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Mastering Essential Russian Vocabulary at B1 Level visualisation

Mastering Essential Russian Vocabulary at B1 Level

Key Russian terms for intermediate learners.
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To reach a B1 level in Russian, you need to focus on expanding your vocabulary across various everyday topics and mastering intermediate-level grammar. Below is a comprehensive overview of the most important words and topics to learn at this stage.

Key Vocabulary Areas

1. Common Verbs

  • To live: жить (zhit’)
  • To die: умирать (umirat’)
  • To seem: казаться (kazat’sya)
  • To stay/remain: оставаться (ostavat’sya)
  • To enter: входить (vkhodit’)
  • To exit: выходить (vykhodit’)
  • To lose: терять (teryat’)
  • To notice: замечать (zamechat’)
  • To feel: чувствовать (chuvstvovat’)
  • To believe: верить (verit’)
  • To agree: соглашаться (soglashat’sya)
  • To refuse: отказываться (otkazyvat’sya)
  • To use: пользоваться (pol’zovat’sya) 1, 2.

2. Everyday Nouns

Home and Household

  • Kitchen: кухня (kukhnya), fridge: холодильник (kholodilnik), stove: плита (plita), sofa: диван (divan), bed: кровать (krovat’).

Animals

  • Dog: собака (sobaka), cat: кошка (koshka), bear: медведь (medved’), fox: лиса (lisa).

Food

  • Bread: хлеб (khleb), milk: молоко (moloko), soup: суп (sup).

Clothing

  • Shirt: рубашка (rubashka), dress: платье (plat’ye) 1, 5.

3. Adjectives

  • Big/small: большой/маленький
  • New/old: новый/старый
  • Beautiful/ugly: красивый/некрасивый
  • Necessary/important: нужный/важный 2, 5.

4. Numbers and Time

  • Days of the week, months, telling time, and ordinal numbers are essential for daily communication 5.

5. Abstract Concepts

Words like “life” (жизнь), “case” (случай), “power” (сила), and “understanding” (понимание) are common in intermediate-level conversations 2.

Topics to Master

At B1, you should be comfortable discussing:

  1. Personal information and emotions.
  2. Daily routines and hobbies.
  3. Food, shopping, and dining.
  4. Travel and transportation.
  5. Weather and seasons.
  6. Health and body parts.
  7. Work, professions, and education.
  8. Directions in a city or town 3, 5.

Grammar Focus

B1 learners should:

  1. Understand all six cases in typical contexts.
  2. Use verbs of motion with prefixes like идти/ходить, ехать/ездить.
  3. Form comparatives and superlatives for adjectives and adverbs.
  4. Recognize reflexive verbs (-ся endings).
  5. Use aspectual pairs of verbs to distinguish between completed and ongoing actions 5, 6.

Study Tips

  1. Practice speaking with native speakers or through language exchange apps.
  2. Use flashcards for vocabulary building.
  3. Engage with authentic materials like news articles or short stories to expand vocabulary in context 6, 9.
  4. Take sample TRKI B1 tests to assess your readiness for the level.

By focusing on these areas, you will build a solid foundation at the B1 level of Russian proficiency, enabling you to handle most everyday situations confidently.

References

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