Russian Vocabulary (and Wisdom)

How to say "book" 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.

книга

Meaning: book

Pronunciation: [KNEE-gah]

Part of speech: noun (feminine noun)

Rank: #223 (see frequency list)

This book is very interesting.
Photo by brewbooks CC-BY-SA-2.0

Example sentences:

Э́то о́чень интере́сная кни́га.
This is a very interesting book.
Тебе́ нра́вится э́та кни́га?
Do you like this book?
Что ты сде́лал с кни́гами?
What did you do with the books?
В э́той кни́ге есть оши́бки.
This book has errors.
Я прочита́л э́то в какой-то кни́ге.
I've read it in some book.
В э́той кни́ге отсу́тствуют две страни́цы.
This book is missing two pages.
Како́е у кни́ги назва́ние?
What is the name of the book?
Серге́й написа́л две кни́ги по исто́рии Росси́и.
Sergey wrote two books on history of Russia.
Чьи э́то кни́ги? Э́то мои́ кни́ги.
Whose book are these? These are my books.
Свяще́нной кни́гой мусульма́н явля́ется Кора́н.
The holy book of Muslims is Qur'an.
Ты зако́нчил с кни́гой?
Have you finished the book?
Я могу́ одолжи́ть э́ту кни́гу?
May I borrow this book?
Ты уже́ прочита́л кни́гу?
Have you read the book yet?
Я купи́л но́вую кни́гу.
I bought a new book.
Ско́лько книг в ме́сяц ты чита́ешь?
How many books do you read a month?
Не все из э́тих книг поле́зны.
Not all of those books are useful.
Э́то -- кни́га.
This is a book.
Я прочита́л кни́гу до са́мого конца́.
I've read the book right to the end.
Писа́тель рабо́тает над но́вой кни́гой.
A writer is working on a new book.
Эта книга такая интересная.
This book is so interesting.
Вам нра́вится э́та кни́га?
Do you like this book?

Idioms and set expressions:

телефо́нная кни́га = phone book, telephone directory
спра́вочная кни́га = reference book
кни́га за семью́ печа́тями = sealed book, closed book
literal a book under seven seals
свяще́нная кни́га = scripture
literal sacred book

Related words:

кни́жка = a book (colloquial)
кни́жный = book (adjective)
кни́жечка = a small book (diminutive)

Proverbs and sayings:

Смо́трит в кни́гу, а ви́дит фи́гу.
The only thing worse than an ignorant man is an ignorant man with a book.
literal One looks in a book and sees a fig.
Кни́га мала́, а ума́ придала́.
A book is like a garden carried in the pocket.
literal A small book but it added intellect.
Кни́га кни́ге рознь.
There are books and books.

Other forms of the word (declensions):

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	кни́га	кни́ги
Genitive	кни́ги	кни́г
Dative	кни́ге	кни́гам
Accusative	кни́гу	кни́ги
Instrumental	кни́гой	кни́гами
Prepositional	кни́ге	кни́гах

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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