Russian Vocabulary (and Wisdom)

How to say "to leave" 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.

оставить

Meaning: to leave, forget, give up

Pronunciation: [ahs-TAH-veet']

Part of speech: verb (perfective aspect)

Rank: #398 (see frequency list)

I left my keys at home.
Photo by jakeliefer CC-BY-2.0

Example sentences:

Я оста́вил ключи́ до́ма.
I left my keys at home.
Сла́ва оста́вил маши́ну на углу́.
Slava parked his car at the corner.
literal Slava left the car at the corner.
Оста́вь мне свой телефо́н.
Give me your phone number.
literal Leave me your phone number.
Ты оста́вил во́ду соба́ке?
Have you left water for the dog?
Оста́вьте меня́ в поко́е!
Leave me in peace! (plural "you")
Она́ оста́вила цвето́к на па́мять.
She kept the flower as a souvenir.
literal She left the flower on memory.
Предста́вь себе́: мне нé с кем оста́вить дете́й!
Imagine, I don't have anybody to leave the childen with.
Дя́дя оста́вил мне огро́мное состоя́ние.
My uncle left me a huge fortune.
Как ты мог оста́вить утю́г включённым?
How could you leave the iron plugged in?
Ах, оста́вьте! Фильм был действи́тельно ужа́сный!
Oh, it's no more discussable! The film was really horrendous!
literal Oh, leave! The film was really horrible.
Меня́ оста́вили на второ́й год и́з-за матема́тики.
They made me repeat a year of study because of maths.
literal They made me remain a second year because of math.
Си́лы оста́вили ра́неного.
The wounded fainted.
literal Strengths left the wounded.

Idioms and set expressions:

оста́вить вопро́с откры́тым = leave the question open
оста́вить в поко́е = leave in peace, leave alone
оста́вить за собо́й пра́во = reserve the right
оста́вь! = stop that!
literal leave!
ка́мня на ка́мне не оста́вить = raze to the ground
literal not to leave stone on stone
оста́вить с но́сом = trick
literal leave with me nose
оста́вить на па́мять = keep as a souvenir
literal leave on memory
оста́вить насле́дство = leave a fortune
оста́вить в живы́х = leave alive
оста́вить му́жа = leave a husband
оста́вить без внима́ния = ignore
literal leave without attention
оста́вить на произво́л су́дьбы = leave to the mercy of fate

Related words:

оставля́ть = leave, forget
забы́ть = forget

Proverbs and sayings:

Пожале́л волк кобы́лу, оста́вил хвост да гри́ву.
The person turned out to be really cruel.
literal The wolf felt pity for the horse, he left the tale and the mane.

Verb conjugation:

Present Tense

The perfective verb оставить is not used in the Present Tense. Use the imperfective verb оставлять instead.

Past Tense

I, you (singular), he	оста́вил
she	оста́вила
it	оста́вило
we, you (plural), they	оста́вили

Future Simple Tense

I	оста́влю
you (singular)	оста́вишь
he, she, it	оста́вит
we	оста́вим
you (plural)	оста́вите
they	оста́вят

Future Compound Tense

The perfective verb оставить is not used in the Future Compound Tense. Use the imperfective verb оставлять instead.

Imperative Mood (Command Form)

you (singular)	оста́вь
you (plural)	оста́вьте

View full conjugation table for the verb pair оставлять/оставить

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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