Russian Vocabulary (and Wisdom)

How to say "otherwise" in Russian

This Russian word is one of the top 1000 words in Russian. The complete list of most common Russian words is available here.

иначе

Meaning: otherwise, differently, or

Pronunciation: [ee-NAH-chee]

Part of speech: adverb

Rank: #567 (see frequency list)

The table was made differently than the others.
Photo by asgw CC-BY-2.0

Example sentences:

Быстрée, инáче опоздáем.
Hurry up, or we'll be late.
literal Faster, otherwise we'll be late.
С отцóм он разговáривал инáче, чем с мáтерью.
He spoke with his father in a different manner than with his mother.
Стол был сдéлан инáче, чем други́е.
The table was made differently than the others.
Инáче говоря́, они́ óба не разгибáются.
To put it differently, both of them work really hard.
literal To say it differently, both of them don't unbend.
Ты не инáче как поумнéл!
You became cleverer, that's for sure!
Не спеши́, инáче ничегó не вы́йдет.
Don't hurry, or it'll just come to nothing!
literal Don't hurry, otherwise it'll just come to nothing!
Не ешь мучнóe, а инáче cнóва начнëшь толстéть.
Don't eat food with flour, otherwise you'll start to put on weight again.
А ведь в нáшей жи́зни всë моглó быть инáче...
And finally in our lives everything just could have been different.
Так и́ли инáче, они́ реши́ли уéхать из стрaны́.
They decided to emigrate anyway.
Так и́ли инáче, решéние принимáть тебé.
In any case, it's you who has to make the decision.
С таки́ми людьми́ инáче нельзя́.
One can't behave differently with this kind of people.
literal With these people it's impossible differently.

Idioms and set expressions:

так и́ли инáче = in any case
literal so or otherwise
не инáче как = no doubt, for sure

Related words:

по-другóму = in a different way
в любóм слу́чае = in any case, anyway
инакомы́cлие = dissent

Proverbs and sayings:

Кри́во рак выступáет, да инáче не знáет.
It's better try doing something than just doing nothing.
literal The crawfish steps crookedly, but it can't do otherwise.

Vocabulary lesson: By Russificate blog exclusively for MasterRussian

Phrase recordings: Copyright(c) 2011 MasterRussian.com. All rights reserved.
Word recordings: Copyright(c) 2006 Streit Goulnara, Streit Eric, Vion Nicolas. Copyright(c) 2007 S. Sakhno, N. Vion. Distributed under CC-BY.

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