открывать
“открывать” (otkryvat) — to open in Russian. Verb, level A1, topic — home and things. Dushno, nado otkryvat okno — "it is stuffy; the window needs opening". The result twin is otkryt. In a live sentence: “Душно, надо открывать окно” — It is stuffy; the window needs opening. Written with the characters о, т, к, р, ы, в, а, т, ь. One of 194 words in the set “home and things” in the Russian course.
In short
| Written in Russian | открывать |
| Read in Latin letters | otkryvat |
| Translation | to open |
| Part of speech | verb |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
Dushno, nado otkryvat okno — "it is stuffy; the window needs opening". The result twin is otkryt.
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.
- Душно, надо открывать окноDushno, nado otkryvat oknoIt is stuffy; the window needs opening
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 “to open” in Russian?
Dushno, nado otkryvat okno — "it is stuffy; the window needs opening". The result twin is otkryt.
- 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 “to open” in Russian?
«открывать», read “otkryvat”. In a live sentence: “Душно, надо открывать окно” — It is stuffy; the window needs opening. Verb, level A1, from the set “home and things”; written with the characters о, т, к, р, ы, в, а, т, ь.
How is “открывать” written in Latin letters?
otkryvat. 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?
Dushno, nado otkryvat okno — "it is stuffy; the window needs opening". The result twin is otkryt. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.