Russian Vocabulary (and Wisdom)

How to say "picture" 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.

картина

Meaning: picture, painting, movie

Pronunciation: [kahr-TEE-nah]

Part of speech: noun (feminine noun)

Rank: #607 (see frequency list)

There's a picture on the wall.
Photo by Paradigm CC-BY-2.0

Example sentences:

На стенé виси́т карти́на.
There's a picture on the wall.
literal The picture is hanging on the wall.
Мне нрáвятся карти́ны И.Левитáна.
I like I.Levitan's paintings.
На досу́ге он пи́шет карти́ны.
He does painting in his free time.
literal In free time he writes paintings.
Вчерá мы бы́ли на вы́ставке карти́н ру́сских худóжников.
Yesterday we were at the Russian painters' exhibition.
literal Yesterday we were at the exhibition of paintings of Russian painters.
Ты сам написáл карти́ну или купи́л?
Have you done the painting yourself or have you bought it?
literal You yourself wrote the painting or bought?
Пéред нáми открывáлись чудécные карти́ны сéверной прирóды.
We could contemplate wonderful landscapes of northern scenery.
literal Wonderful pictures of northern scenery were opening before us.
На карти́не изображенá молодáя жéнщина.
The painting portrays a young woman.
literal On the painting is portrayed a young woman.
Карти́на такáя: мы бóльше не мóжем выплáчивать креди́т.
The situation is like that: we can't pay the loan anymore.
literal The picture is like that: we can't pay the loan anymore.
Ты смотрéл послéднюю карти́ну Альмодóвара?
Have you seen the latest movie by Almodovar?
literal Have you seen the latest picture by Almodovar?
Карти́на идëт в нáшем кинотеáтре тóлько два дня.
They've been showing the movie in our cinema for two days only.
literal The picture goes in our cinema only two days.

Idioms and set expressions:

карти́на мáсляными крáсками = oil painting
таковá карти́на = such is the situation
literal such is the picture
нарисовáть карти́ну = describe a situation
literal paint a picture
написáть карти́ну = paint a picture
карти́на ми́ра = mentality; world view
literal world picture

Related words:

карти́нка = small picture
карти́нный = pictorial, picture (adjective)
худóжник = painter
иллюстрáция = illustration

Case

Singular

Plural

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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