обещать
“обещать” (obeshchat) — to promise in Russian. Verb, level A2, topic — verbs. Mama obeshchala, i ona byla tam — "mom promised, and she was there" — the promise kept. In a live sentence: “Мама обещала, и она была там” — Mom promised, and she was there. Written with the characters о, б, е, щ, а, т, ь. One of 108 words in the set “verbs” in the Russian course.
In short
| Written in Russian | обещать |
| Read in Latin letters | obeshchat |
| Translation | to promise |
| Part of speech | verb |
| Level | A2 |
Why it looks that way
Mama obeshchala, i ona byla tam — "mom promised, and she was there" — the promise kept.
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.
- Мама обещала, и она была тамMama obeshchala, i ona byla tamMom promised, and she was there
Nearby words: verbs
I want, I can, I am going, I know. The verb holds a sentence together: a few of the most frequent ones cover more everyday talk than a long list of nouns.
- хочуkhochuI wantOne of the two verbs that refuse the regular pattern — learn its row whole. It takes the object straight: khochu vodu, no preposition.
- питьpitto drinkThe present tense reshapes the consonant: pyu, pyosh, pyot. Its result twin is vypit — the same verb with a prefix for "down to the bottom".
- естьestto eatConjugated from a different root, like "to go" in many languages: yem, yesh, yest. Do not mix it with the "there is" of possession — that one is a lone form.
- я люблюya lyublyuI loveWorks for coffee as for people: ya lyublyu kofe is ordinary. English guards "love"; here it is the everyday word for liking things too.
- идтиidtito go (on foot)On foot; riding is another verb, ekhat. The pair is stricter than English "go": walking one way, transport the other. The present comes from a different root: idu, idyosh.
- ехатьekhatto go (by vehicle)Riding: yedu na avtobuse, yedu v Moskvu. Its present also comes from a different root: yedu, yedesh, yedet.
- бытьbytto beIn the present the linking verb simply vanishes: ya student — no "am" anywhere. One yest survives in the sense of "there is"; past and future are honest: byl, budu.
- иметьimetto haveGrammatically fine, but live speech says u menya yest — the owner stands aside while the thing "is at" them. Tengo and "have" both turn the sentence inside out.
- житьzhitto liveZhivu, zhivyosh, zhivyot — its yo is written, not guessed. Zhit v Moskve is about the address; zhit khorosho is about life.
- работатьrabotatto workFrom rabota, and rabota from rab — "a slave": an ancient trace in an everyday word. It answers both "where do you work" and "what do you do".
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “verbs”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “to promise” in Russian?
Mama obeshchala, i ona byla tam — "mom promised, and she was there" — the promise kept.
- How do you say “to be” in Russian?
In the present the linking verb simply vanishes: ya student — no "am" anywhere. One yest survives in the sense of "there is"; past and future are honest: byl, budu.
- How do you say “to eat” in Russian?
Conjugated from a different root, like "to go" in many languages: yem, yesh, yest. Do not mix it with the "there is" of possession — that one is a lone form.
- How do you say “to work” in Russian?
From rabota, and rabota from rab — "a slave": an ancient trace in an everyday word. It answers both "where do you work" and "what do you do".
- How do you say “to go (by vehicle)” in Russian?
Riding: yedu na avtobuse, yedu v Moskvu. Its present also comes from a different root: yedu, yedesh, yedet.
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 promise” in Russian?
«обещать», read “obeshchat”. In a live sentence: “Мама обещала, и она была там” — Mom promised, and she was there. Verb, level A2, from the set “verbs”; written with the characters о, б, е, щ, а, т, ь.
How is “обещать” written in Latin letters?
obeshchat. 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?
Mama obeshchala, i ona byla tam — "mom promised, and she was there" — the promise kept. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.