обои
“обои” (oboi) — wallpaper in Russian. Noun, level B1, topic — home and things. Always plural: staryye oboi my snyali — "we took the old wallpaper down" — ob- plus it: what went around the walls. In a live sentence: “Старые обои мы сняли” — We took the old wallpaper down. Written with the characters о, б, о, и. One of 194 words in the set “home and things” in the Russian course.
In short
| Written in Russian | обои |
| Read in Latin letters | oboi |
| Translation | wallpaper |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | B1 |
Why it looks that way
Always plural: staryye oboi my snyali — "we took the old wallpaper down" — ob- plus it: what went around the walls.
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.
- Старые обои мы снялиStarye oboi my snyaliWe took the old wallpaper down
Nearby words: home and things
Room, key, water, electricity. You will need them on your first day in a rented flat.
- домdomhouse, homeBoth the building and the hearth. Doma means "at home": vecherom ya doma — and English "at home" is built the same way.
- квартираkvartiraapartmentFrom Latin quartus, "a fourth": houses were once let out in quarters — the same root English "quarter" carries, while "apartment" points to rooms set apart.
- гретьgretto warm, to heatGreyu, greyesh — the e holds. Gret sup ili net?
- жильёzhilyohousing, a place to liveThe collective word for anywhere a person lives: a flat, a house, a room. Moy zhilyo zdes — "this is where I live".
- комнатаkomnataroomA room inside an apartment. V kvartire dve komnaty — "the apartment has two rooms".
- кухняkukhnyakitchenKukhnya tam, a komnata zdes — "the kitchen is there, the room is here". The room and the cooking in it share the word.
- ваннаяvannayabathroomThe room named after its tub. Vannaya — eto voda i mylo: "the bathroom is water and soap".
- балконbalkonbalconyThe international word with the stress on the end: bal-KON. Moy balkon nad ulitsey.
- этажetazhfloor, storeyTretiy etazh, lifta net — "the third floor, no elevator". Floors are counted the same way as in English, ground floor included.
- лифтliftelevatorLift ne rabotayet — "the elevator is out of order". The English word borrowed whole.
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “home and things”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “wallpaper” in Russian?
Always plural: staryye oboi my snyali — "we took the old wallpaper down" — ob- plus it: what went around the walls.
- How do you say “bathroom” in Russian?
The room named after its tub. Vannaya — eto voda i mylo: "the bathroom is water and soap".
- How do you say “to warm, to heat” in Russian?
Greyu, greyesh — the e holds. Gret sup ili net?
- How do you say “elevator” in Russian?
Lift ne rabotayet — "the elevator is out of order". The English word borrowed whole.
- How do you say “kitchen” in Russian?
Kukhnya tam, a komnata zdes — "the kitchen is there, the room is here". The room and the cooking in it share the word.
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 “wallpaper” in Russian?
«обои», read “oboi”. In a live sentence: “Старые обои мы сняли” — We took the old wallpaper down. Noun, level B1, from the set “home and things”; written with the characters о, б, о, и.
How is “обои” written in Latin letters?
oboi. 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?
Always plural: staryye oboi my snyali — "we took the old wallpaper down" — ob- plus it: what went around the walls. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.