приспособиться
“приспособиться” (prisposobitsya) — to adapt, to adjust in Russian. Verb, level B1. K novomu gorodu on prisposobilsya za mesyats — "he adapted to the new city within a month" — to fit oneself to new conditions: to the cold, to the city; it asks to what. In a live sentence: “К новому городу он приспособился за месяц” — He adapted to the new city within a month. Written with the characters п, р, и, с, п, о, с, о, б, и, т, ь…
In short
| Written in Russian | приспособиться |
| Read in Latin letters | prisposobitsya |
| Translation | to adapt, to adjust |
| Part of speech | verb |
| Level | B1 |
Why it looks that way
K novomu gorodu on prisposobilsya za mesyats — "he adapted to the new city within a month" — to fit oneself to new conditions: to the cold, to the city; it asks to what.
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.
- К новому городу он приспособился за месяцK novomu gorodu on prisposobilsya za mesyatsHe adapted to the new city within a month
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 adapt, to adjust” in Russian?
«приспособиться», read “prisposobitsya”. In a live sentence: “К новому городу он приспособился за месяц” — He adapted to the new city within a month. Verb, level B1; written with the characters п, р, и, с, п, о, с, о, б, и, т, ь…
How is “приспособиться” written in Latin letters?
prisposobitsya. 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?
K novomu gorodu on prisposobilsya za mesyats — "he adapted to the new city within a month" — to fit oneself to new conditions: to the cold, to the city; it asks to what. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.