buys is pokupatel. The -ets ending names the person by the deed.
- покупательpokupatelcustomer, buyerFrom pokupat, "to buy", plus the person-ending. Pokupatel khochet desyat yablok.
- весыvesyscalesAlways plural, like "scissors": the two pans are the two halves of the word. Vesy tam, a kassa zdes.
- килограммkilogrammkilogramTwo m's, one word. Odin kilogramm yablok, pozhaluysta.
- свежийsvezhiyfreshKhleb svezhiy, a ryba net — "the bread is fresh, the fish is not". The same word means "cool" about a breeze.
- спелыйspelyyripeKilogramm yablok byl spelyy — the apple ready to eat. Its opposite is nezrelyy.
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “shopping and money”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “to be able” in Russian?
The verb of ability with its own odd shapes: mogu, mozhesh, mozhut. Malo khotet, nado moch — "wanting little, you must be able".
- How do you say “scales” in Russian?
Always plural, like "scissors": the two pans are the two halves of the word. Vesy tam, a kassa zdes.
- How do you say “shop” in Russian?
The false friend of the first order: English "magazine" is zhurnal, and magazin is a shop. The word rode in from Arabic for "warehouse".
- How do you say “ripe” in Russian?
Kilogramm yablok byl spelyy — the apple ready to eat. Its opposite is nezrelyy.
- How do you say “customer, buyer” in Russian?
From pokupat, "to buy", plus the person-ending. Pokupatel khochet desyat yablok.
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “to be able” in Russian?
«мочь», read “moch”. In a live sentence: “Мало хотеть, надо мочь” — It takes more than wanting; you must be able. Verb, level A1, from the set “shopping and money”; written with the characters м, о, ч, ь.
How is “мочь” written in Latin letters?
moch. This is a practical spelling — you need it to read aloud and be understood, not to meet an academic standard.
Why does this word look the way it does?
The verb of ability with its own odd shapes: mogu, mozhesh, mozhut. Malo khotet, nado moch — "wanting little, you must be able". A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.