Russian Vocabulary (and Wisdom)

How to say "to turn out" 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.

оказаться

Meaning: to turn out, to be found, to prove, to find oneself

Pronunciation: [ah-kah-ZAH-tsah]

Part of speech: verb (perfective aspect)

Rank: #183 (see frequency list)

He suddenly found himself in the country side.
Photo by Photofreak!, licensed under CC SA 2.0

Example sentences:

Оказáлось, что онá больнá.
It turned out that she was ill.
Вдру́г он оказáлся зá городом.
He suddenly found himself in the country side.
В кармáне оказáлось тóлько дécять рублéй.
There were only ten rubles to be found in the pocket.
Я приéхал в Тверь и вдру́г оказáлся бeз докумéнтов.
I came to Tver and suddenly I found myself without any documents.
Они оказáлись хорóшими людьми́.
They turned out to be good people.
Всë, что ты говори́ла, оказáлось непрáвдой.
Everything you told me turned out to be false.
Что ты бу́дешь дéлать, если ты окáжешься оди́н в лесу́?
What wil you do if you find yourself alone in the forest?
Я увéрен, что их теóрии окáжутся непрáвильными.
I'm sure that their theories will turn out to be false.
Оказáлось, он был врачóм.
He turned to be a doctor.

Idioms and set expressions:

как оказáлось = as it turned out to be

Related words:

окáзываться = to appear
очути́ться = to find oneself
обнару́житься = to turn out

Proverbs and sayings:

Оказáться у разби́того коры́та.
To be back to square one.
literal To find oneself with a broken washing tub.
Кто тру́cом окáжется, от тогó и мать откáжется.
Being a coward is horrible.
literal Who will turn out to be a coward, his mother will reject him.
Победи́тель в кулáчном бою́ - всегдá прав окáжется.
Force always wins.
literal The winner in fisticuffs always turns out to be right.

Verb conjugation:

Present Tense

The perfective verb оказаться is not used in the Present Tense. Use the imperfective verb оказываться instead.

Past Tense

I, you (singular), he	оказа́лся
she	оказа́лась
it	оказа́лось
we, you (plural), they	оказа́лись

Future Simple Tense

I	окажу́сь
you (singular)	ока́жешься
he, she, it	ока́жется
we	ока́жемся
you (plural)	ока́жетесь
they	ока́жутся

Future Compound Tense

The perfective verb оказаться is not used in the Future Compound Tense. Use the imperfective verb оказываться instead.

Imperative Mood (Command Form)

you (singular)	окажи́сь
you (plural)	окажи́тесь

View full conjugation table for the verb pair оказываться/оказаться

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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