там
“там” (tam) — there in Russian. Adverb, level A1, topic — asking the way. The opposite of zdes, and it answers gde too: Gde apteka? — Tam. In a live sentence: “Там на углу аптека” — There is a pharmacy on the corner. Written with the characters т, а, м. One of 21 words in the set “asking the way” in the Russian course.
In short
| Written in Russian | там |
| Read in Latin letters | tam |
| Translation | there |
| Part of speech | adverb |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
The opposite of zdes, and it answers gde too: Gde apteka? — Tam.
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.
- Там на углу аптекаTam na uglu aptekaThere is a pharmacy on the corner
Nearby words: asking the way
Right, left, straight on, how far. You ask the way rarely — and always at the moment when there is no time to work it out.
- где?gde?where?The question about place. Kuda asks where to — the direction keeps its own question, the way English splits where and where to.
- здесьzdeshereThe place word; for direction there is a separate syuda, "to here". Zdes ochen tiho — "it is very quiet here".
- наnaon, atA chameleon of a preposition: na ulitse, na pochte, na dve nedeli. English splits it into on, at and for; this one does all three.
- вvin, intoOne letter, two cases: v gorode says where, v gorod says where to. Place and direction ride on the case, not on two prepositions.
- направоnapravoto the rightFor the turn: povernite napravo. The position is a different word — sprava: "the pharmacy is on the right".
- налевоnalevoto the leftThe twin of napravo with the same split: povernite nalevo for the turn, sleva for the position.
- прямоpryamostraight, straight aheadA cousin of Latin rectus — the same root as "right". Idite pryamo do ploshchadi — "go straight to the square"; also "right now".
- близкоblizkoclose, nearbyEto blizko? is the everyday question at the map, and "no, blizko" is the best possible answer.
- далекоdalekofarThe twin of blizko. Queda lejos and "it is far" do the same job — the thing stays far.
- 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.
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “asking the way”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “there” in Russian?
The opposite of zdes, and it answers gde too: Gde apteka? — Tam.
- How do you say “straight, straight ahead” in Russian?
A cousin of Latin rectus — the same root as "right". Idite pryamo do ploshchadi — "go straight to the square"; also "right now".
- How do you say “on, at” in Russian?
A chameleon of a preposition: na ulitse, na pochte, na dve nedeli. English splits it into on, at and for; this one does all three.
- How do you say “to go (on foot)” in Russian?
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.
- How do you say “to the left” in Russian?
The twin of napravo with the same split: povernite nalevo for the turn, sleva for the position.
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 “there” in Russian?
«там», read “tam”. In a live sentence: “Там на углу аптека” — There is a pharmacy on the corner. Adverb, level A1, from the set “asking the way”; written with the characters т, а, м.
How is “там” written in Latin letters?
tam. 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 opposite of zdes, and it answers gde too: Gde apteka? — Tam. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.